Trasgendered Artist in Miami Youth Residency & Performance at Carnival Center Jan. 21-26, 2008

News release:

Tigertail Productions continues their SpeakOut project for the GLBT (Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender) community with a weeklong residency from January 21 through 26 with nationally recognized FTM (female-to-male) transgendered theater artist Scott Turner Schofield. Workshops and other programs for gay youth will take place in high schools and community venues throughout Miami-Dade County. The week culminates with the East Coast premiere of Schofield’s new show, Becoming a Man in 127 EASY Steps, co-presented by Carnival Center for the Performing Arts and Tigertail Productions, at the Carnival Center’s Studio Theater, Friday and Saturday, January 25 and 26.  The show contains some nudity and mature themes. Friday night’s performance will be followed by a meet-the-artist wine and cheese reception open to all ticket-holders, sponsored by the Miami-Dade Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce and other community groups. On Saturday there will be a post-show discussion with Schofield.

Scott Turner Schofield brings a sharp wit and unfailing warmth to his work, drawing on his personal experience while illuminating issues of gender, sex and identity for everyone. His new show, Becoming a Man in 127 EASY Steps, mixes comedy, contradictions, aerial acrobatics and multimedia storytelling, inviting the audience to come along on a surprising journey of finding oneself. Schofield was named a Young Trans Hero of 2006 by The Advocate magazine and has been recently honored with a prestigious Princess Grace Foundation Fellowship for acting. He has toured to colleges, festivals, and theaters nationwide since 2001. He is widely recognized for his educational and informative leadership on transgender issues.

In addition to the workshops and performances, there will be a free panel discussion, Bending Gender in the New Millennium, moderated by Lydia Martin from The Miami Herald, with Scott Turner Schofield and others, on Tuesday, January 22 at 7:00 pm, at the Peacock Education Center inside the John S. and Kames L.  Carnival Center Knight Concert Hall, 1300 Biscayne Boulevard.  No reservations are required.

During his residency week Schofield will lead workshops for students at Miami-Dade high schools hosted by Gay Straight Alliances and others, in partnership with Safe Schools South Florida (formerly GLSEN). These will allow GLBT youth and other students to learn more about transgender issues. At the same time they will develop their owns skills in writing and performing as a means of personal and creative expression. In addition, there will be a similar free and open-to-the-public youth workshop held at PrideLines Youth Services, 180 NE 19th Street in Miami, on Wednesday, January 23 at 6:30 pm. For more information about the teen workshops contact Tigertail Productions at 305-324-4337, by email at info@tigertail.org  or on the web at <http://www.tigertail.org>.

“Scott is amazingly clever at drawing people into his perspective with a light and engaging style, yet his work really challenges us to rethink our set perspectives on gender,” says Tigertail Associate Director Robert Rosenberg, who has many years of experience doing cultural work in and for the gay community. “It is also groundbreaking to have the opportunity for him, as an artist, to work with Miami teens through his workshops.”

Becoming a Man in 127 EASY Steps will also be featured in Carnival Center’s “Arts and Activism” program, a six-part series of public discussions, produced in partnership with WLRN 91.3 FM’s “Topical Currents,” that examines issues and ideas raised by performances of new works to be presented at the Center this season. This installment explores the topic of gender identity on WLRN 91.3 FM’s “Topical Currents” radio call-in program on Wednesday, January 23 at 1 pm, with Scott Turner Schofield and others.

SpeakOut grows out of Tigertail Productions’ existing and highly successful Tigertail WordSpeak teen spoken word project, which brings poets and performers to Miami each year to lead workshops for teens. Tigertail also sponsors and coaches a WordSpeak team of Miami teens who attend the national Brave New Voices spoken word youth slam and festival in the summer. Tigertail also produces a book and a CD of the teens’ poems. Gay teens from the SpeakOut project will have the opportunity to participate in the main WordSpeak program adding their unique voices to Miami’s youth culture.

All tickets for Becoming a Man in 127 Easy Steps are $25 and are available through the Carnival Center box office at 305 949 6722 or online at  <http://www.carnivalcenter.org>. Groups of 15 or more can receive discounts of up to 50% by calling 786 468-2326. Full-time students, seniors (65 and over), and members of the military can purchase half-price tickets on the day of performance, depending on availablility, with current picture I.D. at the Carnival Center Box Office Window, 1300 Biscayne Boulevard, limit one ticket per purchase. The Carnival Center Box Office is open 10 am-6 pm. Monday-Friday; beginning at noon on weekends when there is a performance scheduled; and two hours before every performance.

Tigertail Productions, founded in Miami in 1979, is Florida's pioneer of innovative cultural work, and produces a full season of contemporary performance, along with projects in the literary and visual arts.  Besides Scott Turner Schofield, the 2007/2008 season has already included the jazz  and blues icon James Blood Ulmer and will showcase in the winter and spring groundbreaking international dance companies from Buenos Aires and New York, as well as musicians from Curacao and Haiti. In addition WordSpeak continues with visiting spoken word guest artists and Tigertail will publish a Brazilian issue of its acclaimed poetry annual. For more information about Tigertail and full season details visit them on the web at www.tigertail.org  or call them at 305 324 4337.

Carnival Center is Miami-Dade County’s largest ever public/private-sector partnership. It includes the 2,400-seat Sanford and Dolores Ziff Ballet Opera House, the 2,200-seat John S. and Kames L.  Knight Concert Hall, a 200-seat black box Studio Theater, the Peacock Education Center, a restored Art Deco Tower, and the Parker and Vann Thomson Plaza for the Arts. Carnival Center is a Miami venue not only for its four resident companies (Concert Association of Florida, Florida Grand Opera, Miami City Ballet, and New World Symphony), but also for many smaller South Florida arts organizations. For more information, visit <http://www.carnivalcenter.org>.
 
Scott Turner Schofield’s performances and SpeakOut residency in Miami are supported in part by grants to Tigertail Productions from the Joseph H. and Florence A. Roblee Foundation and from the National Performance Network’s Performance Residency Program. Major contributors of the National Performance Network include the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, Ford Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts (a federal agency), Altria and the Nathan Cummings Foundation. Tigertail Productions is a Partner in the National Performance Network (NPN). NPN is a group of cultural organizers and artists facilitating the practice and public experience of the performing arts in the United States. NPN serves artists, arts organizers, and a broad range of audiences and communities across the country through commissions, residencies, culture-centered community projects and other artistic activities. For more information: www.npnweb.org.


Tigertail’s 28th season is made possible by community partners and supporters including Allegany Franciscan Ministeries; Arthur F. and Alice E. Adams Charitable Foundation; BankAtlantic Foundation; Books & Books; Brazilian American Chamber of Commerce of Florida; Bresaro Suites; Centro Cultural Brasil-USA; City of Coral Gables Cultural Arts Program; City of Miami; City of Miami Beach Cultural Affairs Program, Cultural Arts Council; Consulate General of Brazil; Consulate General of the Kingdom of the Netherlands; Dade Community Foundation; E.S. Moore Family Foundation; FIU Dance Department; Foundation for Contemporary Arts; Greater Miami Convention and Visitors Bureau; Joseph H. and Florence A.Roblee Foundation; Miami-Dade College Cultural Affairs & Dance Department; MiamiArtZine; Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs and the Mayor and Board of County Commissioners; Miami-Dade County Public Library; Miami-Dade County Public Schools; Miami River Inn; National Endowment for the Arts; National Performance Network; Network of Cultural Centers of Color; New World School of the Arts Dance Department; Publix Super Markets Charities; Shake-A-Leg Miami; The Law Office of Linda M. Smith; Southern Arts Federation; State of Florida, Department of State, Division of Cultural Affairs and the Florida Arts Council; Vortex Communications; VSA arts of Florida; WDNA & WLRN FM and many individual supporters.