Queer Soup Theatre will present a one night performance of "Home" as a fundraiser for the company's upcoming educational tour being presented to raise awareness about transgender and queer identity issues. 

Written by Jess Martin, (with contributing writers, Renee C. Farster, Kim Hoff, and Karen 'Mal' Malme), "Home" tells the story of a family whose faith is rocked with the death-bed revelation that the minister's grandfather was born biologically female. 

Directed by Renee C. Farster, "Home" will be performed at the Boston Playwrights' Theatre on Monday, February 19, at 7:30 p.m. Admission will be via a suggested donation of $20 and tickets can be purchased at the door or by making a reservation either at 617-824-4297 or by visiting  www.queersoup.net.

In January 2006, Queer Soup premiered "Home" at the Boston Center for the Arts. The production grew to become an incredibly powerful show that worked to create a safe space for varied communities to come together to discuss, educate and hopefully, heal. It is because of its unique power and subject matter that Queer Soup has felt compelled to breathe more life into "Home."

"Home" asks: What does it take to make a man? God? Anatomy?

Gender identity is rarely discussed at the dinner table with one's grandparents. In "Home," Minister Lulu Edwards lashes out at her family over what she sees as a secret that her grandfather kept from her while he was alive. However, her grandfather never identified as anything other than a man, and so this calls into question, how can gender identity ever be something he considered hidden?

Complicating this revelation, Lulu learns that her new love interest, Kai, is a professional drag king who's own gender identity is a bit more fluid than Lulu can handle. Lulu's grandfather, Pappi, remains a presence throughout the production and it is in Lulu's conversations with him that a family can finally heal.

Jess Martin, playwright and producer for Queer Soup Theater commented, "At this time, we have begun booking on-the-road, fully- staged productions of 'Home' at conferences and performance venues in the greater New England region. We received such a tremendous response from the Boston community from our production at the Boston Center for the Arts in January of 2006 that we decided to package the show and take it on the road, "

Carla Kirmani-Taylor, Chair, Welcoming Congregation Committee of The First Church in Belmont, Unitarian Universalist, added, "'Home' is a play that combines the religious, the personal, the human, and central confusions and sometimes conflicts of our era. The play is both current and timeless, the sign of quality and depth, creating a moving experience for both actors and audience participants. 'Home' uses its story line to delve into the human condition, resonating with all of us,"

Queer Soup is a collaboration of Queer Artists who cultivate new works that introduce, unite and incite audiences by using laughter to smuggle ideas across society's borders.

Previous productions include "My Yolanda Love," "Invasion of Pleasure Valley" (Boston Globe: a "racy and riotous hit "), the sold-out "Buffy the Vampire Slayer's High School Reunion," "Thursday Night Theory/Unbound" and the jam-packed revue of Boston-queer talent, "Instant Queer Soup."

Production Photo: Renee C. Farster

-- OnStage Boston

01/23/07