approx 9:00pm

Friday, March 30, 2007

"Clearly Marked"

S. Bear Bergman

S. Bear Bergman is a writer, a theater artist, an instigator, a gender-jammer, and a good example of what happens when you overeducate a contrarian. Ze has published essays, poems, and even the occasional bit of short fiction in a variety of books and magazines, and is a book reviewer at ButchDykeBoy, as well as a perennial favorite and featured reader at queer spoken word events, such as GenderCrash.

Bear is a frequent lecturer and at colleges and universities regarding issues relating to gender and sexuality, and has advised the staff of numerous institutions on their policies regarding transgendered and transsexual students. An observant Jew, Bear also speaks extensively about how hir religious and cultural lives have shaped one another, and the intersection of identities, especially as it relates to being both Jewish and queer.

A longtime activist on behalf of anyone who wants to learn and be different at the same time (particularly queer/trans youth and students), Bear is currently working on the creation of a national, web-based, Queer Mentoring Project. Less recently, ze was also one of the five original founders of the first Gay/Straight Alliances, a frequent lecturer at high schools and colleges on the subject of making schools safe for GLBT students, and a founding commission member of what is now called the Massachusetts Safe Schools Project. Bear also considers hir recent mastery of the merengue a notable achievement, but is aware that probably not everyone agrees.

Bear was educated at Hampshire College - where ze studied solo performance with Peggy Shaw of Split Britches Theater - and at the University Of Massachusetts. Ze currently resides with hir beloved wife, Nicole, in Northampton, Massachusetts, among a wonderful created, queer family.

Approx 10:30pm

Friday, March 30, 2007

Michael and Sheila

MICHAEL WOODWARD is the lead singer and co-founder of the Tucson-based rock and blues band, Too Much Information (www.tmi-band.com). TMI plays a mix of classic rock, Chicago blues, and eclectic original work, and features an outstanding vocal section. The “out” trans+allies band was named Runner Up - Best Cover Band at the 2006 Tucson Area Music Awards—quite an honor for a band that had not yet celebrated two years together.

Michael is equally well known in the queer community for his leadership since 2003 of SAGA, the Southern Arizona Gender Alliance (www.sagatucson.org). He also serves as a charter member and past Co-Chair of The University of Arizona President’s LGBT Advisory Council. Michael holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Public and Corporate Communications from Butler University .

In his “past life”, Michael was always busy with one music project or another, including winning awards for Best Supporting Actress and Best Female Singer for his role as Sister Robert Anne in Indianapolis-area productions of “Nunsense” and “Nunsense II: The Second Coming” in the early 1990s. At the turn of the millennium at the age of 36, he traded in the old Broadway soprano pipes for a sexy new gravelly tenor model, and his "coming out" as a rock and blues man has perhaps been the most profound transformation of all.

SHEILA is a Phoenix-based producer, arranger, and studio & touring musician. Over the past twenty years, she has performed extensively throughout the United States , Canada and Europe . Sheila studied at Berklee College of Music in Boston . She graduated from the Dick Grove School of Music in Los Angeles , where she studied arranging and composition under legendary orchestrator/composers such as Dick Grove, Nelson Riddle, Clare Fischer, Tom Scott and Lalo Schifrin.

Sheila has recorded, toured, and performed with many well-known entertainers, including Sister Sledge, Donna Summer, Billy Paul, Teddy Pendergrass, The Coasters, Bernadette Peters, Denise Williams, The Benny Goodman Orchestra, Bob Newhart, Annie Moscow, Percy Sledge, Connie Francis, Patti Page, Bobby Vinton, John Davidson, and many others. Sheila is currently in the process of transitioning “on the job” as a working musician, and is excited to share that the FORGE Forward 2007 marks her first public performance en femme.

MICHAEL & SHEILA are excited to be working together as a “contra-trans duo” for the first time to bring you an assortment of familiar tunes and forgotten favorites from a wide range of artists including Billy Joel, Rod Stewart, Al Green, Styx , Creedence Clearwater Revival, The Beatles, John Michael Montgomery, and many more. You’ll find yourself dancing to some, singing along with most, and enjoying every one of the three-minute journeys down memory lane.

approx 9:00pm

Saturday, March 30, 2007

Excerpts from B4T

Imani Henry

Imani Henry is activist, writer and performer. 

Since 1993 he has been a Staff Organizer at the International Action Center (IAC), where his work has focused on national organizing of communities of color and the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender movement toward broader social justice campaigns. His anti-war activism has ranged from opposing US military inventions in Iraq, Haiti, Somalia, and Yugoslavia to fighting to end the economic blockade of Cuba.  He has worked nationally within the anti-police brutality and anti-death penalty movement in the US. He co-founded Rainbow Flags for Mumia, a coalition of LGBTST people who demand the freedom of political prisoner and journalist Mumia Abu Jamal.

Henry’s writing has appeared in several publications including the Lambda Award-winning Does Your Mama Know and the newly released IAC publication, War in Colombia: Made in USA. 

He is a graduate of the School of Performing Arts of Emerson College. Currently Henry is touring with his multi-media theatre piece, B4T (before testosterone), segments of which were featured on a episode of the nationally -syndicated PBS newsmagazine "In the Life."  He was an Artist-in-Residence at the Brooklyn Arts Exchange for two years where he developed his new multi-media project, Living in the Light about the impact of the African slave trade on the Caribbean peoples in the US.  Living in the Light was performed in 2004 at the Brooklyn Arts Exchange and in the WOW Café Theater (g)riot festival. Currently, he touring his show B4T  at colleges, conferences and theatres across the US and Canada

For the last 10 years, Henry has worked as an HIV/AIDS education and prevention service provider, directing and supervising HIV prevention street outreach initiatives in the cities of Boston and New York.   Trained in the philosophy of harm reduction, he has served as an advocate for homeless & street transgender, lesbian, bisexual and gay young people. He is a consultant and trainer providing technical assistance in areas such as racial, gender identity and sexuality sensitivity, program development and community organizing.

6:00pm

Sunday, April 1, 2007

Coyote Grace

COYOTE GRACE is the Seattle-based acoustic duet comprised of Joe Stevens, a transman singer/songwriter from California and graduate of Cornish College of the Arts, backed up by Ingrid Eyen on vocals and upright bass, a sassy femme originally hailing from the hills of Southeastern Ohio. Partners on and off stage, their love of music and for each other permeates every song, conveyed through smooth harmonies, driving roots rhythms, and captivating lyrics of raw life experience.

Drawing from a wealth of Americana traditions, from blues to bluegrass, COYOTE GRACE builds on the legacy of singer/songwriters born to boldly transform the face of American folk music, such as Joni Mitchell, James Taylor, Indigo Girls, Gillian Welch, Bob Dylan, and Ani Difranco. COYOTE GRACE uses acoustic folk instrumentation and subconscious wordcraft to twist and mold traditional folk forms into a new breed of complex, soulful songsmithing, creating timeless yet unique snapshots into the core of human fallibility.

Currently, they are touring the U.S. with their debut studio album, "Boxes & Bags". In November 2006, they were the featured musical artists at the Utah Pride Center's events for Trans Awareness Month in Salt Lake City. Joe and Ingrid are gender activists who are passionate about their community and the visibility of transpeople and their partners within the queer community as well as the mainstream world.