Black Trans Women at the Center - Sali At Work

Grantors

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Sponsors

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Sponsors

Donors

Tributes

Performers

Ianne Fields Stewart

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Sali

Setting

Songs & Scenes

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Production Staff

Curated by

Lady Dane Figueroa Edidi

Project Managed by

Joey Reyes

National Partners

About Face Theatre, National Queer Theater, and Portland Center Stage

Venue Staff

School Administration Staff

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Musicians

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Board Members

Student Advisory Board

Credits

Lighting equipment from PRG Lighting, sound equipment from Sound Associates, rehearsed at The Public Theater’s Rehearsal Studios. Developed as part of Irons in the Fire at Fault Line Theatre in New York City.

Special Thanks

ASL Interpretation provided by Pro Bono ASL.

Post-show discussion moderators: Imara Jones and Lady Dane Figueroa Edidi

Black Trans Women At The Center lovingly remembers beloved community member and legend Bubbles. Thank you for all you have done. May you rest well Diva.

*Appearing through an Agreement between this theatre and Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.

“Actors’ Equity Association (“Equity”), founded in 1913, is the U.S. labor union that represents more than 51,000 actors and stage managers, Equity fosters the art of live theatre as an essential component of society and advances the careers of its members by negotiating wages, improving working conditions and providing a wide range of benefits, including health and pension plans. Actors’ Equity is a member of the AFL-CIO and is affiliated with FIA, an International organization of performing arts unions. www.actorsequity.org

United Scenic Artists ● Local USA 829 of the I.A.T.S.E represents the Designers & Scenic Artists for the American Theatre

ATPAM, the Association of Theatrical Press Agents & Managers (IATSE Local 18032), represents the Press Agents, Company Managers, and Theatre Managers employed on this production.

Invitation to Engage

Welcome to Black Trans Women at the Center!

This space can be one of reflection, one of revelation, one of discovery and one of affirmation.

You’re invited into this space, to be in this space, to help cocreate this space.

This is a communal space, one where the invitation of cultivating community is extended to all of you. You’re invited to fully engage in community with your fellow audience members. You’re invited to use the chat to say hello, to name who you are, to make new community.

This is an engagement space, a space of expression, a space for wonder, a space where you are welcome to find awe and love. You're invited to participate and respond. To use the chat to share your reactions to the performance and exercise the gift of affirmation.

We welcome expressions of joy or sadness, tears, laughter, the “Yaaasss” and “get it” and “mmm huh” and “bbbaaabbby” and other exclamations as the art moves through you.

This is a space of celebration. You are invited to use the chat to show the artist some love.

You are invited to stay after the show for a post-show discussion. To learn, to witness, to affirm.

This is a community space, a space of reflection, a space of discovery, a space of affirmation, a space where one can find awe.

Thank you for sharing this virtual space with us.

-Lady Dane Figueroa Edidi

About Partner Theatres

About Long Wharf Theatre

Birthed at the founding of America's regional theatre movement, Long Wharf Theatre opened on July 4, 1965 with Arthur Miller's The Crucible. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Jacob G. Padrón, our company continues to build on a legacy of more than 400 productions that represent the best of classic plays, beloved musicals and world premieres, including works by Anna Deavere Smith, Paula Vogel, Tracey Scott Wilson, Lloyd Suh, Tina Landau, Whitney White, Ricardo Pérez González, and Dominique Morisseau. We are internationally recognized for a commitment to commissioning, developing, and producing new plays that expands storytelling in, and storytellers for, the American theatre. More than 30 Long Wharf Theatre productions have transferred to Broadway and Off-Broadway, and we produced three winners of the Pulitzer Prize for Drama: D.L. Coburn's The Gin Game, Michael Cristofer's The Shadow Box, and Margaret Edson's Wit. In recognition of its artistic achievements, Long Wharf Theatre won a Regional Theatre Tony Award, among the first to receive this honor, and Connecticut Critics Circle nominations and awards in nearly every category.

Today, Long Wharf Theatre is in a bold new chapter, moving beyond its physical home of nearly 60 years to bring theatre to everyone. We are once again leading a national theatre movement that instigates a fresh, sustainable model for our industry while making professional live theatre more financially and physically accessible for our community. In 2023, Greater New Haven residents could experience Long Wharf Theatre productions in seven cities and towns, including seven New Haven neighborhoods, at free and affordable prices. 2024 continues this innovative journey, ranging from a production of Arthur Miller's A View from the Bridge at Canal Dock Boathouse to a celebration of our 60th season. This is an invitation for all our neighbors to gather, bear witness to our shared humanity, and live connected, art-filled lives.

Our efforts have garnered extensive feature stories in The New York Times, The Washington Post, American Theatre magazine, and "PBS NewsHour." For leading with courage and creating a theatre of possibility, Artistic Director Jacob G. Padrón was named among Town & Country's 2023 Creative Aristocracy, a national list of 70 "kings and queens of culture" who are keeping human ingenuity regally and outrageously alive, and 2023 Person of the Year by National Theatre Conference, joining the ranks of former recipients August Wilson, Lloyd Richards, and Joseph Papp.

About Breaking the Binary Theatre

Breaking the Binary Theatre is a new work development and community building hub wherein transgender, non-binary, and Two-Spirit+ (TNB2S+) artists come together to reclaim our artistic license and liberty through a number of initiatives and programs, including the annual all-TNB2S+ Breaking the Binary Theatre Festival each October. Founded and led by George Strus (they/them), since Breaking the Binary Theatre’s launch in July 2022, the organization has produced over twenty-five workshops and readings of new works by TNB2S+ artists, commissioned over fifty TNB2S+ artists, hosted over fifteen community events, launched a free educational Summer Intensive for emerging TNB2S+ performers, partnered with Playbill and BroadwayCon, been in-residence at Playwrights Horizons, Williamstown Theatre Festival and New York Stage and Film, and paid out paid out over $325,000 to over 300 TNB2S+ artists. This summer, they produced an off-Broadway run of the late Cecilia Gentili's Red Ink featuring Jes Tom, Angelica Ross, and Peppermint. This fall, they will co-produce the world premiere of Sarah Mantell’s In the Amazon Warehouse Parking Lot alongside Playwrights Horizons. Breaking the Binary Theatre is powered by Producer Hub. For more information, please visit www.btb-nyc.com or @BreakingtheBinaryTheatre on Instagram.

About The Theater Offensive

The Theater Offensive (TTO) is an organization whose mission is to present liberating art by, for, and about queer and trans people of color that transcends artistic boundaries, celebrates cultural abundance, and dismantles oppression. Established in 1989, TTO grew out of the queer guerilla street theater troupe, United Fruit Company, founded by Abe Rybeck and other activists in response to increasingly conservative national politics and the HIV/AIDS crisis. Since then, TTO has become the leading presenter of LGBTQ theater in New England, and an award-winning model for advocacy and creation of original works by queer and trans artists.

About About Face Theatre

About Face Theatre is a company in Chicago that advances LGBTQ+ equity through community building, education, and performance. Since its founding in 1995, About Face has been a national leader in producing theatre that highlights the voices of intergenerational LGBTQ+ artists that tell nuanced queer stories for general audiences. Through bold theatre and arts-based educational programs, AFT's work celebrates persistence and joy shining a spotlight on the social inequalities impacting LGBTQ+ people. For more information about our 30-year history, please go to: https://aboutfacetheatre.com.

About National Queer Theater

National Queer Theater is an innovative queer theater collective dedicated to celebrating the brilliance of generations of LGBTQ+ artists and providing a home for unheard storytellers and activists. Founded in 2018, National Queer Theater amplifies queer stories and experiences to increase visibility within the broader NYC community. By serving our elders, youth, and working professionals, NQT creates a more just future through radical and evocative theater experiences and free community classes. www.nationalqueertheater.org. @nationalqueertheater

About Portland Center Stage

Portland Center Stage’s mission is to create transcendent theatrical experiences and community programs that break down the barriers separating people. We support our community in celebrating the full scope of humanity, appreciating difference, and fostering belonging. PCS was established in 1988 as a branch of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and became independent in 1994. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Marissa Wolf, the company produces a mix of classic, contemporary, and world premiere productions, along with a variety of high-quality education and community programs. As part of its dedication to new play development, the company has produced 29 world premieres, many of which were developed at its JAW New Play Festival. PCS’s home is The Armory, a historic building originally constructed in 1891. After a major renovation, The Armory opened in 2006 as the first building on the National Register of Historic Places, the first performing arts venue in the country, and the first building in Portland to achieve a LEED Platinum rating. Portland Center Stage is committed to identifying and interrupting instances of racism and all forms of oppression through the principles of inclusion, diversity, equity, and accessibility (IDEA). Learn more at pcs.org/idea.

Land Acknowledgement

We acknowledge that indigenous peoples and nations have for generations stewarded the lands and waterways of what we now call the state of Connecticut. We honor and respect the enduring relationship that exists between these peoples and nations and this land.

We are standing on the unceded territory of the Paugussett, Quinnipiac, and Wappinger peoples. We remind ourselves that along with stolen land came stolen people. It is our responsibility to the future to know our past.

Meet the Cast

Ianne Fields Stewart

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Sali

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Pronouns:

Ianne Fields Stewart (they/she) is a black, queer, lesbian, and nonbinary transfeminine New York-based storyteller and activist. Ianne was personally requested by Sara Ramirez (Grey's Anatomy) to play their love interest in the 3-Time Emmy-Nominated web series The Feels. Film/TV Credits include: Dash & Lily (Roberta), The Bold Type (Chloe Blair), and Pose (Pretty Bartender). In the summer of 2017, Ianne was selected out of over 500 applicants to be one of the 15 US Fellows for Humanity in Action's 2017 John Lewis Fellowship.She is the founder of The Okra Project and co-organized the historic Brooklyn Liberation: A Rally for Black Trans Lives which gathered 15,000 people to march for Black Trans lives.

Meet the Team

Lady Dane Figueroa Edidi

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Curator

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)

Pronouns:

she/her

Dubbed the Ancient Jazz Priestess of Mother Africa, Lady Dane Figueroa Edidi is a Black Nigerian, Cuban, Indigenous, American Performance Artist, Author, Educator, a Helen Hayes Award-winning Playwright (Klytmnestra: An Epic Slam Poem), a 2021 Helen Merrill Award Winner, Advocate, Dramaturg, a 2x Helen Hayes Award Nominated choreographer (2016, 2018) and co-editor/co-Director of the Black Trans Prayer Book.

She is the curator and associate producer of Long Wharf Theater’s Black Trans Women At The Center: An Evening of Short Plays.

Her radio play, Quest of The Reed Marsh Daughter, can be heard on the Girl Tales Podcast. She wrote episode 1 of Untitled Mockumentary Project and acted on the series as well, was featured as Patra in King Ester and acted as a story consultant for the series, and wrote episode 9 (Refuge) of Round House Theater’s web series Homebound.

She also narrated The Netflix Docu-series Visions of Us.

Imara Jones

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Moderator

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Pronouns:

Imara Jones, whose work has won Emmy and Peabody Awards, is the creator of TransLash Media, a cross-platform, non-profit journalism and narrative organization, which produces content to shift the current culture of hostility towards transgender people in the US. She was named by Time Magazine as one of the 100 Most Influential People on the planet in 2023. As part of her work at TransLash, Imara hosts the TransLash Podcast with Imara Jones, which received the 2023 Outstanding Podcast Award from GLAAD ; as well as the investigative, limited series, The Anti-Trans Hate Machine.

Marcela Michelle

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Director

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Pronouns:

Marcela Michelle is a transdisciplinary artists living and working on Mni Sota Makoce. She is a 2023-2025 Jerome Hill Artist Fellow (Combined Artistic Fields), a 2019 mentee of the National Institute for Directing and Ensemble Creation, and a member of Actor’s Equity. She has held residencies with Rosy Simas Dance Studio 331, Hennepin Theatre Trust (teaching artist), and Pancake House. Her work has been presented by Red Eye Theatre (NW4W), Walker Art Center (Choreographer’s Evening, Sadie Barnett’s New Eagle Creek Saloon), Guthrie Theater’s Dowling Studio, and many more. She served as the Artistic Director of 20%Theatre Company from 2019-2022 and as an Artistic Co-Director of Lightning Rod from 2017-2024. She enjoys cooking elaborate meals, video essays, and extended periods of rest with her Wife and Dogter.

Joey Reyes

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Project Manager

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)

Pronouns:

they/them

Joey Reyes Project Manager (they/them) is a queer, Latine creative producer, consultant, and administrator originally from Southern California, now based in Chicago. Their professional journey spans collaborations with leading arts consulting firms, including AMS Planning & Research, Evolution Management Consultants, A. D. Hamingson & Associates, and CNTR ARTS. Through these partnerships, Joey has contributed to projects in executive searches, capital campaigns, audience development, and strategic planning & research. Independently, they are the Creator and Host of the Mx It Up podcast, a platform celebrating LGBTQ+ creatives of the global majority working across arts, culture, and entertainment.

Since 2020, Joey has been a key collaborator with Long Wharf Theatre in New Haven, CT, where they work alongside Artistic Ensemble Member Lady Dane Figueroa Edidi to produce the annual Black Trans Women at the Center Virtual New Play Festival. This groundbreaking program is the only one of its kind commissioning Black trans women to write, star in, and direct original works. From 2019 to 2022, Joey served as Associate Producer for The Sol Project, a national initiative championing Latine playwrights in NYC and beyond. In this role, they supported the development and production of new works, co-produced the SolTalk podcast, and interviewed over 30 influential Latine artists, including Daphne Rubin-Vega, Robin de Jesús, and Luis Alfaro.

In September 2020, Joey was recognized as one of “19 Theater Workers You Should Know” by American Theatre Magazine in a special issue highlighting TGNC theatre practitioners. They are also a 2018 alum of artEquity’s National Facilitator Training. Joey holds an M.S. in Leadership for Creative Enterprises from Northwestern University and a B.A. in Theatre Arts with a minor in Business Administration from Azusa Pacific University.

Khalil White

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Stage Manager

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Pronouns:

Khalil is thrilled to return to for this years Black Trans Women at the Center festival! Their previous credits include Lighting Designer (ArtsCentric)The Wiz, Little Shop of Horrors, LaCage, Snapshots, and DreamGirls at Baltimore Center Stage. Production Assistant (Baltimore Center Stage) The Hot Wing King, The Importance of Being Ernest.
Assistant Stage Manager (ArtsCentric) Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella, For Colored Girls, The Scottsboro Boys

Media

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2021 National Touring Cast

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While You Wait

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Want To Invest In A New Off-Broadway Production? Now You Can!

Kobi Kassal

February 27, 2026

Now is your chance to join the producing ranks for a new Off-Broadway production! Producing office No Guarantees Productions recently announced what is believed to be the first Regulation Crowdfunding raise filed and executed by a single theatrical production for their run of Burnout Paradise by Pony Cam at the recently reopened Astor Place Theatre downtown.

This will allow a much broader community of investors to participate in a theatrical production and support new work, working towards a more sustainable and overall democratic model for how theatre gets funded and who gets to be involved.

For more information, visit here.

“This raise is about more than one production, it's about expanding access to theatrical investing," said Megan O’Keefe, President and Chief Operating Officer of No Guarantees Productions. "By being the first commercial lead producer to use Reg CF for a major theatrical show, we're creating a proof of concept the entire industry can learn from and utilize. We want to demystify the process, educate a new pipeline of investors, and make participation in theatre more accessible than it has ever been. By inviting a broader and more diverse group to take part in shaping new work, we're fostering the shared ownership that fuels innovation on stage and helps ensure a stronger, more sustainable future for the industry."

By documenting the process and sharing learnings, No Guarantees hopes to create a roadmap that enables more productions, especially smaller and emerging works, to tap into a wider base of supporters. If the investor base becomes more accessible and inclusive, the creative pipeline can follow. This effort reflects No Guarantees ongoing commitment to audience development and shaping a more sustainable future for the theatre industry.

Megan Thee Stallion Will Join MOULIN ROUGE! THE MUSICAL On Broadway Next Month

Kobi Kassal

February 26, 2026

In what is one of the most insane (positive connotation!!) pieces of casting this theatre journalist has ever written, Megan Thee Stallion is poised to join Moulin Rouge! The Musical on Broadway beginning next month.

Taking over from Bob The Drag Queen, Megan will make her Broadway debut as Zidler for an eight week engagement starting Tuesday, March 24, 2026 at the Al Hirshfeld Theatre.

“Stepping onto the Broadway stage and joining the Moulin Rouge! The Musical team is an absolute honor,” Megan Thee Stallion said. “I’ve always believed in pushing myself creatively and theater is definitely a new opportunity that I’m excited to embrace. Broadway demands a different level of discipline, preparation and storytelling, but I’m up for the challenge and can’t wait for the Hotties to see a new side of me.”

“Welcoming Megan Thee Stallion into the Moulin Rouge! The Musical community is a thrilling moment for us,” said Producer Carmen Pavlovic. “Megan is a true global superstar. She is one of the most influential artists of her generation and her impact on music and culture is undeniable. This historic casting is a major part of our closing celebrations: our farewell gift to Broadway audiences and one of our biggest announcements in the history of Moulin Rouge! The Musical. We want our show to go out with a spectacular bang, and Megan is the force of nature to lead us there. And yes, there will be a hint of music from her own iconic catalogue. It’s an unmissable moment for both Megan’s fans and ours.”

As previously reported, Moulin Rouge! will play its final performance on Broadway July 26, 2026.

Megan Thee Stallion Will Join MOULIN ROUGE! THE MUSICAL On Broadway Next Month

Kobi Kassal

February 26, 2026

In what is one of the most insane (positive connotation!!) pieces of casting this theatre journalist has ever written, Megan Thee Stallion is poised to join Moulin Rouge! The Musical on Broadway beginning next month.

Taking over from Bob The Drag Queen, Megan will make her Broadway debut as Zidler for an eight week engagement starting Tuesday, March 24, 2026 at the Al Hirshfeld Theatre.

“Stepping onto the Broadway stage and joining the Moulin Rouge! The Musical team is an absolute honor,” Megan Thee Stallion said. “I’ve always believed in pushing myself creatively and theater is definitely a new opportunity that I’m excited to embrace. Broadway demands a different level of discipline, preparation and storytelling, but I’m up for the challenge and can’t wait for the Hotties to see a new side of me.”

“Welcoming Megan Thee Stallion into the Moulin Rouge! The Musical community is a thrilling moment for us,” said Producer Carmen Pavlovic. “Megan is a true global superstar. She is one of the most influential artists of her generation and her impact on music and culture is undeniable. This historic casting is a major part of our closing celebrations: our farewell gift to Broadway audiences and one of our biggest announcements in the history of Moulin Rouge! The Musical. We want our show to go out with a spectacular bang, and Megan is the force of nature to lead us there. And yes, there will be a hint of music from her own iconic catalogue. It’s an unmissable moment for both Megan’s fans and ours.”

As previously reported, Moulin Rouge! will play its final performance on Broadway July 26, 2026.

Theatrely News

EXCLUSIVE: Watch A Clip From THEATER CAMP Starring Ben Platt, Noah Galvin, and Molly Gordon

Theatrely News

READ: An Excerpt From Sean Hayes Debut YA Novel TIME OUT

Theatrely News

"Reframing the COVID-19 Pandemic Through a Stage Manager’s Eyes"

EXCLUSIVE: Watch A Clip From THEATER CAMP Starring Ben Platt, Noah Galvin, and Molly Gordon

By: Maia Penzer

14 July 2023

Finally, summer has arrived, which can only mean one thing: it's time for camp! Theater Camp, that is. Theatrely has a sneak peak at the new film which hits select theaters today.

The new original comedy starring Tony Award winner Ben Platt and Molly Gordon we guarantee will have you laughing non-stop. The AdirondACTS, a run-down theater camp in upstate New York, is attended by theater-loving children who must work hard to keep their beloved theater camp afloat after the founder, Joan, falls into a coma.

The film stars Ben Platt and Molly Gordon as Amos Klobuchar and Rebecca-Diane, respectively, as well as Noah Galvin as Glenn Wintrop, Jimmy Tatro as Troy Rubinsky, Patti Harrison as Caroline Krauss, Nathan Lee Graham as Clive DeWitt, Ayo Edebiri as Janet Walch, Owen Thiele as Gigi Charbonier, Caroline Aaron as Rita Cohen, Amy Sedaris as Joan Rubinsky, and Alan Kim as Alan Park.

Theater Camp was directed by Molly Gordon and Nick Lieberman and written by Noah Galvin, Molly Gordon, Nick Lieberman & Ben Platt. Music is by James McAlister and Mark Sonnenblick. On January 21, 2023, Theater Camp had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival.

You can purchase tickets to the new film from our friends at Hollywood.com here.

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READ: An Excerpt From Sean Hayes Debut YA Novel TIME OUT

By: Kobi Kassal

29 May 2023

Actor Sean Hayes is what we in the biz call booked and blessed. On top of his Tony-nominated performance as Oscar Levant in Good Night, Oscar, Hayes has partnered with Todd Milliner and Carlyn Greenwald for the release of their new YA novel Time Out.

Heralded by many as Heartstopper meets Friday Night Lights, Time Out follows hometown basketball hero Barclay Elliot who decides to use a pep rally to come out to his school. When the response is not what he had hoped and the hostility continually growing, he turns to his best friend Amy who brings him to her voting rights group at school. There he finds Christopher and… you will just have to grab a copy and find out what happens next. Luckily for you, Time Out hits shelves on May 30 and to hold you over until then we have a special except from the book just for Theatrely:

The good thing about not being on the team the past two weeks has been that I’ve had time to start picking up shifts again at Beau’s diner and save up a little for college now that my scholarship dreams are over.

The bad part is it’s the perfect place to see how my actions at the pep rally have rotted the townspeople’s brains too.

During Amy’s very intense musical theater phase in middle school, her parents took her to New York City. And of course she came back home buzzing about Broadway and how beautiful the piss smell was and everything artsy people say about New York. But she also vividly described some diner she waited three hours to get into where the waitstaff would all perform songs for the customers as a way to practice for auditions. The regulars would have favorite staff members and stan them the way Amy stans all her emo musicians.

Working at Beau’s used to feel kind of like that, like I was part of a performance team I didn’t know I signed up for. The job started off pretty basic over the summer—I wanted to save up for basketball supplies, and Amy worked there and said it was boring ever since her e-girl coworker friend graduated. But I couldn’t get through a single lunch rush table without someone calling me over and wanting the inside scoop on the Wildcats and how we were preparing for the home opener, wanting me to sign an article in the paper or take a photo. Every friendly face just made the resolve grow inside me. People love and support the Wildcats; they would do the same for me.

Yeah, right.

Now just like school, customers have been glaring at me, making comments about letting everyone down, about being selfish, about my actions being “unfortunate,” and the tips have been essentially nonexistent. The Wildcats have been obliterated in half their games since I quit, carrying a 2–3 record when last year we were 5–0, and the comments make my feet feel like lead weights I have to drag through every shift.

Today is no different. It’s Thursday, the usual dinner rush at Beau’s, and I try to stay focused on the stress of balancing seven milkshakes on one platter. A group of regulars, some construction workers, keep loudly wondering why I won’t come back to the team while I refuse proper eye contact.

One of the guys looks up at me as I drop the bill off. “So, what’s the deal? Does being queer keep ya from physically being able to play?”

They all snicker as they pull out crumpled bills. I stuff my hands into my pockets, holding my tongue.

When they leave, I hold my breath as I take their bill.

Sure enough, no tip.

“What the fuck?” I mutter under my breath.

“Language,” Amy says as she glides past me, imitating the way Richard says it to her every shift, and adds, “even though they are dicks.” At least Amy’s been ranting about it every free chance she gets. It was one thing when the student body was being shitty about me leaving the team, but the town being like this is even more infuriating. She doesn’t understand how these fully grown adults can really care that much about high school basketball and thinks they need a new fucking hobby. I finally agree with her.

[She’s wearing red lipstick to go with her raccoon-adjacent eyeliner as she rushes off to prepare milkshakes for a pack of middle schoolers. I catch her mid–death glare as all three of the kids rotate in their chairs, making the old things squeal. My anger fades a bit as I can’t help but chuckle; Amy’s pissed-off reaction to Richard telling her to smile more was said raccoon makeup, and her tolerance for buffoonery has been at a negative five to start and declining fast.

I rest my arms on the counter and try not to look as exhausted as I feel.

“Excuse me!” an old lady screeches, making me jump.

Amy covers up a laugh as I head to the old lady and her husband’s table. They’ve got finished plates, full waters. Not sure what the problem is. Or I do, which is worse.

“Yes?” I say trying to suppress my annoyance.

“Could you be bothered to serve us?”

Only five more hours on shift. I have a break in three minutes. I’ll be with Devin at Georgia Tech tomorrow. “I’m sorry, ma’am,” I say, so careful to keep my words even, but I can feel my hands balling into fists. “What would you—?”

And suddenly Amy swoops in, dropping two mugs of coffee down. “Sorry about that, you two,” she says, her voice extra high. “The machine was conking out on us, but it’s fine now.”

Once the coffee is down, she hooks onto a chunk of my shirt, steering us back to the bar.

“Thanks,” I mutter, embarrassed to have forgotten something so basic. Again.

“Just keep it together, man,” she says. “Maybe you’d be better off with that creepy night shift where all the truckers and serial killers come in.”

Honestly, at least the serial killers wouldn’t care about my jump shot.

It’s a few minutes before my break, but clearly I need it. “I’ll be in the back room.”

Right before I can head that way though, someone straight-up bursts into the diner and rushes over to me at the bar. It’s a middle-aged dad type, sunburned skin, beer belly, and stained T-shirt.

“Pickup order?” I ask.

“You should be ashamed,” he sneers at me. He has a really strong Southern accent, but it’s not Georgian. “Think you’re so high and mighty, that nothing’ll ever affect you? My kid’ll never go to college because of you and your lifestyle. Fuck you, Barclay Ell—”

And before this man can finish cursing my name, Pat of all people runs in, wide-eyed in humiliation. “Jesus, Dad, please don’t—”

I pin my gaze on him, remembering how he cowered on the bench as Ostrowski went off, how he didn’t even try to approach me. “Don’t even bother,” I snap.

I shove a to-go bag into his dad’s arms, relieved it’s prepaid, and storm off to the break room.]

Amy finds me head in my arms a minute or two later. I look up, rubbing my eyes. “Please spare me the pity.”

She snorts and hands me a milkshake. Mint chocolate chip. “Wouldn’t dare.” She takes a seat and rolls her shoulders and neck, cracks sounding through the tiny room. “Do you want a distraction or a shoulder to cry on?”

For more information, and to purchase your copy of Time Out, click here.

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Reframing the COVID-19 Pandemic Through a Stage Manager’s Eyes

By: Kaitlyn Riggio

5 July 2022

When the COVID-19 pandemic was declared a national emergency in the United States in March 2020, Broadway veteran stage manager Richard Hester watched the nation’s anxiety unfold on social media.

“No one knew what the virus was going to do,” Hester said. Some people were “losing their minds in abject terror, and then there were some people who were completely denying the whole thing.”

For Hester, the reaction at times felt like something out of a movie. “It was like the Black Plague,” he said. “Some people thought it was going to be like that Monty Python sketch: ‘bring out your dead, bring out your dead.’”

While Hester was also unsure about how the virus would unfold, he felt that his “job as a stage manager is to naturally defuse drama.” Hester brought this approach off the stage and onto social media in the wake of the pandemic.

“I just sort of synthesized everything that was happening into what I thought was a manageable bite, so people could get it,” Hester said. This became a daily exercise for a year. Over two years after the beginning of the pandemic, Hester’s accounts are compiled in the book, Hold Please: Stage Managing A Pandemic. Released earlier this year, the book documents the events of the past two years, filtering national events and day-to-day occurrences through a stage manager’s eyes and storytelling.

When Hester started this project, he had no intention of writing a book. He was originally writing every day because there was nothing else to do. “I am somebody who needs a job or needs a structure,” Hester said.

Surprised to find that people began expecting his daily posts, he began publishing his daily writing to his followers through a Substack newsletter. As his following grew, Hester had to get used to writing for an audience. “I started second guessing myself a lot of the time,” Hester said. “It just sort of put a weird pressure on it.”

Hester said he got especially nervous before publishing posts in which he wrote about more personal topics. For example, some of his posts focused on his experiences growing up in South Africa while others centered on potentially divisive topics, such as the 2020 election and the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Despite some of this discomfort, Hester’s more personal posts were often the ones that got the most response. The experience offered him a writing lesson. “I stopped worrying about the audience and just wrote what I wanted to write about,” Hester said. “All of that pressure that I think as artists we put on ourselves, I got used to it.”

One of Hester’s favorite anecdotes featured in the book centers on a woman who dances in Washington Square Park on a canvas, rain or shine. He said he was “mesmerized by her,” which inspired him to write about her. “It was literally snowing and she was barefoot on her canvas dancing, and that seems to me just a spectacularly beautiful metaphor for everything that we all try and do, and she was living that to the fullest.”

During the creation of Hold Please, Hester got the unique opportunity to reflect in-depth on the first year of the pandemic by looking back at his accounts. He realized that post people would not remember the details of the lockdown; people would “remember it as a gap in their lives, but they weren’t going to remember it beat by beat.”

“Reliving each of those moments made me realize just how full a year it was, even though none of us were doing anything outside,” he adds. “We were all on our couches.” Readers will use the book as a way to relive moments of the pandemic’s first year “without having to wallow in the misery of it,” he hopes.

“I talk about the misery of it, but that’s not the focus of what I wrote... it was about hope and moving forward,” Hester said. “In these times when everything is so difficult, we will figure out a way to get through and we will move forward.”

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