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Reinhild Hoffman's Callas, performed by Tanztheater Bremen |
The 1861 bylaws of the Brooklyn Academy of Music contain a little-known, and oddly undocumented, regulation. Without getting into confusing legal jargon, BAM is required to present, on a regular basis, men in women’s attire and women wearing outfits normally associated with men. Whatever our forward-thinking founding fathers had in mind, we have gladly complied. Here is a quick historical scan of cross-dressing at BAM.
Cross-dressing has long been essential to storytelling history. In numerous Greek, Norse, and Hindu myths, sexual identities are switched, either as punishment or as a way to avoid detection.
Males played the female parts in Shakespeare’s original productions. But within the plays are numerous instances of characters switching genders to achieve a questionable goal or complicate the plot. Speaking of the Bard, in 2011, Ed Hall’s company Propeller blew the roof off of the Harvey Theater with a wonderful, over-the-top production of The Comedy of Errors.
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Propeller's A Comedy of Errors. Photo: Julieta Cervantes |
We at the BAM Hamm Archives especially love this handbill featuring “The Last of the Red Hot Poppas," Francis Renault, "World’s Foremost Female Impersonator." It makes us wonder: who was the first?
Perhaps you recall our earlier blog by Joseph Bradshaw about the cross-dressers of Dyker Heights. Well refresh your memory of those "hothouse flowers," who performed at BAM in 1921.
The Polytechnic Dramatic Association had several all-male cross-dressing spectacles. Surviving programs reveal a non-traditional approach to casting. Confusion (1902) must have confused many on several levels. In 1910, Entangled featured some very tall “ladies:”
On countless occasions at BAM, Pina Bausch has questioned traditional gender roles with provocative costuming:
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Photo: Pina Bausch's Auf Dem Gebirge, Hat Man Ein Geschrei Gehort, by Ursula Kaufmann |
The Threepenny Opera (2011), with Brecht’s Berliner Ensemble, was directed by Robert Wilson. Here is Mack the Knife in lingerie:
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The Threepenny Opera. Photo: Leslie Leslie-Spinks |
Choreographer Mark Morris regularly practices gender-blind casting. Here is a 1992 photo featuring Kraig Patterson as the Housekeeper in The Hard Nut. He reprised the role at BAM in 2010.
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Mark Morris's The Hard Nut |
The 2012 Next Wave Festival brought Circus Amok’s amazing energy to the new BAM Fisher. Jennifer Miller’s group continues to push gender-bending boundaries between traditional circus skills, experimental dance, and performance art.
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Photo: Jennifer Miller, by Rahav "Iggy" Segev |
Last spring, the lines were blurred to beautiful effect with the casting of the Les Arts Florissants’ David et Jonathas, a baroque opera by Marc-Antoine Charpentier.
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Photo: David et Jonathas, by Julieta Cervantes |
This just scratches the surface. I'd love to tell you more, but I must hurry off to find a new gown and heels—I'm off to the theater!
Louie Fleck is the BAM Archives Coordinator
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