Composer, vocalist, and performing and recording artist Tamar-kali presents concert performance excerpts from The Swann — an opera she is developing featuring a libretto by Harlem Stage Associate Artistic Director and Curator-in-Residence, Carl Hancock Rux, about the life and times of William Dorsey Swann, the first known person to identify as a “queen of drag.” A formerly enslaved denizen of our nation’s capital, Swann was the first American on record to pursue legal and political action to defend the LGBTQ+ community’s right to gather. Set during his detention and conviction in 1896 for “keeping a disorderly house,” a criminal charge often levied against those who ran brothels, the opera explores the interior of Swann’s mind as inquest, analysis, and detainment begin to take their toll.

James Busterud

Events

Past events

3 - 4 May, 2024

Waterworks Established Artist Commission: Tamar-kali—the Swann, Carl Hancock Rux, Libretto · Harlem Stage

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