Hari Nef, Taylor Trensch, Carl Clemons-Hopkins and Marti Cummings are among the 50 performers now cast in the fifth Breaking the Binary Theatre Festival. It runs October 5–11 at MCC's Susan & Ronald Frankel Theater, and every seat is free.
The names fill out the week of readings that Breaking the Binary Theatre laid out last month. The company, founded in 2022 by George Strus (they/them), develops new work by transgender, non-binary and Two-Spirit+ (TNB2S+) artists. This year's festival plays the Robert W. Wilson MCC Theater Space, one program a night, with four new plays stacked into the Saturday.
Monday, October 5: My H8 Letter to the Gr8 American Theatre by the late Zaza Diana Oh, read in the writer's honor and directed by Miranda Haymon. The company is Alex Lugo, b, Bianca Leigh, Carl Clemons-Hopkins, Cheeyang Ng, Dani Martineck, Dom Martello, Mei Ann Teo, Sagan Chen, T Mitsock and TL Thompson.
Tuesday, October 6: Joslyn DeFreece performs Liliana Padilla's solo play Twitch, directed by Jack Ferver. The piece was first developed at the inaugural festival in 2022, and this solo version premiered at this year's Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
Wednesday, October 7: The Magically Re-Imagined History of J.K. Rowling, with book, music and lyrics by Jaime Jarrett and direction by Emilio Ramos. Hennessy Winkler, Jesse James Rose, Marti Cummings and Evie Schuckman make up the cast.
Thursday, October 8: the five dolls of Cats: The Jellicle Ball — B Noel Thomas, Garnet Williams, Kya Azeen, Leiomy and "Tempress" Chasity Moore — share a stage for the first time since that production closed, in Glitz, Glamour, Girls: A Variety Show, directed by Noax. Bryson Battle, Kalyn West and Nora Schell are the guests.
Friday, October 9: Tony winner Qween Jean takes on the role of Cecilia for the first time in Cecilia Gentili's Red Ink, developed and directed by Nic Cory.
Saturday, October 10: four new plays. our chronicle by DJ Hills, directed by Will Davis, with Hennessy Winkler and Reed Northrup. Boids, a company commission by reid tang, directed by Kedian Keohan, with Che Kabia, Futaba, Ema Zivkovic, Ishmael Gonzalez, Jonny Beauchamp, Kyr Siegel and Sagan Chen. Before Then, There's Now by Ianne Fields Stewart, directed by N'yomi Allure Stewart, who also appears alongside Carmen LoBue, essence lotus, fatima jamal, Gigi Gatekeeper, Jayae Riley Jr, Mariyea, Marquise Vilsón and travis l. tate. And Spin by Jake Brasch, directed by Sivan Battat, with Barsha, clew, Hari Nef, Jax Jackson, Jess Barbagallo, Nora Brigid Monahan, Sabrina Wu and Taylor Trensch.
Sunday, October 11: the closing night, Celebrate, gathers highlights from the more than 50 short scenes and monologues the company has commissioned since 2022 and published with Broadway Licensing/Concord Theatricals. L Morgan Lee directs and co-conceived the evening with Strus; the writers include Chris Bush, Jen Silverman, Kit Yan, Rob Madge and Sasha Velour. JJ Maley, Julie J, Murphy Taylor Smith, Nora Schell and TL Thompson join Lee onstage.
Casting is by The Telsey Office and Charlie Hano, CSA. Esmé Maria Ng produces the festival, with Is Perlman as assistant producer.
All tickets are free and are available through the company's festival page. The festival is Strus's last as artistic director: after the company's November 20 concert of The Danish Girl at Lincoln Center's David Rubenstein Atrium, Strus steps down in December.
