Trans in the Arts: TransTainment
Julia Scotti
These Are the Jokes, Folks
Julia Scotti is not your average female comic. For one thing she is out there, in non-pandemic times, working the clubs at the age of 69. For another thing, she’s a trans woman who transitioned in 2016. Before she came out to her family she had been a working comic for a long time. After coming out she left the comedy spotlight for a whole year. While she worked on her transition she taught school. Sixth grade. Now she is working on new material, has a documentary film about her life, and is looking for ways to make people laugh during the pandemic. Thanks to Alyssa Washington for pointing us to this article about Julia Scotti on LGBTQ Nation.
Drag Race Goes Dutch
Dutch drag performer Diva Mayday.
Alyssa also let us know that Drag Race Holland will be hosted by Fred van der Leer, a Dutch TV presenter and stylist. van der Leer is a veteran of several reality shows and was chosen by RuPaul to be the host of the new Dutch edition of Drag Race. The show will debut on September 18 in the Netherlands and will be available streaming on WOW Presents Plus. Get a bit more information on the show from Pink News.
Philadelphia Drag Star Passes Away
Les Harrison, Philly’s longest-performing drag queen of color, passed away on August 14, 2020. He would have been 78 this year. Harrison began performing drag in Philadelphia in the late 1960s, and was the first performer of color to get a spot on a whites-only stage in Philadelphia. He first performed as a female impersonator in Philadelphia at the Five O’clock Club and Sister’s Place. Learn more about the Les Harrison from the Philadelphia Gay News.
Trans on Film
Amanda Lepore
If you miss the drag/club kid scene in New York City before it got cleaned up and sanitized, or you missed out on the experience, there is a new documentary film that’s titled I Hate New York, a feature debut by Gustavo Sánchez, that follows four of the most iconic artists and trans activists of the city’s legendary and bygone underground scene. They are: Amanda Lepore, Chloe Dzubilo, Sophia Lamar, and T De Long. Sánchez followed the four around the city for years, capturing hundreds of hours of footage. I Hate New York premieres Tuesday, September 1st on digital platforms. If you weren’t there in the ‘80s and ‘90s watching this film is the next best thing. And it’s safer, too. Learn more from Broadway World.
Lingua Franca tells the story of an undocumented trans Filipina, Olivia, working as a caregiver for Olga, an elderly woman of Russian descent, in Brooklyn’s Brighton Beach neighborhood. Olivia hopes to obtain a green card to stay in the U.S. legally. Matters are complicated when she becomes romantically involved with Olga’s adult grandson, Alex, and issues arise around her identity, immigration status, and civil rights. The film written and directed by Isabel Sandoval, who also plays Olivia. Sandoval is the first trans woman of color to write, direct, and headline a film at the 2019 Venice International Film Festival. Lingua Franca drops on Netflix August 26. Learn more about the director and the film from the Advocate.
In June, transgender recording artist Blxck Cxsper, founder of the trans-focused indie record label Trans Trenderz, made a simple offer to their Instagram followers: free beats and monetization tips to any black trans artist who needed help. “Let’s uplift black trans artists because there is no revolution without music,” they wrote in their post. They call it The Ghostly Beats Project. If you are a Black trans musician/songwriter/rapper you might want to check out the offer.
Now that we’ve covered transgender people in film, television, and music we close out this month’s TransTainment column with transgender people in the other arts. Performance, mixed media, and more. Here are the 15 Most Influential Transgender Artists according to culturacollectiva.com.
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Category: Transgender Fun & Entertainment
About the Author (Author Profile)
Angela Gardner is a founding member of The Renaissance Transgender Assoc., Inc., former editor of its newsletter and magazine, Transgender Community News. She was the Diva of Dish for TGF in the late 1990s and Editor of LadyLike magazine until its untimely demise. She has appeared in film and television shows portraying TG characters, as well as representing Renaissance on numerous talk shows.Subscribe
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