In the fall of 2010, Rebecca Kling was fired from a teaching position for being a transgender woman. Her experience led her to create her latest one-woman show, No Gender Left Behind, which tours the Midwest this summer at the 2011 Fringe Festivals in Kansas City, Indianapolis, and Chicago.
From Congress to the classroom, No Gender Left Behind confronts gender policing and the harassment and violence transgender people face every day. Rebecca Kling is a Chicago-based artist interested in exploring the performance of identity. Her multimedia productions -- composed of storytelling, video, movement, self-discovery, accusatory glances, and awkward pauses -- question gender, self-expression, and what it means to be at home in one's own body.
No Gender Left Behind premieres at the Kansas City Fringe Festival (Loft 122, 122 Southwest, Kansas City, MO) on July 22 (9 pm), July 23 (6 pm), July 25, 27, 29, and 30 (7:30 pm); the Indianapolis Fringe Festival (The Phoenix, 749 N Park, Indianapolis, IN) on Aug 19 (9 pm), Aug 20 (3 pm), Aug 21 (7:30 pm), Aug 24 (6 pm), Aug 27 (10:30 pm), and Aug 28 (4:30 pm); and the Chicago Fringe Festival (HumanThread Center, 645 W 18th, Chicago, IL) on Sept 1 (7 pm), Sept 3 (4 pm), Sept 5 (10 pm), Sept 9 (8:30 pm), and Sept 11 (5:30 pm).
Kling has performed her material at The Athenaeum Theatre with New Suit Theatre Company; the DCA Storefront Theatre with Caffeine Theatre; Temple Gallery in the 2010 Chicago Fringe Festival; Links Hall; Roosevelt and Northwestern Universities; Columbia College; About Face Theatre; Center on Halsted, and numerous other venues. Kling has been awarded the Chances Dances Critical Fierceness grant, and is funded in part by the Illinois Arts Council. She has been profiled in Time Out Chicago, Newcity Stage, and Centerstage Chicago, and regularly speaks at high schools and universities across Chicago. A graduate of Northwestern University's Department of Performance Studies with an adjunct major in Animate Arts, Kling is an instructor at the Piven Theatre Workshop, a syndicated blogger with BlogHer, and is on the Board of Directors at Pride Films and Plays.
This project is partially supported by a Community Arts Assistance Program Grant from the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events, and the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency.