The Church of the Alien Love Child Presents the Passion of Reverend Yolanda (work-in-progress) | Photo Credit: Justin Taylor
Based on the true life of Rev. Yolanda Roger Anthony Mapes
Book by Justin Anderson Taylor
Lyrics by Rev. Yolanda Roger Anthony Mapes and Justin Anderson Taylor
Music by Rev. Yolanda Roger Anthony Mapes
Musical Direction by Phillip Carroll
Arrangements by Phillip Carroll
Additional Music by Phillip Carroll
Additional Music by Eric Tipler
Directed by Shaun Peknic
The Church of The Alien Love Child presents its annual passion play about its founder, "The Passion of Reverend Yolanda." Discover the five names, five lives, five deaths, and five resurrections of Rev. Yolanda, a trans-femme genderqueer interfaith music minister from Muscle Shoals, Alabama. Inspired by Passing Strange, Fun Home, and The Rocky Horror Show, Yolanda, backed by her band and the Alien Love Choir, guides the audience through an immersive, musical church service and play about her journey toward her true self. Bluegrass, gospel, rock, folk and Yolanda’s unique country-kirtan sound take us through Yolanda's odyssey and deliver us to a trans-scendant gender land.
Cast includes Izzy Castaldi, Andy Danh, Langston Darby, L. Morgan Lee, Rev. Yolanda Mapes, Tanya Moberly, Tym Moss, Joshua Randal Price, Basit Shittu, Rupert Spraul, Kita Updike, Margaret Warrington, Andreas Wyder, and Doreen Younglove.
General Admission: Seated
BIOS:
Reverend Yolanda is a singer/songwriter/trans-femme genderqueer performance artist and interfaith minister whose has been honored with induction into the The GLBT Hall Of Fame, the Blues Hall of Fame, and has received two MAC Awards for her work. Work includes: Church With A 2 Drink Minimum (creator, producer, composer, lead performer; 2016-present) a monthly spiritual “happening” at Sidewalk Cafe, NYC; Welcome to the Doll Den, (co-creator, co-composer, co-lead performer 2016-present; Dixon Place and The Tank, NYC with Electric Eye Ensemble); Reverend Yolanda’s Old Time Gospel Hour and Be The Love (creator, producer, composer, and lead performer in NYC and national tours; winners of the 2014 and 2015 MAC Award for Best Drag Artist). Other original musical theater works include: House of Joy (The Laurie Beechman Theater, NYC and various LGBT PRIDE celebrations across the US) Yolanda and the Plastic Family (Wigstock, monthly NYC gigs at CBGB's & Meow Mix, The Laurie Beechman Theater) and Alien Night Journeys. Acting stage credits include: Stonewall, A Rhapsody On Resistance (AEA Showcase) and TV credits include High Maintenance (HBO) and Skeleton Crew (Sidekick Productions). Yolanda’s albums include Reverend Yolanda’s Country Gospel Kirtan Vol 1 and Vol 2 (considered for Grammy nomination) as well as House of Joy and Yolanda and the Plastic Family. MFA in Performance Studies from Vermont College.
Justin A. Taylor is a playwright, librettist, producer and translator originally from San Francisco. His plays have been seen at Stratford New Works Lab, Dixon Place, Lucid Body House, the Sewanee Conference, Piano Fight, Figment Arts Festival on Governors Island, Playwrights Horizons, Yale Cabaret, Moving Parts, Paris; and libretti at Prospect Theater, Musical Theater Factory, Norfolk Music Festival and the Théâtre de Ménilmontant, Paris. His translations from French include The Chairs by Eugene Ionesco. His essays on theater have been published in American Theater Magazine, Howlround and The San Francisco Chronicle. Taylor was a Walter E Dakin Fellow at the 2016 Sewanee Conference and the recipient of writing grants from the JM Kaplan Fund and a Kesserling grant. His work has been finalist for the Playwright’s Realm Fellowship, Jerome NYC Fellowship, Play Penn, Bay Area Playwrights Festival, New Harmony Project, and the O'Neill. He has held teaching artist positions at Wesleyan, Yale, and the Cooperative Arts and Humanities High School, among others. Taylor holds an MA in opera dramaturgy from the Sorbonne in Paris and MFA in playwriting from the Yale School of Drama where he received the Eugene O’Neill Memorial Scholarship. He is currently based in New York.
Venue Information:
The intimate, flexible studio space within BRIC House is dedicated to emerging and mid-career artists, with an audience capacity of 50-75 for rehearsals and performances in a workshop setting.
Beginning Nov. 1, 2022, attendees of any BRIC House programming will no longer have to show proof of vaccination or a negative test to enter the building. Masks are encouraged but not required in all BRIC operated spaces. If you have questions regarding this protocol, please email Safety@bricartsmedia.org