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Criminal Queerness Festival 2024

Opening Date: Jun 21, 2024

Closing Date: Jun 29, 2024

Criminal Queerness Festival 2024
https://pacnyc.org/series/criminal-queerness-festival/ Show Site Icon

Playing @

Perelman Performing Arts Center

251 Fulton Street New York, NY 10007

View theatre details
National Queer Theater brings its annual Criminal Queerness Festival to PAC NYC in 2024, featuring productions of Achiro P. Olwoch’s The Survival, Raphaël Amahl Khouri’s She He Me and Nick Hadikwa Mwaluko’s Waafrika 123: A Queerly Scripted Tragic Rise to African Fantasia.

The Criminal Queerness Festival celebrates queer and trans artists from around the world who have the guts to risk it all—censorship, imprisonment and violence for simply sharing their truth. Since 2019, the Criminal Queerness Festival has produced playwrights from Syria, Venezuela, Uganda, Kenya, Iraq, China, Pakistan, Tanzania, Egypt, Mexico, India, Lebanon, Poland and Ukraine.

Achan, feeling pressure from her mother for not yet being married at 27, falls for Oyat after meeting him at a bar. Unbeknownst to Achan, Oyat is hoping she will be a surrogate for him and his boyfriend’s child. When Achan learns the truth from Oyat’s boyfriend, John, she must confront her own traditional upbringing to find love and new notions of family in modern Uganda. The Survival is a story of survival.

She He Me is the first Arab transgender play. It follows the true stories of three Arab characters who challenge gender norms. Randa is an Algerian trans woman who is expelled under the threat of death from her homeland because of her LGBT activism there. Omar is a Jordanian non-binary person, who, rather than body dysphoria, suffers social dysphoria when it comes to the strict codes of masculinity imposed and expected of them by both the heterosexual and gay community around them. Rok is a Lebanese trans man. His main challenge is convincing his very conservative religious mother that her daughter is actually a boy. Through humor and horror, the three characters come up against the state, society and family, but also themselves.

On the eve of the country’s first democratic elections, everyone is brewing with expression, even in the tiny, rural, fictional village, Luoland, with no electricity or running water some 250 kilometers northwest of Nairobi. There, although queer lesbians ‘don’t exist’ in Kenya, two queers fall in love: Bobby, an American development worker and Awino from the Luo tribe. To complicate matters, Awino’s father is also the Chief who enforces traditions and codes. So when famine strikes, the villagers blame the queers for the many, many deaths by starvation. To regain equilibrium, to make everything “normal” once again, Awino—non-binary queer (preop, no T) trans—must be “circumcised”—by force—so “s/he” can act like a real village woman rather than a woman “who wants to be” a man, and Bobby must leave. Will Awino and Bobby agree to separate for the good of their community? Or will the village itself change?

Performance Schedule:

Visit pacnyc.org for full festival schedule.

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Full-price tickets

$24 - $129

Accessibility:

Assisted Listening System

Infrared assistive listening systems are installed in all theaters and headsets may be used at any seat. Headsets with induction neckloops are available for patrons who use hearing aids and cochlear implants with a “T” switch. Devices are distributed free-of-charge on a first-come, first-served basis. Devices are available at the Ticketing and Information Desk. Please request a device from staff as you arrive.

Box Office

The Ticketing and Information Desk, located in the lobby entrance, is accessible.

Directions Driving

Blocks from NJ Ferry and Staten Island Ferry

Directions Subway

E to World Trade Center, A/C/4/5/J/Z/2/3 to Fulton Street, R/W to Cortlandt Street, 1 to WTC Cortlandt; PATH to World Trade Center

Elevator\Escalator

Accessible Ramps and Elevators allow patrons to reach all levels/areas of PAC NYC. Elevators are provided to navigate from the ground level to the main foyer and restaurant and to all levels of the theaters where accessible seating is present.

Entrance

An accessible entrance/elevator is available at the main entrance to PAC NYC. All theaters, the restaurant and Ticketing and Information Desk are accessible.

Folding Armrests

Seats with removable armrests are available in all venues.

Passenger Loading Zone

Access-a-Ride users can use the AAR bus stop at the front entry of PAC NYC for more convenient pick-ups and drop-offs.

Restroom

Accessible restrooms are located on the 2nd and 3rd level of the building, accessible via elevator from the ground and the main 2nd level lobby. Three ADA Single use restrooms (Large enough for companion assistance) are located on the 2nd level. Two ADA Single use restrooms (Large enough for companion assistance) and 4 wheelchair accessible toilets are located on the 3rd level.

Seating

All theaters have wheelchair- and scooter-accessible locations where patrons can remain in their wheelchairs or transfer to theater seats. Patrons who cannot or do not wish to transfer from their wheelchairs to a theater seat should request/purchase wheelchair-accessible locations when ordering tickets. Seats with removable armrests are available in all venues.

Visual Assistance

Audio description is scheduled for select PAC NYC events throughout the year. Patrons who wish to listen to the description must pick up a headset. Headsets are distributed free-of-charge on a first-come, first-served basis from the Ticketing and Information Desk. Touch tours are made available when possible in conjunction with audio described performances. Large print and braille Playbills are available.

Wheelchair Info

All theaters have wheelchair- and scooter-accessible locations where patrons can remain in their wheelchairs or transfer to theater seats. Patrons who cannot or do not wish to transfer from their wheelchairs to a theater seat should request/purchase wheelchair-accessible locations when ordering tickets. For assistance selecting accessible seats or for more information about accessibility for a person with a disability, please contact 212-266-3010 or accessibility@pacnyc.org.

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Public Transportation

Subway Icon

By Subway:

E to World Trade Center, A/C/4/5/J/Z/2/3 to Fulton Street, R/W to Cortlandt Street, 1 to WTC Cortlandt; PATH to World Trade Center

Bus Icon

By Bus: