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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 29th, 2018, NYC: After a sold out debut performance last November, transgender performer and producer Donnie Cianciotto returns to The Duplex with an even bigger cast of transgender and non-binary performers for the second installment of Trans Voices Cabaret on Sunday, February 25th, 2018 at 3:30pm.
“I had high hopes for our first performance last year, but my expectations were totally exceeded,” says Cianciotto, adding that, “...not only was it a fantastic show, but we had a full house of eager and excited supporters to cheer us on. I think the incredible staff at The Duplex found themselves busier than any of us had foreseen!”
Trans Voices Cabaret spotlights transmen, transwomen, and non-binary singers who are often overlooked by casting directors and producers, or struggle with finding performance opportunities because of their gender identity/gender presentation. “I had to turn about 20 performers away this time because there were so many interested participants,” Cianciotto said. “To me, that indicates that there really is a large, diverse community of talented TGNC performers in New York City who are ready and able to work, and I hope that Trans Voices Cabaret draws attention to that fact.”
Some of the cast’s combined performance credits include 54 Below, Joe’s Pub, The Met, NYMF, Steppenwolf, Carnegie Hall, The Cutting Room, The Public Theater, and several regional and community theater companies nationwide.
Returning cast members Maybe Burke, Izzy Castaldi, Donnie Cianciotto, Samy el-Noury, Jordan Ho, Kita Updike, and Julian Wolfe are joined by newcomers Andi Lee Carter, Aidan Cleary, Ian Fields Stewart, Sandy Gooen, Em Grosland, Jacob Michael, and Tonilyn Sideco. Musical Direction is once again provided by the award winning singer-songwriter, Brandon James Gwinn. Donnie Cianciotto directs. Bios available below.
Trans Voices Cabaret is being held in the cabaret theater at The Duplex, 61 Christopher Street, NY, NY 10014 at 3:30pm on Sunday, February 25th. Tickets are available for $10 in advance through The Duplex’s website (www.theduplex.com) or for $15 at the door. Advance purchase is encouraged due to limited seating. Limited industry comps available. Email: transvoicescabaret@gmail.com for more information.
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BIOS
MAYBE BURKE: Maybe is a Theatre Artist and Trans Advocate who founded The Trans Literacy Project with Honest Accomplice Theatre. They are always interested in telling stories that haven't been told. Recent credits include Delicious Filth (The Brick), Red Emma & the Mad Monk (Ars Nova), T.B. Sheets (Buran Theatre), Tag You're Dead (Joe's Pub), ReconFIGUREd (Honest Accomplice Theatre). Solo shows: Love Letters to Nobody, or Insignificant Others (The Wild Project, The Brick), Accidental Trans Anthems (The Brick) BA Directing, Pace University. maybeburke.com@believeinmaybe
ANDI LEE CARTER: Andi (he/him/they/them) is a New York-based playwright, composer, lyricist, singer, and comedian. He is a first year student in the NYU Tisch Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program. His first original full-length musical Rent A White Guy was dubbed “often very funny” by The New York Times. Andi performs regularly at the People's Improv Theatre with his sketch comedy troupe Adam's Summer Class. He is an Artistic Associate with Random Access Theatre performing in the hit series Drunk Restoration Comedy. He is a proud member of the Dramatist Guild of America and founding member of the Musical Theatre Factory and moderator of its monthly Women/Trans* Writers Representation Round Table. www.andileecarter.com
IZZY CASTALDI: Izzy is a new resident of NYC, having recently moved from Philadelphia. There, they attended the University of the Arts and performed regionally in After Orlando (Philadelphia Theater Company) and as Imogen in Cymbeline (Revolution Shakespeare). Last summer they were nominated for a NYMF award for Outstanding Performance in a Leading Role for their performance as Taylor in Normativity, as part of the New York Musical Festival.
DONNIE CIANCIOTTO: Donnie is a NYC native and a transgender male performer who was most recently seen in Prospect Theater’s 2018 Musical Theater Lab. Other recent credits include Sam in "Southern Comfort" at The Public Theater, and Charlie Brown in "A Charlie Brown Christmas" at The Secret Theatre. He has performed locally in several concerts & cabarets including "Broadway Voices for North Carolina" at The Cutting Room, "Oh Broadway, Where Art Thou?" at 54 Below, "Concert For America" at The Town Hall, "My White List Cabaret" at Symphony Space, and many more. Donnie has appeared in videos for NowThis and Buzzfeed, and is featured in Broadway for Orlando's "What the World Needs Now" dance remix music video. Donnie is an outspoken advocate for transgender visibility and equality, and is the subject of an Emmy award-winning documentary short film, "Donnie", highlighting his experience as a transgender man (dir. Ania Augustowska.) "Donnie" is currently in production to be re-released as a feature film. Donnie is the director and producer of Trans Voices Cabaret. Insta: thedonniecianciotto www.donniecianciotto.weebly.com
AIDAN CLEARY: Aidan (ze/hir pronouns) is a non-binary Actor/Singer/Theater Artist in New York City. Hir recent professional credits include: Linus in the Charlie Brown Christmas National Tour, Man in Chair in The Drowsy Chaperone, Willard Hewitt in Footloose, Ryan Evans in High School Musical, and Wally in Life Could Be A Dream. Aidan dreams of one day playing a non-binary character in a professional musical! A recent Sarah Lawrence College Graduate, Aidan is from the San Francisco Bay Area and currently lives in New York City. Outside of the theater Aidan is an avid Ice Hockey fan and a former player trying to change the game's attitude towards LGBT & female players. Follow hir online at aidancleary80.com
SAMY EL-NOURY: Samy is an actor, aerialist, pianist, puppeteer, and vocalist. In addition to performing, he also works as the General Manager of the Baltimore Annex Theater; as well as a teaching artist for the Smithsonian Discovery Theater and the Young Playwright's Theater. An out (and outspoken) transgender activist, Samy is on the leadership team for the Baltimore Transgender Alliance. There, he functions as a public speaker, and works with various organizations on peer support, youth mentorship, and outreach for LGBTQ-identified individuals. In 2017, Samy published his first-ever op-ed piece in The Advocate, on the challenges of being a working transgender actor of color. He has since taken to Medium to publish new pieces. He aims to highlight the diversity of the transgender experience. Samy lives in Baltimore, MD and works along the east coast. Find him online at www.samyelnoury.com!
SANDY GOOEN: Sandy (they/them or he/him) is a queer, transmasculine, Jewish, and neurodivergent writer/performer and peer advocate. Sandy is a rising senior, majoring in music at Barnard College. Writing: It Takes a Village at the Glicker-Milstein Summer Theatre Festival, In Circles with Scott Feiner at French Woods Festival, and the orchestrations for Ooh Kill ‘Em at Columbia University. Sandy has performed domestically and internationally, but mostly in New York City, including David Geffen Hall, The Metropolitan Opera House, Jazz at Lincoln Center, and Carnegie Hall. Sandy’s Twitter is @featSandyGooen.
EM GROSLAND: Em was last scene as Max in Steppenwolf’s production of Hir. His previous credits include: Peter in Peter Pan at Tuacahn Ampitheatre, The world premier of Eve Ensler’s Emotional Creature (Berkeley Repertory Theatre and off-broadway/Signature Center); Francis Flute in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Off-Broadway); The world premier of The Anthem (off-broadway); Eric Harris in the world premier of The Erlkings (off-broadway); Wagner’s Ring Cycle (LA Opera); and Danny Who in How the Grinch Stole Christmas (National Tour). Film and TV credits: Bull, Law and Order: SVU and Ricki and the Flash. Em received his BFA from Washington University in St. Louis. Em is also a painter, illustrator, and graphic designer.www.EmGrosland.com; @EmGrosland
BRANDON JAMES GWINN: Brandon is a writer, producer and musician. He is the composer and co-lyricist of Cotton Candy & Cocaine, Queer. People. Time., and Underwear A Space Musical which premiered in the 2008 New York International Fringe Festival and was an invited production at the 2012 American College Theatre Festival. His music and lyrics for Matchmaker Matchmaker I'm Willing to Settle premiered at the American Repertory Theatre in Boston and the 2011 New York Musical Theatre Festival. Brandon is also the composer and co-lyricist of the New York Theatre Barn Commission Small Town Story which received the National Alliance of Musical Theatre Writer's Residency Grant, was a finalist for the Richard Rodgers award, was featured in the Village Theatre New Musicals Festival in Seattle, and was subsequently produced in workshop at the University of Hartford. Brandon recently produced and performed on Two Birds, the debut album of Trixie Mattel (RuPaul's Drag Race), which debuted at #2 on the iTunes top album chart. Brandon is currently touring on piano with Drag Race Season 9's Alexis Michelle. He has performed with and done arrangements for Tony award winner Daisy Eagan, Two-time Emmy Nominee Tituss Burgess, Tony Nominee Judy Kuhn and 12-time MAC Award winner Karen Mason. He composed the music for George Takei's comedy webseries It Takeis Two. A critically lauded singer-songwriter and music director, he has arranged and played shows in Beijing, LA, San Francisco, Miami, and in New York at Feinstein's, Birdland, Joe's Pub, 54 Below and on Fire Island. As a writer he has been an artist in residence at Ars Nova and is a 2015-2016 Dramatists Guild Fellow. MFA from NYU's Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program.
JORDAN HO: Jordan is a Brooklyn-based gender fluid actrex. Theatre credits include: Salt Kid Watches Brooklyn Burn (Joe's Pub at The Public Theater), The Female Role Model Project (The Clemente), and i wrote on ur wall and now i regret it (The Wild Project). Xe is also a company member of Honest Accomplice Theatre and tours with their shows, The Birds and the Bees Unabridged and ReconFIGURED, to share the narrative of cis women and trans people across the NorthEast. This summer xe wrote and workshopped xyr play Choose Your Character at The Trans Theatre Festival at The Brick. BA Acting Pace University. instagram:@leavanny, twitter:@skrelp
JACOB MICHAEL: Jacob (he/him/his pronouns) is a Brooklyn-based trans-masculine actor/writer. Theatre credits include: Max (Hir, Island City Stage), Orin Scrivello (Little Shop..., Workshop Theater), Caldwell B. Cladwell (Urinetown, Rhino Theatre), Rod (Avenue Q, Porch Light Productions). He is a Paper Mill Playhouse Rising Star recipient. For more information, please visit: http://jacobmichael.net
TONILYN SIDECO: Tonilyn is a proud booty-shaking genderqueer love warrior. The fourth child of Filipino immigrants, Toni was born and raised in San Francisco’s Sunset District and is now a NYC-based writer, director and educator for both stage and film, teaching Creative Technologies at the New School for Drama. Toni sings with the professional Filipino performance company, Broadway Barkada and is a co-host for the PBS Digital Studio Series First Person, a show about gender identity, sexuality & queer community. -www.tonilynsideco.com-
IAN FIELDS STEWART: Ian (pronouns: they/them/their) is a black, queer, and Transfeminine New York based storyteller working at the intersection of theatre and activism. As a performer, Ian has worked consistently in productions at NYC venues such as Manhattan Rep, NYC Fringe Festival ’16, Shapiro Theatre, and more. In the spring of 2017, Ian performed an excerpt of their one-person show, On the Train to Nowhere in Particular, at the legendary Joe's Pub. Ian can also be seen on Buzzfeed LGBT, the You Had Me at Black podcast, the #Safewordsociety podcast, and the Is it Transphobic Podcast. One of Ian's most transformative experiences occurred in the summer of 2017 when they were selected out of over 500 applicants to be one of the 15 US Fellows for Humanity in Action's 2017 John Lewis Fellowship. For the month of July, Ian shared space with and learned from various historic and current civil rights leaders in Atlanta, GA in order to better understand the legacy of the Civil Rights Movement and develop strategies for implementing effective change in contemporary political and social movements. Please follow them at: https://www.ianfieldsstewart.com .
JULIAN WOLFE: Julian is a NYC-based actor who is jumping back into the biz after a hiatus to transition and develop a career as a therapist who focuses on the needs of trans*/GNC teens and adults. Julian performed professionally as the drag king, BenDover, while living in South Florida. He writes, produces, directs and is a performance artist. He earned a BFA from Tisch and studied at ETW. Favorite roles include: The Alto in Closer Than Ever, Monsieur Prouix in Quills, and the title role in Salome. Julian is pleased as punch to be joining the ranks with his fellow trans*/GNC performers. www.julianwolfe.me
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