TransTainment for 10/31/22

Alexandra Billings

Amazon Prime has a new science fiction series, The Peripheral, based on William Gibson’s novel of the same name. The series focuses on a young woman named Flynne, who comes across a VR helmet that transports her 70 years into the future. Transparent actress Alexandra Billings is in the series playing a trans character named Detective Ainsley Lowbeer. The Peripheral premiered on Amazon Prime on October 21. Learn more about the show from slashfilm.com.

Last Monday the song we told you about, Unholy, by Kim Petras and Sam Smith took the number one spot in Billboard’s Hot 100. The song was in the top 10 for three weeks before ascending to the top. Unholy is the first No. 1 for either Smith or Petras. Congrats to Kim and Sam on their hit.

DJ Chelsea Manning

Remember WikiLeaks? That time a trans woman intelligence analyst in the U.S. Army took classified data and copied it onto what looked like audio CDs and smuggled them into the U.S? Then gave the data to WikiLeaks and that organization shared it with the whole web? Her name was Chelsea Manning and she was tried and sent to prison for 35 years. President Obama commuted her sentence and now she is making the rounds of talk shows promoting the book she wrote about the whole situation. What does a top secret whistleblower do in her spare time to unwind? She does DJ sets at a club in Brooklyn. It seems Ms. Manning is a long time drum and bass-loving DJ and producer who practically grew up with one foot in underground nightlife. Now she’s an author, activist, and, again, DJ. Learn all about her from The New York Times.

Sean Dorsey

Sean Dorsey Dance celebrates its 18th season with the world premiere of The Lost Art of Dreaming – presented November 18-20 (four performances only) at Z Space (450 Florida Street, San Francisco) – directed and choreographed by acclaimed transgender artist and activist, Sean Dorsey. The dance is an all-new dance-theater work that invites audiences to reconnect with longing, embrace expansive imagination, connect with joy and pleasure, and move toward loving futures. The Lost Art of Dreaming is performed by a talented ensemble of six trans, queer and gender-non-conforming dancers and singers. Click the link above for showtimes and tickets.

Apex Legends Stories from the Outlands trailer has revealed its newest Legend: Catalyst. Catalyst is a defensive hero who is the first transgender woman to enter the Apex games. Here’s the trailer.

A new musical opened in San Francisco last Saturday, Oct. 22. It’s titled The Red Shades: A Trans Superhero Rock Opera, and it features trans actress B Noel Thomas. Thomas spent the past 10 years as a popular performer throughout the Bay Area where she began her showbiz career performing in drag shows. One night after a show the performers were going out to unwind and she decided there was no reason to take off her drag. She said of that night, “That was the most comfortable I ever was just going out; I didn’t want to hide in the corner”. For info on the show visit the Z Space website.

Jordan Gray

Viewers of the Friday Night Live program in the United Kingdom on October 21 had a shock when trans musician turned comedian Jordan Gray surprised everyone by taking off her dress after the conclusion of her comedy set. Drag queens sometimes pull off their wigs at the end of their performance but we don’t know if the dress removal was related to that or simple exuberance on Ms. Gray’s part. After the dress came off she jumped around on the stage so it may have actually been exuberance. For a bit more info on the incident and Gray’s career visit Wales Online.

And that’s a wrap for this edition of TransTainment. Have a fun Halloween!

Tags: featured, showbiz, Transgender

Category: Transgender Fun & Entertainment