TransTainment: Trans comics, Katy Keene and Space Art
Julia Scotti
We Are Trans, a regional variety show featuring trans and nonbinary performers, made the jump from the live stages of Manhattan, Central Jersey and Philadelphia to the internet on March 20 with the launch of the We Are Trans podcast. Both the live shows and the podcast were created by Sammie James, a central New Jersey-based trans comedian who has performed all over the region to both queer and mainstream audiences. When there are no venues with live shows happening the We Are Trans podcast is welcome entertainment. Find out more about it from the Philadelphia Gay News.
While we’re on the topic of comics, Julia Scotti is a trans comic, also from New Jersey, who has been called “a cross between Sam Kinison and Mrs. Doubtfire.” Scotti had been a comedian for several decades while presenting as male. She headlined shows in comedy clubs and opened for Lou Rawls, Chicago, and Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons. In 2000 she gave up her comedy career to concentrate on transition. Ten years later she stepped back on a stage to do her new comedy act as a woman. March 14 she was featured in a Showtime comedy special called More Funny Women of a Certain Age. Among the other female comics, of a certain age, were Carol Leifer and Caroline Rhea. If you have Showtime you can watch the show now.
Singer Benjamin Scheuer released a video for his song I Am Samantha for the Transgender Day Of Visibility. Benjamin Scheuer is a cisgender male but the song lyrics were inspired by Scheuer’s friendship with screenwriter Samantha Williams, who is trans. The video imagines a world entirely populated by trans-identifying people, who interpret the song’s lyrics as both a rallying cry and an affirmation of their identities. Scheuer used Samantha’s own words to craft the lyrics. Here is the video.
Irish electronic singer-songwriter and producer FLAVIA, a cisgender woman, who now resides in Los Angeles, also released a music video titled Them for the Transgender Day of Visibility. She says the song “was inspired by a specific romance I had with a trans-masculine person, but the video’s intentions were to visually illustrate an inclusive picture of the entire trans/gender non-conforming/non-binary community.” The video features almost fifty different people of a variety of gender identities.
If you want to really reach heights as an artist what could be higher than having your art circling the Earth on the International Space Station? One trans artist has a piece of her art up there right now. Adrianna Knouf is the artist and her contribution is called TX-1, and is orbiting the world as you read. It is a small plastic cylinder containing three resin pellets, two of which contain bits of the artist’s hormone pills and the other contains a “miniature paper sculpture.” Art in space was a project of the MIT Media Lab Space Exploration Initiative.
The space art called TX-1.
Beauchamp as Ginger.
The newest show pried out of Archie comics and run on the CW network is Katy Keene. Katy was created for the comics in 1945 and was a singer/actress/model. Fashion was her passion and she was always showcased in a variety of costumes. The CW has taken Katy out of Riverdale (and a good thing, too. That place has gotten really dark) and she’s now an aspiring fashion designer in New York City. She shares an apartment with drag performer Jorge Lopez who wants to make it big on Broadway. Lopez’s drag persona is Ginger.
Beauchamp as Angelique in Penny Dreadful.
Lopez is played by Jonny Beauchamp. Beauchamp considers himself to be gender-queer and has played trans and crossdressing characters in shows like Penny Dreadful, Stonewall, and now Katy Keene. The show is about young people in New York City trying to make it in the arts and fashion worlds. Jorge is trying to break into Broadway musicals but has bad luck auditioning. He decides to put his efforts into performing as Ginger when he is told at an audition that he’s not masculine enough to be a dancer in a Broadway production. What? In any event Katy Keene features a lot of musical numbers and shows off Lopez’s Ginger side. Read an interview with Jonny Beauchamp on the Assignment X website. Katy Keene is on the CW Thursday nights. It’s on hiatus till April 16.
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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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