TheatreWorks Silicon Valley to Host TV Star and Trans Activist Shakina for Benefit Performance Next Month

TheatreWorks Silicon Valley will present actor/activist Shakina (NBC's “Connecting,” NBC's “Quantum Leap,” Hulu's “Difficult People”) in Songs and Stories with Shakina: A Musical TheatreWorks Fundraiser and Party, a fun-filled night of transcendent tunes, a dazzling dance party, and a sneak peek at the future of musical theatre. Seen during TheatreWorks' 2014 New Works Festival, the trailblazing trans activist and musical powerhouse returns to TheatreWorks with this special benefit concert to be staged during its 20th Anniversary New Works Festival. Songs and Stories with Shakina: A Musical TheatreWorks Fundraiser and Party will be hosted 7pm Friday, August 18, 2023, at the Lucie Stern Theatre, 1305 Middlefield Rd., Palo Alto, with a special pre-event discussion in partnership with the Commonwealth Club of California. Tickets ($150 for show and after-party; $50 for show only) and information about this special fundraiser are available online at theatreworks.org or by calling (650) 463-1960. Proceeds from this event will support TheatreWorks in its continued missions of supporting the development of new theatre and bringing the arts to Bay Area audiences.

Prior to the show, Shakina will sit down for a conversation with host Michelle Meow for the “Michelle Meow Show” for the Commonwealth Club of California, the nation's oldest and largest public affairs program. Meow's program shares discussions with some of the most interesting and influential people in the LGBTQIA+ community and more. The conversation will take place at 6pm in the Lucie Stern Theatre and is open to the public with tickets free of charge. For tickets and more information, the public may visit commonwealthclub.org.

Shakina made television history on NBC's “Connecting” as the first transgender person to play a series regular on a network sitcom, and she is currently a writer and director on NBC's “Quantum Leap.” Shakina guest-starred in Amazon's GLAAD award-winning “Transparent” musical finale, which she helped write and produce, and Hulu's “Difficult People” as the iconic trans truther, Lola. Her play Chonburi International Hotel and Butterfly Club premiered on Audible in 2020 in collaboration with Williamstown Theatre Festival and was recognized with a 2021 Drama League Award for Best Audio Theatre Production. She is the Founding Artistic Director of Musical Theatre Factory, where she helped to develop hundreds of new musicals including Michael R. Jackson's Tony and Pulitzer Prize-winning A Strange Loop and her own autobiographical glam rock odyssey, Manifest Pussy. Recognitions include The Lilly Award for Working Miracles, Theatre Resources Unlimited Humanitarian Award, The Kilroys List, and Logo 30. She is a two-time Drama League fellow and two-time OUT 100 honoree.

During her special concert, Shakina will premiere never-before-heard songs from her brand-new musical 5 & Dime, based on the classic play (later adapted to a film) Come Back to the 5 & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean, with music by Dan G. Sells (Brokeback Mountain, Everybody's Talking About Jamie), book by Ashley Robinson (Brokeback Mountain, Fall of '94), and lyrics by Shakina herself. As she performs, Shakina will offer candid thoughts on her writing process, what drew her to this project, and where it's headed next. Following the show, audience members are invited to don their dancing shoes for an after-party with drinks and music as TheatreWorks celebrates the Bay Area's vibrant LGBTQIA+ community.

Gathering hundreds of theatre lovers for a sneak peek at the future of theatre, TheatreWorks Silicon Valley's New Works Festival offers the extraordinary opportunity for audiences to experience new plays and musicals in their initial stages of development and see their evolution over multiple performances. Now presenting its 20th Anniversary New Works Festival August 11-20, 2023, TheatreWorks will stage readings of four new works: Min Kahng's Happy Pleasant Valley: A Senior Sex Scandal Murder Mystery Musical, a rollicking musical comedy about scandals and murder in a senior living community; Minita Gandhi's Nerve, an aromatic dark comedy that includes on-stage cooking and shares recipes and bites with the audience; Bess Welden's National Jewish Playwriting Contest winner Madeleines, a drama that explores sibling conflict, family legacies, and treasured recipes; and Low Expectations, a globe-trotting solo show with music by seasoned film and television actor Michael Gaston (Bridge of Spies, W, Inception, “The Man in the High Castle,” “Jack Ryan,” “Madam Secretary,” “The Good Wife”). TheatreWorks will kick off the Festival on Friday, August 11 with Before the Ink Dries: A Special TheatreWorks Fundraiser with David Henry Hwang and Rajiv Joseph, a benefit featuring a dinner and onstage conversation with two of America's most fascinating contemporary playwrights: Tony Award winner David Henry Hwang (M. Butterfly, Chinglish, Yellow Face, Soft Power) and Obie Award winner Rajiv Joseph (King James, Archduke, Describe The Night, The Lake Effect, The North Pool, Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo).

The Festival has launched many new works onto TheatreWorks' main stage and to national productions, including Broadway's Tony Award-winning Best Musical Memphis and the 2018 Obie Award winner for Best New American Play, Rajiv Joseph's Describe The Night. The Festival has given playgoers their first looks at new works by such luminaries as Andrew Lippa, Stephen Schwartz, Wendy Wasserstein, Marsha Norman, Christopher Chen, Rachel Sheinkin, David Hein and Irene Sankoff, Rajiv Joseph, Duncan Sheik, Rogelio Martinez, Kimber Lee, Joe DiPietro, Rehana Lew Mirza, and many more.

TheatreWorks Silicon Valley, led by Interim Artistic Director Giovanna Sardelli in partnership with Executive Director Debbie Chinn, presents a wide variety of contemporary plays and musicals, revitalizes great works of the past, and serves more than 100,000 patrons per year. Founded in 1970 by Robert Kelley, TheatreWorks has grown from an original Silicon Valley start-up to become one of the nation's leading professional non-profit theatre companies. TheatreWorks was honored as the recipient of the 2019 Regional Theatre Tony Award. In addition to acclaimed productions of classics and contemporary plays and musicals, TheatreWorks champions new work, offering artists support and a creative home as they develop new stories for the American theatre. Offstage, TheatreWorks' arts education programs uplift its audiences and strengthen community bonds. Onstage and off, TheatreWorks welcomes the mosaic of people that embody the Bay Area and beyond, celebrating the transformative power of theatre to ignite imagination, inspire conversation, and enliven souls.

Media sponsor for TheatreWorks Silicon Valley's 2022/23 and 2023/24 seasons is San Francisco Chronicle.

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