"BETTER OFF READ: The Literary Work of Trans Women Writers" was a HUGE SUCCESS!!!! Around 150 people came out to support the work of 19 incredible trans women, and to raise money for the Red Umbrella Project. The space was standing-room-only, and there were audience members squished every which way. As many people noted, this kind of artistic event for trans women, with this many participants, and this big a crowd, was pretty much unprecedented. (If you know of a precedent, please share!)
Thank you Tom Léger and Riley MacLeod at Topside Press for conceiving of this event, and thank you Risa Shoup at The Invisible Dog Art Center for being so great and enthusiastic about letting us use the space, and thank you Red Durkin for being the best hostess in the business.
There is such a hunger in our communities for artistic events that speak to our actual lives, and that spotlight the experiences of those of us who have been ignored for far too long. Every time The Helix Queer Performance Network presents or co-presents an event, people come up and say, “I WISH STUFF LIKE THIS WOULD HAPPEN ALL THE TIME.” But it’s happening more and more, and it’s coming from so many different corners of so many different communities, and it’s because we are so BEYOND ready for it.
Here’s to getting together with people we admire and co-creating the world we want to live in.[The above image is an animated GIF of all 19 women who read: Casey Plett, Imogen Binnie, Phoenix Nastasha Russell, Sybil Lamb, Pauline Park, Ceyenne Doroshow, Rita Rachaels, Emma Caterine, Audrey Zee Whitesides, Bahar Akyurtlu, Morgan M. Page, Vaughn Cartwright, Annie Danger, Margeaux Benton, Alyssa Harley, Andreia Blue, Jeanne Thornton, Elaine Rita Mendus and Trace Peterson]
Yay! We were so proud to be part of this night!