Pre-Performance Discussion | Salon Series: Miscast – What the fach?

In collaboration with the voice department, the Queer Student Union will present a pre- concert panel about drag and gender bending. Gender exploration has been a staple part of performance for centuries. Drag shows involve elaborate performances of gender expression. Blues singer Gladys Bentley made her career as a woman impersonating a man. In opera, we have roles of male characters portrayed by women, such as Hansel in “Hansel und Gretel” and Cherubino in “Le Nozze di Figaro.” Outside the stage, we have forms of people identifying as neither man nor woman, including the nonbinary in western culture, the Two Spirit in various American indigenous cultures, the Fa’afafine in the American Samoa, and the Hijra in India. In Germany before WWII, psychologist Magnus Hirschfeld, created a “Transvestite License” giving individuals the right to crossdress. In French cabaret, it is almost ritualistic for men to perform dressed as women, known “bal de folles”. Today, queer folks experiment with gender in all sorts of ways, from various gender identities, like transgender, nonbinary and gender fluid, to various forms of expression, including how we dress, the way we style our hair, what pronouns we use, and how we act. In this panel, the Queer Student Union will discuss the various meanings of gender exploration, both in the queer community and in performance, in preparation for “Miscast: What the Fach?”