IN FULL BLOOM: TRANSCENDING GENDER Now Available on DVD and VOD

In Full Bloom: Transcending Gender follows the courageous journey of thirteen transgender and two gay actors as they transform their lives through the use of monologue, dialogue and performance art while preparing for the world premiere of the original stage play, Lovely Bouquet of Flowers: An Exploration of Non-Traditional Gender Voices, written by Jazzmun Nichcala Crayton and David Hays Gaddas.

Behind-the-scenes, rehearsal and performance footage are interwoven with candid personal interviews with the cast, who talk about how they deal with family, inner conflicts, discrimination, coming out, surgery, hormones and the complexities of sexual identity and orientation. By sharing their own journeys, the actors transcend gender and challenge us to move past stereotypes and see what we all have in common as human beings.

"As a photojournalist at heart, I'm always on the lookout for a good story - especially those which have a cross cultural element while dealing with the human condition to which I can add compelling visuals. I also sometimes work as a "gun for hire," filming other people's projects. A little backstory: I answered an online ad looking for someone to film a one-woman stage performance for Lana Houston. In our telephone conversation, Lana told be about her life as a male centerfold model for Playgirl magazine and her performances as the featured dancer in Janet Jackson's top music videos.

In addition to her one-woman show, Lana mentioned that she was also a cast member in a stage production featuring twelve other transgender performers focusing on stories as told by LA's transgender community. Visually, the "OH WOW" factor hit me and I told Lana that I was more interested in a possible documentary. Lana invited me to an upcoming rehearsal and I found that the writers Jazzmun and David were interested in documenting their experience with their play Lovely Bouquet of Flowers: An Exploration of Non-Traditional Gender Voices.

With my producing partner, Madeleine Liebert, the four of us agreed to be co-producers, with different backgrounds from different walks of life, even different parts of the globe. Madeleine and I got a quick LGBTQ education as time went on and we all got to know each other better. Madeleine and I enrolled in a LGBT Ally seminar at UCLA that was so helpful in understanding how we could be better supporters of our friends.

The obvious story was about the coming together in this community to mount a play but as a journalist, I was equally interested in the real personal stories of the individual cast members: Real stories through up close and personal interviews, showing how these individuals have so much in common with people from all walks of life - the daughter of a devout Baptist preacher from the deep south, an African American born to heroin-addicted parents in New York City, a Puerto Rican beauty queen, a middle class mid-westerner with the full support of her family, an ex-military man and gang banger - a diverse cast covering a broad Spectrum - Asian, Latino, and Black with human experiences of drugs, mental illness, bullying and more - all things that are an integral part of my own family history - and then, their stories of triumph, acceptance and celebration are all things that I can identify with and had to be addressed in our documentary.

Together we weaved this story of putting a groundbreaking play together along with the personal journeys of seventeen courageous people! We all had a vision for this project much before "transgender" was a household word."

Watch the trailer here:

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