L Morgan Lee to Lead Breaking the Binary Theatre's Summer Intensive

Breaking the Binary Theatre is partnering with Tony Award nominee and Core Community Advisory Board member L Morgan Lee (she/her, A Strange Loop) on the company’s first ever BTB Summer Intensive program.

BTB will offer free sessions across three Mondays this summer (July 31, August 7, and August 14) for a group of six transgender, non-binary, and Two-Spirit+ (TNB2S+) musical theatre performers chosen via an open submissions policy. Application materials for the program must be submitted by Sunday June 18 at 11:59pm ET. All applicants will be notified by 11:59pm ET on Sunday July 2 with an update on their submission. To apply, please visit: www.btb-nyc.com/summer-intensive.

Over the course of these three sessions throughout July and August, the six TNB2S+ participants will have the opportunity to work with L Morgan Lee to build confidence with audition materials, forge new industry connections, and hone in on their craft and artistry.

All three weekly sessions will be held in New York City from 6pm-9pm. The BTB Summer Intensive is completely free for accepted participants. As a part of BTB’s work to center safety for TNB2S+ performers in every process, reimbursements for car transportation within the New York area following each session will be provided for each of the six participants.

The TNB2S+ participants will be selected by Lee and Strus based on facility with storytelling, authenticity of self and one’s artistry, and passion. Applicants from all levels of skill and artistry within the TNB2S+ community are encouraged to apply.

Details of the sessions are as follows:

• On Monday July 31, the group will meet with Lee to work through and discuss material based on a prompt circulated before the session.
• On Monday August 7, Lee will be joined by a TNB2S+ industry professional to discuss navigating the industry as a TNB2S+ artist. They will also work through new audition material given to each participant by Lee following the first week.
• On Monday August 14, Lee and Founding Artistic Director George Strus (they/them) will be joined by three cis-industry professionals that will meet individually with each participant to perform material refined throughout the first two sessions for the guests.

Breaking the Binary Theatre defines a “TNB2S+ artist” as any artist who does not correspond with the male and female binary and is transgender, non-binary, Two-Spirit, gender non-conforming, genderqueer, agender, gender expansive, bigender, gender fluid, or otherwise lives outside of the cisnormative gender binary. For more information on BTB's usage of "TNB2S+,” please visit: www.btb-nyc.com/overview.

Breaking the Binary Theatre

remains counseled by their Core Community, a voluntary advisory board of prominent TNB2S+ theater artists assembled in their first year working to further BTB Theatre’s outreach and impact. The board includes Tony Award-nominated designer Adam Rigg (they/them, The Skin of Our Teeth), Kleban Prize and Jonathan Larson Award-winning writer César Alvarez (they/them, Futurity), New York Stage and Film’s Former Artistic Director Chris Burney (he/they), Princess Grace Award Honoraria recipient and director David Mendizaìbal (they/he, Notes on Killing Seven Oversight, Management, and Economic Stability Board Members), Guggenheim Fellow and writer Jen Silverman (they/them+, The Moors), Tony and Obie Award-winning actor and writer John Cameron Mitchell (he/they, Hedwig and the Angry Inch), Tony Award-winning multi-hyphenate KO who was formerly known as Karen Olivo (they/them, In the Heights), Kleban Prize and Jonathan Larson Award-winning poet Kit Yan (they/he/she, Interstate), Tony Award nominee L Morgan Lee (she/her, A Strange Loop), Jane Chambers Prize and Helen Merrill Award-winning writer MJ Kaufman (he/they, A Transparent Musical), Antonyo Award-nominated costume designer and activist Qween Jean (she/her, The Seagull/Woodstock, NY), Co-Director of A.R.T./New York Risa Shoup (they/them), Tomás Matos (they/them, “Fire Island”), Grammy Award-winning interdisciplinary storyteller Ty Defoe (he/we/ty, Straight White Men), and Princeton Arts Fellow and Helen Hayes Award-winning director Will Davis (he/him, California).

Breaking the Binary Theatre Festival is powered by fiscal sponsor Producer Hub and supported by a number of non-profit Admin Allies including Manhattan Theatre Club, MCC Theater, New York Theatre Workshop, Playwrights Horizons, Public Theater, Roundabout Theatre Company, Soho Rep, and WP Theater.

For more information, visit www.btb-nyc.com. Follow the company on Instagram at @breakingthebinarytheatre.