Trans Voices Cabaret CHI Announces Venue Change, PRIDE Show Cast

Trans Voices Cabaret CHI has announced a venue change to Steppenwolf to be part of their LookOut series. TVCChi will begin their venture with the series on Monday, June 24th, 2019 at 7pm in the 1700 space, to celebrate pride as well as their one year anniversary.

The Pride show cast includes Isaura Flores (they/them), Parker Guidry (they/them or any pronouns used with respect), North Rory Homeward (he/him), David Lovejoy (ze/hir), Collin Quinn Rice (they/them) , Jerome Riley Jr. (all pronouns accepted), Sawyer Smith (they/them), Hannah Starr (they/them), Larry Trice (they/them), Wil Whedbee (they/them), and Garnet Williams (they/them). The show will be hosted by trans comedian KJ Whitehead (they/them).

The production team includes Laura Alcalá Baker (she/her) as director, Doug Peck (he/him) as music director, Molly Weaver (they/them) as the stage manager, and Lars Ebsworth (ze/zir) as the lead producer.

To continually expand performance opportunities for the trans/gender divergent community, TVCChi is introducing a new performance schedule. This new setup includes two distinct shows that will be featured biyearly. Their traditional musical theatre showcase, which will now be held at Steppenwolf, will feature trans/gender nonconforming artists ready to be cast in the musical theatre world. New to the schedule is an "all skill levels/all performance styles welcome" salon entitled VisibiliT, held at smaller venues and showing that, no matter where one looks in the entertainment industry, there's a trans artist you can hire.

In addition to the venue change for the musical theatre showcase, Trans Voices Cabaret CHI will now hire established Chicago musical theatre directors/musical directors on a rotating basis to coach the artists, allowing both sides of the table to comingle and encourage more hiring opportunities.

"A challenge of coming out as a performer is that your entire instrument changes," says Lars Ebsworth, co-founder and lead producer of TVCChi. "We have to relearn how to fit in this industry - one some of us have been in since childhood - and we have to help everyone else catch up on how to cast us along the way. Our goal here is to expedite that process and give 'right here, right now' solutions to this problem. We're thrilled the LookOut series at Steppenwolf is joining us in this journey."

Tickets are available for purchase at $15 either online (https://www.steppenwolf.org/reserve/index.aspx?performanceNumber=15151) or on the phone (312-335-1650).