About this project

Theater Transgression does Antigone
http://theatertransgression.com/

We are a group of transgender artists and queer allies with diverse backgrounds in performance, visual art, writing, filmmaking and social justice organizing coming together to rework a classic theater piece: Antigone. We call ourselves Theater Transgression and Antigone is our first production. This production of the anti-war Greek tragedy is an experiment in collective art-making and a project aimed at expanding space for gender-non-conforming artists to explore theater. We chose Antigone because it has a powerful anti-militarist message and has an incredible political history. It has been adapted in different parts of the world to address multiple international political abuses across the centuries.

"She's clearly the fierce daughter of a fierce father. She does not know how to bend with the wind."

Antigone and Ismene, the last surviving children of Oedipus, lose their siblings in a battle of brother against brother. When their uncle takes the throne and forbids the burial of one brother, Antigone faces a brutal death sentence to honor her kin.

With the grandeur of queer flare and merging video art and live performance, Theater Transgression plays at patriarchy and the rigid gender roles in Antigone with deep awareness. This gender-queer production brings new light to the play's themes of political defiance, desire and power in the family and gender oppression. Uniquely cast, this vibrant multi-media production fuses ancient archetypes and futuristic aesthetics with its fantastical costuming, colorful staging, live video projections and a virtual video chorus.

The production opens it's doors to the participation of the broader transgender and queer community with a "virtual" video chorus. Consisting of close to twenty transgender and queer artists and activists based in New York, North Carolina and Texas, the chorus appears in video projections. Looming above the stage performers, the "virtual" video chorus provides moral guidance to characters throughout the play and reminds us of the important multi-vocal presence the community has in our lives.

Our broader aim as the collective of artists that comprises Theater Transgression is to expand space for trans-identified artists and queer allies to create new media theater and performance projects. Theater Transgression came together out of the excitement of members to work together in a predominantly transgender production. We hope that by self-defining our collective as specifically gender-non-conforming, we give space to members to acknowledge and explore their perspectives through performance expression. We hope to move above and beyond theater and performance that narrowly addresses specific identity politics and to increase equal access to producing, performing and creating a wide range of theater.

Theater Transgression's production of Antigone will premiere in New York at the end of July 2010.
July 29th 8pm Preview at Brecht Forum
July 30th and 31st 8pm Performances at House of Yes