Celebrate World Pride With TRANS VOICES CABARET

New York City's premier cabaret highlighting the talents of transgender, nonbinary, and gender non-conforming performers returns to The Duplex to celebrate World Pride on Saturday, June 22nd at 9:30pm. The show is directed by Donnie Cianciotto, with Musical Direction by Anessa Marie and. Cianciotto will also serve as the emcee of the evening.

Trans Voices Cabaret is dedicated to raising the visibility of TGNC entertainers in the musical theater community, and has featured over 50 performers since it's first show in November of 2017. Some of the cast's combined performance credits include The Public Theater, Steppenwolf, 54 Below, Carnegie Hall, The Laurie Beechman Theater, Joe's Pub, Lincoln Center, and Birdland, as well as film and television. Trans Voices Cabaret also has a branch in Chicago, and is pleased to announce a London chapter launching on July 4th, 2019.

Returning cast members Andi Lee Carter, Kristofer Eckelhoff Kat Griffin, Jordan Ho, George Ronis, and Shakira will be joined by first-time performers Sarah Burke, Ellie Desautels, Meaghan Johnson, Wes Peddycord, Joshuah D. Simpson, and Feathers Wise. Abraham Marlett will serve as the Stage Manager.

Tickets are $10 in advance, and $15 at the door. It is strongly suggested to purchase tickets in advance at: www.purplepass.com/trans0622. A limited number of industry tickets are available. The Duplex is located at 61 Christopher Street, NY, NY 10014. For more information, please visit www.transvoicescabaret.wixsite.com/transvoicescabaret, or email transvoicescabaret@gmail.com.

BIOS

Sarah Burke (They/Them/Their) is a NYC and Boston-based actor, vocalist, creator and producer. A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre native (yes, as in The Office), they attended the American Musical and Dramatic Academy in pursuit of an education and career in storytelling. NYC performance credits include 54 Sings Broadway's Greatest Hits (Feinstein's/54 Below), Broadway's Rising Stars (Town Hall), 54 Sings The Beatles (Feinstein's/54 Below), and A Celebration of Herman, Menken & Sondheim (Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall). NYC producing credits include The Duplex and Feinstein's/54 Below. Outside of show business, Sarah enjoys playing their ukulele, running 5Ks, and obsessing over sharks. Sarah is absolutely thrilled to be joining TVC's Pride show! Insta: @sarahlizburke

ANDI LEE CARTER (he/him/they/them) is a New York-based writer, director, and performer. He is a second year student in the NYU Tisch Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program. His first original full-length musical Rent A White Guy was dubbed "often very funny" by The New York Times. Andi directs and performs regularly at the People's Improv Theatre with his sketch comedy troupe Adam's Summer Class. He is an Artistic Associate for Random Access Theatre Company and the National Queer Theatre. He is a very gay member of Ring of Keys, Trans Actors Guild, Trans Voices Cabaret and the Dramatist Guild of America. He is a founding member and former board member of the Musical Theatre Factory and moderator of its monthly Women/Trans Writers Representation Round Table. He and/or his work has been seen at many of New York's finest cabaret venues including Under St. Marks, The Duplex, Joe's Pub, and Feinstein's 54 Below.

Donnie Cianciotto is a transmasculine actor and singer. He attended the American Musical and Dramatic Academy, and made his off-Broadway debut in Southern Comfort at The Public Theater. He is active in the cabaret scene having performed at 54 Below, The Cutting Room, The Town Hall, Birdland, Le Poisson Rouge, and The Duplex. He appears in Broadway For Orlando's What The World Needs Now music video, and has been featured in videos for NowThis and BuzzFeed. He appeared on two panels at BroadwayCon in January 2019, and can often be found speaking about trans representation in the performance community. He is the subject of an Emmy award-winning documentary short about his experiences as a transgender man; the film is being released as a feature length in 2019 by director Ania Augustowska. Follow him on Instagram @thedonniecianciotto www.donniecianciotto.wixsite.com/actor

ELLIE DESAUTELS made their acting debut in NBC's drama series "Rise," in the role of Michael Hallowell, a transgender teenage boy. Ellie received their Bachelor of Arts degree from Manhattanville College where they majored in Dance and Theatre with a concentration in Theatre. Their proudest work was performing as Bertram in All's Well That Ends Well and Biff Loman in The Death Of A Salesman. They also wrote and performed their senior thesis play, Sweet Child of Mine, which showed the importance of representation by bringing real trans stories into the spotlight. Ellie's greatest passion aside from acting is working to improve trans and non-binary representation in film and television. They've also been singing and dancing since they were just two years old. This is their Trans Voices Cabaret debut!

KRISTOFER MATTHIAS ECKELHOFF is a New York City-based transgender opera singer, musicologist, and vocal instructor. He has performed throughout the United States, Germany, and France, and has received several national and international scholarships and fellowships to support his performance and research. He meticulously documented his own vocal transition and now trains other TGNC singers through his private, sliding-scale voice studio. Kristofer is currently finishing a Ph.D. in Musicology at the CUNY Graduate Center in New York City and teaches music history and theory at Brooklyn College Conservatory of Music. In addition to his teaching duties, he's very involved in community education, providing group classes for trans singers and giving free consultations for voice students around the country. He holds a bachelor's and master's degree in vocal performance and a master's degree in music history. Kristofer is writing his dissertation on transgender performance history and developing a transgender-specific vocal method to better serve TGNC singers.

Kat Griffin is an actor/singer/creator living in NYC. Recent credits include Madeleine True (THE WILD PARTY, BAR New Haven) & Victoria (LUNA FEST, The Brick Theatre) Frequently seen in cabarets and short term engagements in the city: Songs By Us (Joe's Pub), FutureFest (54 Below), Here & Queer (Greenroom 42), Summerstuck (West End Lounge), Love is Love is Love Songs (The Laurie Beechman Theatre), and is a repeat guest with Trans Voices Cabaret (The Duplex). Coming up in September Kat will be playing the role of J in LOVE ME TENDER at The Wild Project Theatre. Kat is a proud member of the Ring Of Keys national network - check us out on instagram @RingOfKeysorg https://www.katgriffin-actor.com/

JORDAN HO is an Asian gender fluid actrex. Theatre credits include: Salt Kid Watches Brooklyn Burn (Joe's Pub at The Public Theater), i wrote on ur wall and now i regret it (The Wild Project), Going South (Dixon Place), and ReconFIGURED (Universtiy Settlement). Xe is a company member of Honest Accomplice Theatre and this past Fall travelled to Washington DC's Atlas Performing Arts Center to present The Birds and the Bees: Unabridged. BA - Acting Pace University. instagram:@leavanny, twitter:@skrelp #mxho

Anessa Marie is a composer/lyricist, music director, pianist, orchestrator, actress, and singer based in New York City. Her original musicals currently in development include A Glimpse of the Rainbow (book, music, and lyrics), Come From Terminal C (book and lyrics by Charles Baran, music by Anessa Marie), The Imperfect Hour (book by Michael Stang, lyrics by Kim Hawkey and Anessa Marie, music by Assaf Gleizner and Anessa Marie), and City of Runaways, a song cycle based on the lives of New Yorkers. Anessa works as a music director in the theatre community of New York City. NYC credits include City of Light (directed by Tony Award winner Cady Huffman as part of SHENYC Summer Theatre Festival), Lysistrata Jones (Ophelia Theatre Group), An Intolerant Vaudeville (The Secret Theatre). Off-broadway credits include Frankenstein, Fancy Nancy Splendiferous Christmas, Stinky Kids the musical, The Bully, and Twinkle Tames A Dragon. Regional Credits include: The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Parade, Fiddler on the Roof, 42nd Street, West Side Story, The Last Five Years, Songs for a New World, The Wild Party (Lippa), Sweet Charity, La Cage Aux Folles, and Ragtime. Anessa has also served as music director for various cabaret shows, and has graced the stage at Carnegie Hall, Feinstein's/54 Below, Green Room 42, and The Duplex, among countless others. Anessa's debut album will be released in early 2019. Anessa teaches private voice and piano lessons out of her studio in Astoria, Queens. She also is sought after as an audition coach, helping students develop confidence in their audition book. Anessa plays various auditions throughout New York City, and works closely with Theatre Resources Unlimited helping to develop new work. Available for commissioned work, Anessa specializes in composition for musical theatre, along with arrangements and orchestrations for all genres.

WES PEDDYCORD graduated this past May from Oklahoma City University with a Bachelors of Music degree in Musical Theatre. He is a gender non-conforming actor and singer (he/him pronouns preferred) and made the move to NYC this past August. He has performed in cabarets at Feinstein's 54 Below and The West End Lounge and is exhilarated to be a part of the Trans Voices Cabaret for the first time! You can follow him on Instagram and Twitter: @jwespeddy

GEORGE RONIS (he/they) is a TGNB actor/singer/writer with a passion for savory snacks. Recent credits for George include 2019 FUERZAfest (winner of Best Supporting Actor), Into the Woods (Out of the Box Theatrics), and Trans Voices Cabaret: Make 'Em Laugh (The Duplex).

SHAKIRA (they/them) was born at a very young age, and has been alive ever since. Despite being unable to walk or speak upon entering the world, they triumphed over adversity to become something resembling a responsible adult, avidly pursuing two goals along the way: to learn as much as possible about almost everything, and to sing anything they can get away with. A queer, agendered, multiracial, classically-trained singer with eclectic musical tastes, Shakira has performed in a wide range of styles ranging from Renaissance to rock, and opera to hip-hop. They have sung on several continents and in over a dozen languages, made their directorial debut over the winter, and have revelled in transcending genre conventions along the way. You can check out some of their music at: https://soundcloud.com/shakira-s

FEATHERS WISE is a transfemme actress, musician, and producer out of Brooklyn, NY. She writes and performs original songs, and produces music with Recording Artists Development (RAD). Her most recent album is an EP called, "Let the Chaos Feed My Evolution" (2019). She wrote the soundtracks for Chloe Rossetti's films SUNRIDER (2018), PATRICK (post-production), and HOLD (pos-tproduction). She also plays bass and synthesizer in Reverend Yolanda's Church with a 2 Drink Minimum, and sang in the Intersectionals Choir at Jean Grae's Church of the Infinite You. Her past music projects include the synth pop duo Alien Beauty and the band Radium Angels. Feathers fell in love with acting at Radical Faerie Playback Theater workshops, trained with Kat Spallone at the Actor's Studio of Ithaca, and currently studies with Brad Calcaterra at The Studio. She has appeared in Glamour Magazine's YouTube series 5-75 (2019), The HEAT Collective's production of Jessica Litwak's The Night It Rained (New Stage Performance Space), M34's production of Salome (Irondale Center), Brandon Colvin's feature film A Dim Valley (post-production), Chloe Rossetti's short film SUNRIDER (2018) and short play Planet Femme (2017), Anna Wise's music video Stacking That Paper (2017), and Joel Escher and Blair Bodine's mini-musical Superhots! (Signature Theater).