Arts

ClimACTS! Welcomes Kennedy Davenport, Rebecca Taichman

Wednesday Mar 14, 2018

Submitted by TTO

The Theater Offensive (TTO) presents ClimACTS! GLOW, a come-as-you-are, bold party that invites attendees to explore their naughty sides in an evening of boisterous celebration and interactive performances.

ClimACTS!, The Theater Offensive's annual gala, celebrates the rich diversity of LGBTQ lives through an evening that challenges norms, explores sexuality, and uplifts the various identities and icons within queer culture. All proceeds benefit TTO's arts programs that bring LGBTQ art and artists to the stage, front and center.

Find yourself among Boston's brightest and hottest LGBTQ scene, as Kennedy Davenport of RuPaul's Drag Race (and this year's TTO OUT'hood Award recipient) drops, twirls, and works as the event's emcee. Guests will also mingle with Rebecca Taichman the 2017 Tony Award Winner for Best Director of Broadway's Indecent. Taichman will be the recipient of the TTO's 2018 Out on The Edge Award, recognizing her accomplishments and contributions to bold, status quo-defying LGBTQ art.

"This event offers LGBTQ people a place to gather, play, and truly be themselves - to celebrate their sexuality in a space that is hard to find (yet so needed) in Boston. ClimACTS! truly is a fundraiser like no other. At ClimACTS!, we honor the Queer and Trans contributions to our society as many have pushed the status quo to get where we are today. This event also will highlight the critical work that The Theater Offensive does to support queer artists and LGBTQ youth of Boston," offered TTO Acting Executive Director Harold Steward. In these times, it's so important that we support LGBTQ art and artists - and at ClimACTS! we're going to show people what that looks like."

Past recipients of the TTO OUT on the Edge Award have included playwrights and performers Tony-Award Winning Fun Home playwright Lisa Kron, Transparent's Alexandra Billings, Tony Award-winner Billy Porter, Big Freedia, and actor Alan Cumming. Kennedy Davenport is the inaugural recipient of the OUT'hood Award.


The Theater Offensive (TTO) is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to present the diversity of LGBTQ lives in art so bold that it breaks through personal isolation, challenges the status quo, and build thriving communities.

Proceeds from ClimACTS! GLOW will support the programs of TTO, including:

TRUE COLORS: OUT YOUTH THEATER: a creative arts program for LGBTQ youth and their straight allies ages 14-29. True Colors is oldest LGBTQ youth theater troupe in the nation and in November 2016 was honored with the National Arts and Humanities Youth Programs Award, the nation's highest honor in creative youth development, presented by First Lady Michelle Obama at the White House. True Colors is the first-ever LGBTQ youth group to be recognized with this award!

OUT In Your Neighborhood: TTO works within Roxbury, Dorchester, Jamaica Plain and the South End to create original, groundbreaking works by, for and about the LGBTQ community. TTO believes in the importance of producing bold, local theater right where residents live, increasing access to art and inspiring deeper dialogue among neighbors and residents that lead to understanding.

THE PRIDE YOUTH THEATER ALLIANCE (PYTA): founded in 2012, PYTA began as a cohort of directors, educators, and activists representing Queer Youth Theater (QYT) programs from across the U.S. and Canada. PYTA raises awareness and fosters institutional unity for the work of individual programs and the QYT community and beyond. PYTA operates in 20 states (48% red states) and engages over 15,000 queer youth annually.

More at www.thetheateroffensive.org