TransTainment 4/11/22

Hari Neff

Before we move on to the rest of TransTainment it’s time for a short quiz. Who spotted a trans actress in a current season episode of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel? Right! That was Hari Neff in Maisel vs. Lennon: The Cut Contest portraying Midge’s nemesis L. Roy Dunham. Will we see more of the character in upcoming episodes? Possibly.

Now, the TransTainment news!

Trans singer-songwriter, Skylar Conover, shared her story of being a transgender woman to a Fayetteville, Arkansas church congregation at services on Sunday, April 3. Her presentation was part of the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Fayetteville’s special service in honor of International Trans Visibility Day.

Ela Melo

The Charlotte Observer reports the lead singer of the alt/indie band Rainbow Kitten Surprise surprised fans by coming out as a trans woman. On March 30, just prior to the band embarking on tour, singer Ela Melo announced to the world that she is a proud trans woman. Fans following the band on social media were for the most part supportive. When we hear more from Ela and Rainbow Kitten Surprise you will find out about it here.

Playbill, the theater magazine marked International Transgender Day of Visibility March 31 with a special video released on Instagram. The video featured trans and non-binary theater artists from Broadway and beyond. It showed the importance of visibility and the vital impacts that trans and non-binary artists have on both the theater industry and the whole world. Visit Playbill’s website for the whole story.

Arisce Wanzer

MTV has a reality show titled Ex On the Beach. Contestants are invited to appear on the show and after they have arrived at a fab beach resort they learn the producers have also invited their ex-partners to be there. Such drama! One of the contestants this season is trans model, entertainer, and comic Arisce Wanzer. In addition to appearing on Ex On the Beach Ms. Wanzer was the first transgender woman to be a Spiegel catalog cover girl. Get more of her story from the Meaww website.

Sarah Davis Buechner

Sara Davis Buechner is a well regarded concert pianist who resides in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Her list of accomplishments is too long to be listed here but you can learn more about her from her website. In March she performed with the Canton (Ohio) Symphony Orchestra as part of their “Radiant Romanticism” MasterWorks concert. Learn more about her and her career as an out trans woman concert pianist from CantonRep.

NewMusicShelf’s Anthology of New Music: Trans & Nonbinary Voices, Vol. 1 addresses a need felt by many trans, nonbinary, and gender-nonconforming singers and artists. Opera and musical theater are for the most part heavily gendered and when Aiden Feltkamp looked for music written for trans and nonbinary performers he couldn’t find any. So he picked assembling the Anthology as a major project when he was chosen to be a Turn the Spotlight fellow in 2020. Learn more from Metro Weekly.

Cavetown is a bedroom pop artist. With the availability of musical equipment of near-pro standards all it takes to create music in your bedroom is talent. Cavetown is a U.K.-born, 23-year-old singer/songwriter/producer whose legal name is Robin Skinner. Skinner, whose pronouns are he/him is openly trans and much of his music is inspired by transgender and non-binary subjects. With over two million followers on YouTube and eight million monthly Spotify listeners Cavetown is coming out of his bedroom to take his music on the road. Give a listen to Fall in Love With a Girl, his latest single.

With all the anti-trans activity taking place in Texas Billboard magazine did an interview with North Texas singer Dahlia Knowles of the pop project known as Lorelei K. Ms. Knowles is a transgender woman and in the interview she is asked about the attacks on transgender people that are generated in Texas by the GOP dominated legislature and governor. She told Billboard, “But it’s the unnecessary villainizing of people who are completely helpless that infuriates me — we’re talking about children and parents who are just trying to do their best.”

Lizzo’s brand new dance show, Lizzo’s Watch Out For The Big Grrrls has already become a major hit. It’s a contest that’s checking out the dance moves of contestants and winnowing the field down to the final ten who will join Lizzo on tour. One of the contestants is a transgender woman. Jayla is her name. She’s a 33-year-old from Buffalo, New York who has been trained as a dancer in over 12 different styles and has been dancing since she was 14. She began her career as a gymnast. Learn more about her and the show from Reality Titbit. Catch the show on Amazon Prime Video.

P1nkstar is another Texas singer who moved to the state from Mexico. Born and raised in Tampico, Mexico, P1nkstar (María Rivera Felizardo) had far too many  traumatic experiences before she even knew how to express her gender identity. In her words, “Growing up, trans people absolutely did not even exist in my reality.” When asked for her thoughts on the constant attacks on transgender people the governor has instigated she said, “I think I haven’t even been able to process the fullness of this because it’s such a big thing. Initially, it was a lot of eye-rolling, mixed with some pretty deep sadness. Like, I couldn’t believe it …” Read more of the interview in Billboard.

inlander.com published a list of trans musicians in honor of the International Transgender Day of Visibility.

Talisa Garcia

Alyssa Washington let us know that Lucasfilm has cast a trans actress in a new Disney+ Series. Her name is Talisa Garcia and the series is called Willow. This is the first known time an out, trans actress has been hired to star in a project from the Disney-owned studio. Ms. Garcia will play a queen and the mother of one of the main characters. The series is a sequel to the 1988 fantasy film of the same name. Learn more from Out.

Tags: featured, film, music, Musician, television

Category: Transgender Fun & Entertainment