Drachma in collaboration with Warehouse No. 8 will be presenting The Re-Education of George W. Bush and Transfiguration – Transgressing gender in the Bible. These two performances by Peterson Toscano will be held at Warehouse No. 8 on 18 and 19 July respectively at 9pm.
Peterson Toscano is a US-based comic and theatrical performance activist. The price is e11 per ticket or e15 to attend both performances. Tickets may be obtained from Diane Xuereb on 7947-5853 or Jimmy Grima on 7905-7676.
Peterson Toscano
Peterson Toscano studied Theatre and English Literature at City College of New York. A comic character actor and a playwright, Peterson often draws on poetry, the Bible and other texts as well as extensive interviews to inspire his theatre work. He performs throughout North America and Europe and appears regularly on US television and in films.
As a gay man, Peterson's journey out of the closet was long and complicated. Peterson spent years in therapy attempting to change from gay to straight, attending ex-gay support groups, enduring three exorcisms and even spending two years in an ex-gay boot camp, but in January of 1999 he finally came out and fully accepted himself as a gay man.
In 2007, along with fellow ex-gay survivor, Christine Bakke, he launched Beyond Ex-Gay (bXg), an on-line resource for ex-gay survivors. He speaks out regularly about the harms of therapies to change lesbians and gays and recently helped organise a conference in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain highlighting the dangers of reparative. He will speak later in July at the Lambeth Conference in Canterbury, England.
Peterson currently lives in Hartford, CT, USA and is a member of the Religious Society of Friends (Quaker) in West Hartford, CT.
For further information please log on:
www.petersontoscano.com or http://a_musing.blogspot.com/
The plays
The Re-Education of George W. Bush – No President Left Behind! (18 July)
Through a series of lively lessons, Peterson Toscano, with his cast of outrageously funny and thoughtful characters, playfully instructs President Bush and his audience about: history, war, skin privilege, the environment, sexism, misreading the Bible, humanity and lots more!
Bitingly funny and painfully insightful, Peterson Toscano takes no prisoners as he speaks to the George W. Bush lurking in each of us.
Transfigurations – Transgressing Gender in the Bible (19 July)
A new theatre piece written and performed by Peterson Toscano in which he unearths transgender Bible characters – those people who do not fit in the gender binary, and who in transgressing and transcending gender, find themselves at the centre of some of the Bible's most important stories.
Drawing on inspiration from one-on-one interviews with transgender and gender queer individuals, Peterson weaves their experiences with the stories and lives of transgender, genderqueer and gender-variant people right on the pages of the Hebrew and Christian scriptures.
Hilarious and deeply moving, Toscano deepens well-known (and lesser-known) Bible stories as he presents an array of characters with an array of genders.
Who are these transgender Bible heroes (and sheroes)? You will just have to see Transfigurations for yourself!
Drachma
Drachma is a group of Gay, Lesbian, Bi-Sexual and Transgender people who meet to pray together. Drachma is a Catholic group which welcomes all. It is a safe place were we focus on the Love of God for us – no matter who or what we are. Drachma is a place were we search for what brings us together rather than what divides us.