2024
On Saturday, January 27, 2024 it was announced that Breaking the Binary Theatre was recipient of a Theatre Grant as part of the 67th Annual Obie Awards. At only 18 months old, we were one of the youngest organizations to ever receive this honor. For a full list of winners, click here.
HEARD: A Community Cabaret
On Wednesday, January 31, 2024, we reunited the inaugural BTB Summer Intensive participants to present HEARD.: A Community Cabaret at The Green Room 42, raising over $500 for Trans Lifeline.
featuring Flower Estefana Rios (she/they), Grayson James (he/him), Luz Ballestér (they/he), Sam Hamashima (they/them), Spencer Petro (they/them), and Vi Dang (they/she)
Music Director: James Rushin (he/she)
Guitarist: Will Shishmanian (he/him)
Percussionist: Caroline Moore (they/she)
Artistic Consultant: L Morgan Lee (she/her)
Playwrights Horizons Residency
In February 2024, our friends at Playwrights Horizons hosted a BTB Mini Residency in their rehearsal space, allowing us to develop four pieces by BTB artists via our New Works Program!
🐦 I AM THE MOST BEAUTIFUL BIRD by Else Went
Directed by Emma Rosa Went
Dramaturgy by Harrison Densmore
featuring Esco Jouléy, Felix Teich, Juan Arturo, Layla Khoshnoudi, Liat Graf, and T Mitsock
💪🏼 BOIDS by reid tang
~A BTB commission~
Dramaturgy by Nazareth Hassan
featuring Futaba Shioda, Kyr Siegel, Marquise Vilson, Pauli Pontrelli, Sagan Chen, and Susannah Perkins
👩👧 MUTHA LOAD by ayla xuân chi sullivan
Dramaturgy by Dezi Tibbs
featuring L Morgan Lee and Sandra Caldwell
🐉 RACIAL BONUS by Dominique Rider
~A BTB commission~
Dramaturgy by Zach Ezer
featuring Dom Martello, Futaba Shioda, JJ Maley, Susannah Perkins, T Mitsock, Temídayo Amay, and Vann Dukes
BTB Spring JamborOBIE
On Monday, March 18, 2024, the Breaking the Binary community gathered to celebrate our recent recognition from the @obieawards for our 2024 Spring JamborOBIE party at The Spot.
We looked back at the past nineteen months since our launch in July 2022 and were treated to special performances from Justin David Sullivan (he/she/they), L Morgan Lee (she/her), Luz (they/he), Mariyea (she/they), and Nora Schell (they/them).
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BTB Across America Announcement
On Thursday, March 28, 2024, we announced our newest program: BTB Across America, supporting transgender, non-binary, and Two-Spirit+ (TNB2S+) theatermakers outside of New York City.
In this new program, we will travel to different areas within the United States, partner with a regional theatre company, and co-produce a one-week workshop of a new play written by a TNB2S+ artist local to that area that our regional partner has yet to work with.
Our in inaugural year, we will be partnering with DC’s Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company in May and Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre in July.
BTB Across America is generously supported by Jody Falco and Jeffrey Steinman. To learn more about BTB Across America, click here.
2024 Cloud Nine Zine
On Sunday, March 31, 2024, as exclusively announced in Playbill and in celebration of International Transgender Day of Visibility, we launched our (free!) 2024 Cloud Nine Zine, amplifying the work of over 35 BTB artists.
CLOUD NINE is defined by Merriam-Webster as "a feeling of well-being or elation." Designed by BTB artist Vi Dang (they/she), BTB's 2024 Cloud Nine Zine includes:
+ Ten new commissioned works by BTB artists Anonymous, b (they/them), Dena Igusti (they/them), Diana Oh "Zaza D" (they/them), Else Went (she/herself), Ianne Fields Stewart (they/she), Jay Délise (they/them), Rad Pereira (they/them), Spencer James Weidie (they/them), and Will Shishmanian (he/him).
+ Our inaugural Instagram commissions from BTB's 2023 Cloud Nine commission campaign.
+ BTB Spotlights, highlighting the existing work or upcoming engagements of over 15 BTB artists.
+ A special note from BTB’s Founding Artistic Director, George Strus (they/them).
To view the 2024 Cloud Nine Zine, for free, click here.
BTB REDEFINES THE CLASSICS
In partnership with Signature Theatre’s SigSpace program, we curated an event in honor of their production of Sarah Ruhl’s ORLANDO–directed by BTB Core Community member Will Davis and featuring BTB artists Esperanza Rosales Balcárcel, Kasson Marroquin, Kedian Keohan, Nat Kelley DiMario, Rad Pereira, and TL Thompson–on Sunday, April 14, 2024.
Inspired by ORLANDO’S fantastical trip through space, time, and gender, BTB REDEFINES THE CLASSICS showcases TNB2S+ artists singing and performing their dream roles from the classic theater canon.
Featuring Alex Lugo (they/them), Garnet Williams (she/they), Heath Saunders (they/them), James Rose (they/she), Sis Thee Doll, Tomás Matos (they/she) with music direction by James Rushin (he/she).
THE GREAT IMPRESARIO BORIS LERMONTOV WOULD LIKE TO INVITE YOU TO DINNER by Tristan B Willis (they/them)
From Monday, May 6 - Friday, May 10, we set up shop at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company in Washington DC to launch our new BTB Across America program.
THE GREAT IMPRESARIO BORIS LERMONTOV WOULD LIKE TO INVITE YOU TO DINNER by Tristan B. Willis’ (they/them) 🍽️
Directed by Lyam B Gabel (they/he)
Featuring Deema Turkomani (they/them) and Ezra Tozian (they/them)
Movement Consultant: Lady Dane Figueroa Edidi (she/her)
Stage Manager: Jazzy Davis (they/she)
Dramaturg: Ynika Yuag (they/them)
Stage Directions Reader: Daniel Brody (he/him)
On Wednesday, May 15, 2024, it was announced that Breaking the Binary Theatre will be partnering with Playwrights Horizons in the fall of 2024 to produce the world premiere of the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize-winning play IN THE AMAZON WAREHOUSE PARKING LOT, by BTB artist Sarah Mantell and directed by BTB artist Sivan Battat on their Mainstage.
As the oceans rise, a band of queer warehouse workers travel from job to job, running from the encroaching coastline. An unlikely love story, and a startling new work of speculative fiction, IN THE AMAZON WAREHOUSE PARKING LOT is a quietly revolutionary tale of queer aging, chosen family, and the search for home in a volatile world.
On Saturday, May 18, 2024, we took several members of the BTB community on a field trip to Connecticut to see Goodspeed Musicals’ world premiere production of A COMPLICATED WOMAN, with a book by BTB artist Ianne Fields Stewart and featuring BTB artists Arewà Basit and L Morgan Lee alongside TNB2S+ artists Nora Brigid Monahan, Siena Rafter, and Zachary A. Myers.