Trans Pride Los Angeles 2021 culminated with the 7th Annual VarieTy Show, a fully-produced show that was streamed live. This year’s edition was Closed Captioned in English. You can re-watch the entire show here:
Click the + under each artist’s name to learn more about their careers, and follow them on social media, and websites! Click HERE for a downloadable program of the show!
Hosted by
ABDULLAH R. HALL (they/them) Since 2018, Abdullah “Abby” Hall has been the Artistic Director of the Trans Chorus of Los Angeles (TCLA), America’s premiere all Trans-identified chorus. In the past three years under their artistic direction, TCLA has gained national recognition participating in the 2021 Presidential Inauguration of President Joe Biden & Vice President Kamala Harris and a national campaign with Pantene and Procter & Gamble. Abby is a board member of GALA Choruses, a multi-talented singer, actor, writer, producer, and CEO of the Hollywood Disruptor, whose work is changing the status quo in the entertainment business.
Performances by
Pink Foxx (she/her) was born in the early ’90s. Influenced by such comedians as Redd Foxx, Eddie Murphy, Richard Pryor, & Martin Lawrence, shortly after college she began her stand-up career in Atlanta, GA. Now relocated to Hollywood, CA, she can be spotted bringing the funny to various comedy clubs and theaters all over.
Ty Deran (they/she) is a nonbinary actor/singer/content creator based in Los Angeles and committed to creating entertaining, educational, and queer-affirming content. They received their BFA in Musical Theatre at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. Theatre credits include Crissy in Hair (Los Angeles LGBT Center [upcoming]), Kinky Boots (second national tour), Cruella De Vil in 101 Dalmatians! (STAGES St. Louis), Home Street Home (Eugene O’Neill Theatre Center, Cast Recording). Ty’s journey back to the self, catalyzed by the pandemic, has led them to use their voice to encourage all folks to see themselves beyond society’s rules and expectations. To honor the infinity within us and love ourselves as we are is the journey of a warrior. If we want to bring an end to suffering, each of us must choose to be a warrior. Special thanks to Ty’s family, blood and chosen, and to the Los Angeles LGBT Center for being an anchor of love and support throughout her journey.
Amir Levi (All Pronouns) is a non-binary performer and activist based in LA. TV: Fresh Off the Boat, Speechless, Brooklyn 99, New Girl, The Middle, Casual, Transparent, Game Shakers, 2 Broke Girls. LA theater credits include MARCH (LGBT Center & Playwrights Arena), Nathan C. Jones: A Love Story? (The Blank Theatre YouTube Channel), Cowboy Elektra (Rogue Artists at Getty Villa), The Direction Home (Theatre Planners), Come Back! (Sacred Fools/Hollywood Fringe), Wood Boy Dog Fish (Rogue Artists Ensemble & Garry Marshall Theatre), Kaidan Project: Walls Grow Thin (Rogue Artists Ensemble), Old Man in a Big Car (Fanatic Salon, starring Paul Dooley, directed by Dan Castellaneta), Something Truly Monstrous (the blank), Clown Bar (Pasadena Playhouse Red, White & Bluezz), The Behavior of Broadus (Sacred Fools & Burglars of Hamm), Absolutely Filthy (Sacred Fools), The Phantom Tollbooth (MainStreet Theatre), Robin Hood (South Coast Rep.), The Chrome Warrior (Lyric¬Hyperion), Four Clowns (South Coast Rep, etc.). Amir is also the co-founder and producer of We The People Theatre Action (@wtp_theatre). Film: Head¬-Tie, Courting Chaos, Special Needs. Amir is represented by Smith & Hervey/Grimes, and Debra Manners Talent.
theamirlevi.com
FB: facebook.com/theamirlevi
IG: @theamirlevi
Twitter: @lunifiedmaggs
Coretta Simo Love Monk (she/her) hails from Fayetteville, North Carolina. A graduate of Appalachian State University and the Pacific Conservatory of Performing Arts, Coretta is proud to make her Pride performance debut at the Los Angeles LGBT Center, where she was last seen in Garage Theatre’s production of March. Pride means a lot to Coretta Simo Love Monk as she has been revitalized on many occasions by the LGBTQ community in her life. When she is not acting, Coretta spends time writing music and has her first album, Counterculturally Black, out on all digital platforms under her middle names “Simo Love.” Coretta Simo Love Monk also loves dance and is a former member of the Koffee Dance Company. Favorite roles and shows that she has been a part of include Angel in Rent (Pryer Award for Best Actor at the Gilbert Theatre), Annalise in Afraid of Big Words (Dramatic Women), Legally Blonde (Cape Fear Regional), Jesus Christ Superstar (Cape Fear Regional), Macbeth (PCPA), Curtains (PCPA), and Much Ado About Nothing (Sweet Tea Shakespeare). Coretta dedicates her performance to all the LGBTQIAAP+ community of believers in the spiritual and good! Happiest Pride!
“The best art divides the audience.” Rick Rubin
Peter Kirkpatrick (he/him) is a Los Angeles-based musician who divides his time between piano accompaniment, making video game soundtracks, and producing high-energy dance music. Originally from the Seattle area, he was lucky to grow up in very artsy community with great music programs and teachers. He moved to Los Angeles as a teenager and continued his education, mostly music classes, at Los Angeles City College, East Los Angeles College, and the University of Southern California. Peter believes that growing up as a closeted gay overachiever combined with Seattle’s grey skies and rainy days pushed his taste of music into what he describes as “ultra-happy techno.” His latest project, “DJPK” pays homage to that style of music and can be seen/heard at:
IG: @d_j_p_k_ w
Louis Reyes Chavez (he/they) is a Genderqueer Mexican-American dance artist, choreographer, and movement director born and raised in Los Angeles. Represented by Go 2 Talent Agency, Louis creates showstopping Broadway-style production numbers, immersive dance pieces, drag shows, burlesque acts, music videos, live concerts, and performance art films. In all of his work, Louis strives to feature radically Queer stories that explore themes of gender, sexuality, and body image.
Samuel Edward Petre (he/him) is a North Carolina native, with his Bachelor of Arts in Theatre Performance who is currently residing in Los Angeles. He is a circus acrobatics and aerial arts performer and coach, freelance commercial actor, model and dancer. From performing in a variety of theatrical shows and circus cabarets, to co-starring in a short film and working on set for several tv/film projects, to art modeling, runway and fashion gigs. His passions of expression through a variety of artistic mediums are what drive him to storytell.
Gio Bravo (he/him) is a Latinx Transgender guy from Los Angeles! I started writing songs when I was 12 years old, and I never thought I would pursue a music career because I didn’t want to make music in my previous gender identity.
Music is my first love, my biggest love, the love of my life! It helped keep me sane through some of the hardest tribulations of my life, gender identity discovery, parents’ divorce, death of a best friend, and so many other moments in between.
Dorian Wood (they/them) is an acclaimed multi-disciplinary artist seeks to glorify both the sanctity and irreverence of intimacy. Through the use of their corpulent body and booming voice, Wood revels in challenging the artist-audience separation, using subject matter informed by their own perspective as a non-binary brown person and an autodidact. Their work has been showcased in concert halls and performance spaces around the world, including at institutions like The Broad (Los Angeles), REDCAT (Los Angeles), Museo Nacional Del Prado (Madrid), the City Hall of Madrid and Teatro de la Ciudad Esperanza Iris (Mexico City). From 2019 to 2020, Wood completed several successful tours throughout Europe, Mexico and the U.S. with their chamber orchestra tribute to Chavela Vargas, XAVELA LUX AETERNA. Most recently, Wood became a 2020 Creative Capital Award recipient and an Art Matters Foundation grant recipient. Wood has released over a dozen recordings, among them the albums BOLKA (2007); Brutus (2010); Rattle Rattle (Atonal Industries, 2013); Down, The Dirty Roof (Atonal Industries, 2013), XALÁ (Atonal Industries, 2017) and 2020’s back-to-back albums ARDOR and REACTOR.
Since 2015, Trans Chorus of Los Angeles-TCLA has made an impact in the choral world by using our unique voices to be visible, bold and proud. TCLA is the premiere all Trans-identified chorus in America. We are a Chorus of transgender, gender non-conforming, gender non-binary, gender fluid, and intersex individuals. We celebrate diversity and acceptance in appearance and vocal presentation so that others can see and feel the joy we share. Through our music we bring to everyone, awareness, understanding, power and victory for the Trans community.
Our vision is, through song and our voices, to embrace all members of the trans community and to bring awareness of the trans experience by developing understanding, caring and support in the community at large. We celebrate diversity and acceptance in appearance and vocal presentation so that others can see and feel the joy we share in our music.
“Music helps us share ourselves, our dignities and sorrows, our hopes and joys. It allows us to hear one another, to invite each other in. Music shows us that all of it matters, every story within every voice, every note within every song” –Michelle Obama at the 2019 Grammy Awards