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I would like to update everyone on a project that I have been working on for the past few months.
Back in June, I met a playwright at an event at my transgender organization's location in New York. She was there because she has written a new play that includes transgender individuals and wanted to inform our community about it.
The playwright, Catherine (Cat) Filloux, has won multiple awards for her work and her latest work is titled Welcome to the Big Dipper, and it is making its world premier in November. This musical, which is based on an actual event, takes place at a hotel named The Big Dipper, owned by an African-American woman. The hotel is located near Niagara Falls, NY, and during a blizzard, a bus full of Amish people and a bus full of crossdressers get stranded at the hotel for a few days. You do not need an overly active imagination to picture what happens when these cultures clash. The play is a musical but, as with all of Cat’s work, there is an important message underlying all the songs and laughter.
Cat also suggested that she would be open to our group participating with her play in some fashion and I volunteered to help develop a workable concept. For the last few months she and I have been working together and we have decided to hold a panel discussion at the theater after one of the play's performances. The panel will consist of four trans women from our organization. We will be discussing our reactions to the play and how elements of what we saw may relate to experiences in our everyday transgender lives. I will be one of the four panel members as will our organization's president, Allison Davis.
This event will take place on Saturday, December 7, after the 2:30 matinee show at the Off-Broadway York Theater. The show runs for about 90 minutes, after which there will be a 15-minute break, with the panel discussion beginning around 4:15. The panelists are scheduled to talk for 30 minutes, which will include Q&A from the audience.
The York Theater is located at 150 East 76 Street near Lexington Avenue. Welcome to the Big Dipper will run from Tuesday, November 19 through Sunday afternoon, December 29. The theater has seating for 200 people, but we urge anyone who wishes to attend our December 7 event to purchase tickets as early as possible. Tickets are priced at $80 and $50. The music and lyrics in the show are by Jimmy Roberts, composer of I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change, the second longest running Off-Broadway musical.
Cat's award-winning performances often focus on the issue of human rights. She has focused on topics such as immigration, trauma, genocide, voting rights, mass incarceration and political asylum. Cat has traveled to Iraq where her play, The Beauty Inside, covered honor killings and was conducted entirely in the Kurdish language. In Cambodia her play, Photographs from S-21, dealt with the horrendous atrocities carried out by Pol Pot’s Khmer Rouge. The American playwright Erik Ehn said of Cat’s work, “Catherine Filloux is a leading light in the richest sense. There's darkness out there in the world, and she carries discernment and courage forward in text and action, inspiring reflection that urges action, and hope that orients progressive change.”
I urge you to google her and check out the impressive body of work on her Wikipedia page.
So if you are from the NY metropolitan area and decide to attend on December 7th, please let me know. I would love to say hello. If you cannot get there on the 7th, I urge you to check out one of the other dates. You will enjoy the musical and show support for Cat as she works to support the transgender community.
If anyone has any questions, please let me know.
Fiona xoxo
Living where I do, going is a non-starter but good luck with it.
Becca
Only 5 days left for those of you in the NY Metro area who are thinking of attending the play. Tickets are still available.