NEW YORK CITY: The Breaking the Binary Theatre (BTB) announced its programming for the third annual Breaking the Binary Theatre Festival, showcasing the work of trans, non-binary, and two-spirit+ (TNB2S+) artists, Oct. 21-27. The opening performance will take place at Littlefield, with other shows performed at the Peter Jay Sharp Theater at Playwrights Horizons. All tickets are complimentary and will be available starting Oct. 7.
“After celebrating BTB’s second birthday in July, we are thrilled to announce the works we’ll be developing and showcasing in our third annual Breaking the Binary Theatre Festival,” said founding artistic director George Strus in a statement. “After receiving over 200 full-length works by TNB2S+ writers to consider through our open call and submissions processes, we could not be more thrilled by how the dynamic line-up has come together.”
The festival opens with TRUTH //: An Interdisciplinary Variety Show (Oct. 21). Co-conceived by Noax and George Strus, this performance features 12 TNB2S+ vocalists, drag artists, comedians, and more who will perform original performance pieces inspired by the prompt “truth // dare.”
The following day features Prunin, Hoein, N Cuttin Grapes (Oct. 22) by Nissy Aya, directed by Dominique Rider, about a community of femmes assigned to teach the tools of sexual pleasure to others, who find themselves needing to deal with an unexpected and daunting assignment.
Next up is Harvest Olives: A Collective Improvisation (Oct. 23) by Yaffa AS, developed in collaboration with Rad Pereira. The performance is drawn from Mx. Yaffa’s books of writing and poetry as a trans Palestinian death worker and community organizer.
In Fireside Dances (Oct. 24) by MJ Kaufman and directed by Aya Ogawa, friction between rural and urban queer lifestyles, class differences, and politics arises when a teenager moves into the home of distant relatives in Portland, Ore.
The festival continues with A Rare Bird (Oct. 25), written and directed by Zaza Diana Oh, and described as “an interdisciplinary Play, Live Physical Intimacy, and Quiet and Honest Sex Show” and “an ode to Introversion, (loud) pauses, and letting less be.”
In Lupe Finds Me in the Garden of Dreams (Oct. 26) by Esperanza Rosales Balcárcel, directed by Adin Walker, a young trans playwright becomes the actress Lupe Velez on the last night of her life and questions the costs of being a queer artist of color in today’s industry.
Concluding the festival on Oct. 27 is DARE: A Collection of Commissioned Scenes and Monologues, developed by L Morgan Lee and George Strus and featuring new works by D.A. Mindell, Dillon Yruegas, Esmé Maria Ng, Ianne Fields Stewart, Imani Russell, Jayne Deely, Jen Silverman, Jordan Ramirez Puckett, Nikhil Mahapatra, Nora Brigid Monahan, Sasha Velour, and Sophie Sagan-Gutherz. These commissioned works will be published and licensed by Broadway Licensing in 2025.
Founded in 2022, the mission of Breaking the Binary Theatre is to be the new-work development and community-building hub for trans, non-binary, and two-spirit+ (TNB2S+) artists to come together and reclaim artistic license and liberty. The organization has produced over 35 workshops and readings of new works by TNB2S+ artists, commissioned over 50 TNB2S+ artists, launched a free educational Summer Intensive for emerging TNB2S+ performers, and paid out over $500,000 to over 400 TNB2S+ artists.
