TAFFETA, a Short Film Written & Performed by Roger Q. Mason, Announces Exclusive Screening and Conversation

The producers of Taffeta, a short film written and performed by acclaimed Black Filipinx playwright and Kilroys List honoree Roger Q. Mason (they/them), are inviting theater audiences to three exclusive screenings in partnership with some of America's most prominent queer theaters, including the National Queer Theater, About Face Theatre, Celebration Theatre, New Conservatory Theatre Center, and Out Front Theatre Company.

Taffeta is directed by Lovell Holder (feature films Working Man, Some Freaks) and produced by Adam Hyndman (Broadway's The Inheritance, Hadestown), Holder, and Mason. Screenings will occur on August 18 and 19 at 8:30 pm EST/5:30 pm PST, as well as August 21 at 4:00 pm EST/1:00 pm PST. Each screening will be followed by a live Zoom conversation with Mason, Holder, and Hyndman, and audiences can RSVP at https://taffeta/eventbrite.com.

Taffeta is a portrait of a black, plus-sized genderqueer person in desperate search for affirmation and affection. Based upon Roger Q. Mason's play Lavender Men (2020 Kilroys List), this short film is a searing portrait of body dysmorphia, food addiction, and queer loneliness in the age of digital intimacy. The film will also be premiering this month at OutFest in Los Angeles and at Geena Davis' Bentonville Film Festival, which spotlights the work of underrepresented creators. View the three minute trailer for the film below:

"We're incredibly honored to introduce you to our Taffeta," said playwright Roger Q. Mason. "She's a queen, she's a soldier, she's a lover, she's a person striving to conquer their own loneliness and suffering. In some ways, she could be considered my alter ego, and on paper we do share much in common: we are both African-American, Filipinx, queer, genderfluid, plus-size people striving through each day in America. Taffeta wants to inspire a discussion about loneliness, body image, and the alienation and abuse of BIPOC people within the LGBTQ+ community. We hope you'll give her a chance to show you a window into her world."

"It was immediately clear to me how crucial Roger's own personal experiences were to the conversations Taffeta is fighting to provoke", said director Lovell Holder. "She has so much she wants to say. We knew we had to bring her to audiences sooner rather than later, some way, somehow. We could not wait."

Taffeta first exploded into being when playwright Roger Q. Mason began writing their play, Lavender Men. Roger was eager to investigate the queer history of Abraham Lincoln onstage, and they decided to do so by providing a contemporary surrogate onstage who was everything Lincoln was not. The play went on to have a public reading at Circle in THE SQUARE as part of the Circle Reading development series in 2019, and the world premiere of the play was scheduled for April 2020 at Skylight Theatre Company in Los Angeles. One week into rehearsals for Lavender Men's debut, the coronavirus pandemic brought a halt to Taffeta's journey. As the pandemic raged on, the play was featured and spotlighted in the Los Angeles Times, Playbill, and Broadway World as one of the new works stalled by the coronavirus, and in July 2020, the play was named to the prestigious Kilroys List. In the fall of 2020, a small slice of Taffeta's world was brought to life through a short film. Now almost one year after Taffeta was supposed to greet audiences onstage, she's come instead to invade their screens.

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