Photos: First Look at TODAY YOU ARE A MAN! Starring Pink Pancake

Michael Witkes, NYC-based actor, writer, director, and drag queen Pink Pancake stars in Today You Are A Man! at The Tank (312 West 36th Street, New York, NY 10018). Performances now playing through January 21st at 7:00pm. Tickets are $15 – $25  available via the Buy Tickets button below. Rated PG-13.

Check out the production photos below!

After a dazzling preview version in 2022, Today You Are A Man! makes its 2024 world premiere. This one-woman show is about genderqueer drag performer Pink Pancake and their closeted younger self, Michael, as they both become a Bar Mitzvah, a rite of passage when a Jewish youth becomes a Jewish adult. 

A bullied femme boy in the Philly suburbs, Michael is determined to end the middle school torture with the best Bar Mitzvah ever! But all is tarnished during his grand party entrance when the DJ plays Diana Ross’s iconic gay anthem “I'm Coming Out.” What should have been a day of celebration is clouded by rumors that he came out at his Bar Mitzvah, and his adolescence is forever stained.

Now Pink Pancake, Michael’s drag persona, is diving into the memory to offer some repair. Join Michael and Pancake as they embark on a hilarious, earnest, and fabulous journey to discover and accept who they are. Michael says “In today's climate, riddled with antisemitism and homophobia, I'm especially proud to celebrate a queer Jewish Identity on stage. Being queer is just outside the norm so if being Jewish is outside the norm of our culture then that means that being Jewish is inherently queer because it's something that's that's left of center. I'm not super religious but I consider myself to have a strong Jewish identity and the tradition of Judaism is really important to me so I even find my own interpretation of Judaism to kind of be a bit queer."

Today You Are A Man! features dancers Rocco Duranti and John Giesige with Direction by Stuart B Meyers; Choreography by Conor Donnelly; Lighting Design by Imani Denson-Pittman; Sound Design by Courtney Seyl; Costumes by Sam Branman, Beck Jones, Pink Pancake, and Griffin Patria; and Press/Production by Mara Jill Herman. Grayson Jelinek is Production Stage Manager and Alicia Love is Stagehand/Dresser.

MORE ABOUT MICHAEL WITKES

Michael Witkes is an NYC-based actor, writer, director, and drag queen (Pink Pancake). He strives to create and perform in LGBT-centered work that inspires social change, promotes acceptance, and explores sexual identity and shame. Creator of Interested In Series. Season 1 & 2 official selection at 12 film festivals, including Frameline. Season 2 was nominated for a Queerties Award and received a 2022 NYC Women's Fund Grant. The series has 55K subscribers and over 22 million views on YouTube. As a drag queen, Pink Pancake performs all over NYC. Most notably, she was featured in Condé Nast’s “What We Pack” series, has performed with Susanne Bartsch, and Pancake’s duo cabaret, “2 In the Pink” performed to a sold out audience at The Slipper Room. SDCF Observer to Joe Calarco. BA in Theatre, Muhlenberg College. Hangar Theater Lab Director. Queen Mary, University of London.

MORE ABOUT THE TANK

The Tank is a small, Manhattan-based non-profit arts presenter and producer serving emerging artists. Our goal is to remove economic barriers from the creation of new work for artists launching their careers or experimenting within their art form, while being inclusive and accessible. We keep ticket prices affordable, expanding the creation and attendance of the arts for a broad and diverse community.

Founded in 2003, The Tank champions emerging artists engaged in the pursuit of new ideas and forms of expression working across all disciplines, including theater, comedy, dance, film, music, puppetry, and storytelling. From the company’s two-theater home on 36th Street, The Tank serves over 2,500 artists every year, presents over 1,000 performances, and welcomes 36,000 audience members annually. The company fully produces a curated season of 13-18 theatrical World or New York premieres each season. 

Recent Tank-produced work includes New York Times Critics' Picks Taxilandia by Flako Jimenez (2021), OPEN by Crystal Skillman, directed by Jessi D. Hill (2019); Red Emma & The Mad Monk by Alexis Roblan, directed by Katie Lindsay (2018); and The Offending Gesture by Mac Wellman, directed by Meghan Finn (2016), as well as Drama Desk Award-nominated productions The Hunger Artist (2018), The Paper Hat Game (2017), the ephemera trilogy (2017), Ada/Ava (2016) and youarenowhere (2016). Artists who have come through The Tank include Alex Timbers, Amy Herzog, Lucy Alibar, Kyle Jarrow, Reggie Watts, Kyle Abraham, Andrew Bujalski, We Are Scientists, and tens of thousands of others.