11
Jun/20

CRIMINAL QUEERNESS FESTIVAL: GLOBAL STORIES FOR GLOBAL IMPACT

11
Jun/20

criminal queerness festival

Who: Omer Abbas Salem, Noor Hamdi, Connor Bryant, Rula Gardenier, Bahar Beihaghi, Martin Zebari, Sharifa Yasmin, Adam Ashraf Elsayigh, Amahl Raphael Khouri, Hashem Hashem, Sivan Battat, Christopher Unpezverde Núñez, Pooya Mohseni, Samy Nour Younes, Louis Sallan, Roger Q. Mason, Ianne Fields Stewart, Migguel Anggelo, Marlene Ramirez-Cancio, Adam Elsayigh, Adam Odsess-Rubin, J. Julian Christopher, Shayok Misha Chowdhury, Mashuq Mushtaq Deen
What: Second annual Criminal Queerness Festival
Where: Dixon Place Zoom, Facebook, YouTube
When: June 13-29, free (some events require advance RSVP)
Why: National Queer Theater and Dixon Place’s second annual Criminal Queerness Festival consists of two and a half weeks of live performances, discussions, screenings, master classes, and workshops that bring together queer playwrights from around the world to fight censorship, inspire activism, and help shape a quickly changing culture. This year’s festival focuses on presentations involving four artists whose work had to be canceled or postponed at Dixon Place because of the pandemic: Chicago-based actor Omer Abbas Salem’s debut play, Mosque4Mosque; transgender Jordanian documentary playwright Amahl Raphael Khouri’s She He Me; Venezuelan-born, Brooklyn-based Migguel Anggelo’s Maid in America; and 2019 Lambda Literary Award winner Mashuq Mushtaq Deen’s The Shaking Earth. Among the issues being investigated in the plays and talks are “The Syrian Civil War and LGBTQ Communities,” “Queer Transnational Activism in the Middle East,” “Queering Trauma into Fabulousness,” and “What Does It Mean to Be Criminally Queer?” Online admission to everything is free, but donations are accepted and some events require advance registration. Below is the full schedule.

Saturday, June 13
“Creative Conversations: The Syrian Civil War and LGBTQ Communities,” with Omer Abbas Salem and Noor Hamdi, moderated by festival dramaturg Adam Ashraf Elsayigh, 2:00

Tuesday, June 16
“Creative Conversations: Queer Transnational Activism in the Middle East,” discussion surrounding Amahl Raphael Khouri’s documentary play She He Me, with Khouri and Hashem Hashem, moderated by director Sivan Battat, noon

Thursday, June 18
Master Class with Amahl Raphael Khouri on giving testimony, 2:00

Wednesday, June 17
“Queer and Disabled: Examining the imagination,” with Christopher Unpezverde Núñez, 2:00

Friday, June 19
Reading of Mosque4Mosque by Omer Abbas Salem, with Noor Hamdi, Connor Bryant, Rula Gardenier, Bahar Beihaghi, and Martin Zebari, followed by a talkback moderated by director Sharifa Yasmin, 8:00

Saturday, June 20
LGBTQ Digital Pride and Migration 2020 Festival: Livestream performance of excerpts from Amahl Raphael Khouri’s She He Me, 1:00

Sunday, June 21
LGBTQ Digital Pride and Migration 2020 Festival: Live performance of Amahl Raphael Khouri’s She He Me, with Pooya Mohseni, Samy Nour Younes, and Louis Sallan, followed by a talkback with Khouri, moderated by director Sivan Battat, 4:00

Master Class with playwright Omer Abbas Salem, 7:00

Monday, June 22
“The House of Joy: A Tent Revival for the Legendary Quarantined Children,” exercises and open discussion with Roger Q. Mason and Ianne Fields Stewart, 8:00

Tuesday, June 23
Panel discussion on LGBTQ human rights in Latin America, with multidisciplinary artist Migguel Anggelo, moderated by Marlene Ramirez-Cancio of the Hemispheric Institute, 7:00

Thursday, June 25
“Queering Trauma into Fabulousness”: Master Class with J. Julian Christopher, 7:00

Friday, June 26
Live screening of vichitra: an anthology of queer dreams, directed by Shayok Misha Chowdhury, with video by Kameron Neal and sound design by Jeremy Bloom, followed by discussion with Chowdhury, 7:00

Sunday, June 28
Maid in America: original semiautobiographical video by Migguel Anggelo, with screenplay by J. Julian Christoper, musical direction by Jaime Lozano, and directed and developed by Srđa Vasiljević, 7:00

Monday, June 29
Master Class with Mashuq Mushtaq Deen, 3:00