Photos: Darwin Del Fabro's LILI / DARWIN at The Tank

Lili / Darwin, a new play written and performed by Darwin Del Fabro, will play a limited, 12-performance engagement starting this week, Saturday, August 2, at The Tank. See photos here! 

Presented by Madalena Productions, Lili / Darwin is directed by The Tank’s Artistic Director, Meghan Finn, and runs through August 23. For tickets and information, visit lilidarwin.com or .

A poetic solo performance exploring the intimate, overlapping journeys of Lili Elbe and Darwin Del Fabro, Lili / Darwin invites the audience into a raw, unflinching world of identity, memory, and becoming. Through voice, projection, and powerful language, Darwin brings to life the blurred lines of self and story, history and present.

Darwin Del Fabro is a Brazilian writer, performer, and producer based in New York. After years of creative work in theater and music, Lili / Darwin marks her return to the stage following her gender transition. Drawing from an inspiring lifelong connection to the story of Lili Elbe, Darwin intertwines personal narrative with historical record in this deeply intimate, genre-defying piece. The play traces the evolution of identity through language, history, and transformation.
 
Lili Elbe was a Danish painter who was assigned male at birth, experienced what is now called gender dysphoria, and underwent the world's first documented sex reassignment surgery in 1930. Her life inspired the 2015 Academy Award-winning film The Danish Girl starring Eddie Redmayne, and a 2023 opera by Tobias Picker. 
 
“I’ve always written to survive, to see myself clearly," says Darwin Del Fabro. “Lili / Darwin is the most personal work I’ve ever brought to the stage. It’s not just a play — it’s a reintroduction to myself, and an homage to the woman who helped me find the courage to begin.”

Lili / Darwin will be a featured mainstage show as part of The Tank's annual LimeFest, which invites new works by creative teams who identify as women, nonbinary, or gender non-conforming to make way for more gender parity in the performing arts. Produced by McKenna McQueen, the festival is good, old-fashioned summer art fun and runs August 2 - 24, 2025 at The Tank NYC.