SCRIPTED | SHOWS
SORORITY and OUTSIDE IN THEATRE PRESENT
BUTCH BALLET
created by gina young
BUTCH BALLET is an ode to mascs from a femme who loves them. A world premiere movement-theatre piece created by award-winning playwright gina young and presented by SORORITY and Outside In Theatre, BUTCH BALLET features a gender-expansive cast of butch lesbians, masc queer women, trans men, and nonbinary mascs in a series of private moments and pedestrian dances of tenderness and queer joy.
BUTCH BALLET draws from elements of ballet including pas de deux, pas de quatre, and of course a Corps de Butch to ask, who gets to be seen? Who gets to be safe? And who gets to dance? Against a backdrop of waves of anti-trans and anti-LGBTQ legislation sweeping the United States—with an unprecedented over 528 anti-LGBTQ bills currently introduced at the state level according to the ACLU—BUTCH BALLET creates a radical space of belonging.
The result is a joyful collage of scenes and movement that treats butches and mascs like the most beautiful thing in the world. Because they are.
BUTCH BALLET features an original score by Ames Bessada (Black Mirror), movement architecture by Codi Gentle (Loved Ones), and an ensemble cast drawn from LA’s theatre, dance, drag king, and queer scene communities.
INFO
MAIN RUN | Jun 26 – Jun 30
PRICE | $15- $30
TIME | 8:00PM (Jun 28 – additional 3:00PM Matinee Showing)
LOCATION
Outside In Theatre
5317 York Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90042
REVIEWS
“Young trims the fat off contemporary dance and gender mores”
Downtown News
CAST
Anna Moceri (she/they)
Originally from Long Island, New York, Anna graduated from Montclair State University with a BFA in Acting. Anna started her creative career as a dancer before devoting herself to theatre and acting. Her past credits include Newsies (Buttons), Rent (Alexi Darling), Half Time (Kendra/Dance Captain) and Cabaret (Lulu/Gorilla). Her first feature film titled The Virus of Restlessness premieres this year where Anna can be seen in the role of Alexandra. When Anna isn’t working she can be found writing screen and stage plays.
Denise Jones (she/they)
Denise is multi-undisciplinary rando with the heart of a jester. Working in international journalism for two decades, she was forced to stop masking as a corporate powerdyke post mid-life cris–…reset. She’s been supergay, pretty butch, and always in Love since she’s had conscious memory. The playwright cast her for this production from a dancefloor at the clurb. When she’s not gyrating in hyper social spaces, you can find Denise frolicking with wild animals and deep in meditation with the stars.
María Jurado (they/she)
María is an actor, clown, and movement artist from the food and art capital of the world, Mexico City. They recently graduated with a BFA in Acting from CalArts, where they became known for playing men in mainstage performances, and excentric characters in experimental movement shows. They have previously performed at venues such as REDCAT, and Odyssey Theatre Ensemble in LA, and La MaMa in New York. They are thrilled to have the opportunity to embody queer stories alongside such a wonderful company and creative team.
Check out their stuff: mariajurado.net
Maze Felix (they/he)
Maze Felix is an actor, model, dancer, and drag king, whose work explores the nuances of embodiment, intersectional identity, and belonging. Their work as an artist is often informed by his own life experiences holding multiple marginalized identities as a queer transmasculine AAPI transracial adoptee. Maze moves through the world with the lens of transformative social justice and unabashed authenticity, which are integral pillars to their personal and professional values. Maze also works in advocacy as a speaker and accessibility as an American Sign Language Interpreter. [@hi.there.im.maze]
Rae Eubanks (they/them)
Rae Eubanks (they/them) is a Los Angeles-based trans-nonbinary actor and multidisciplinary creative. Recent credits include Old Dykes (AFI DWW+ 2025 Showcase) and the short play A Very Christmas Crashout. They have trained for the past three years with Joshua Bitton and Isidora Goreshter, working in scene study and Meisner technique.
Originally from Atlanta, they began in modeling and commercial work with NIKE, Target, and GAP before focusing on film and theater and recently completed a post-baccalaureate certificate in Women, Gender & Sexuality Studies at CalState LA to better inform their creative work.
CREATIVE TEAM
Gina Young (she/they)
Creator, Writer, Director
Gina Young is an award-winning playwright (The Jane Chambers Award, The Humanitas/PLAY LA Prize, The MAP Fund Grant), a songwriter with over a million hits on Spotify whose song “Butch/Femme” has half a million views on YouTube, and a director of experimental theatre and video. Work for the stage includes BUTCH BALLET, STRAIGHT PLAY (a queer beach blanket musical), Femmes: A Tragedy, and This Is Why I Don’t Come Home. Work for the screen includes ROOM TONE starring Roberta Colindrez. Gina’s projects have been seen at REDCAT, The Hammer Museum and The Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA). They are the founder of SORORITY performance salon. Connect via www.ginayoung.com or @ginagenius and @sororitytheatre on Instagram.
Codi Gentle (they/he)
Movement Architect
Where do we go when we move ourselves? Codi Gentle has spent the last decade being wherever that is. Through movement and the exploration of the body’s abilities towards sound and the silent spaces, we challenge the constructs of time and reality. Our collective responsibility to return to self invites movement and choreography as operatives on that journey. What is seemingly so recognizably gentle about Codi is their understanding of bodily combinations being modes of encouragement, fear, exhilaration, personification, alienation …. in both positions of the delivery and the recipient.
Ames Bessada (they/them)
Composer
AMES BESSADA is a composer, multi-instrumentalist, and songwriter. Their credits include the series Irish Blood (AMC), Astrid & Lilly Save the World (SyFy), two episodes of Black Mirror (Netflix), and five seasons of Holly Hobbie. They also scored the documentary features SUMMER QAMP which premiered at TIFF and the upcoming ANTIDIVA: THE CAROLE POPE CONFESSIONS as well as the comedic feature I USED TO BE FUNNY, which premiered at SXSW. They are a graduate of the Canadian Film Centre’s Slaight Music Residency.
X. Hill (she/her)
Costume Designer
X. Hill is an award-winning costume designer using her talents to create surreal worlds for the stage and screen.
Her past projects include “Dame de la Lumière” (“Rolling Stone”), “The Carolyn Bryant Project” (“NYT” Critic’s Pick, REDCAT) “Romeo and Juliet” and “The Cymbeline Project” (Oregon Shakespeare Festival), “King Lear” (The Wallis), and “Concerto for Having Fun with Elvis on Stage” (REDCAT).
X. holds a Costume Design MFA from CalArts and a Fashion Design BFA from Parsons School of Design. She has received the NAACP President’s Award and the Young-Howse Theatre Journal Award for Costume Designer of the Year.
Erica Ammerman
Lighting Design
Laura Ochoa
Set Design
Joseph Brunelle-Potter (he/them)
Set Design
Designer, decorator and prop master.
Tatum Anderson (she/her)
Sound Designer
Tatum has been designing and engineering audio for theater, film, games, and dance in Los Angeles for the past 8 years. She is tuned to experimental modes of performance and methods of sound-making; designing and producing for immersive audio installations, site-specific theater, indie film, and archival music preservation. Her work has been featured in the Sundance Film Festival, Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival, and NoBudge. Tatum can be found field recording in the San Gabriel Mountains, reading Brandon LaBelle in traffic, or spinning vinyl at dive bars in Joshua Tree. From the SF Bay Area originally, and a graduate of UCLA’s School of Theater, Film, and Television, she strives to amplify California’s communities through her creative practice.
Risa Kurosaki (she/they)
Stage Manager
Risa is a queer identifying stage manager born & raised in Los Angeles and is excited to be able to work with all of these incredibly talented artists in this space. Some credits include The Great Leap (Perseverance Theatre), 40 Watts from Nowhere (Mister & Mischief), and The Four Immigrants (Artists at Play).
Jenelle Cambell
Graphic Design