As we roll into Pride month, there’s a lot of focus on LGBTQ history. That’s a great thing, since it’s a subject that has been woefully neglected for a long time – but it’s important to remember that the story of queer experience didn’t stop (or start) at Stonewall, nor with the AIDS crisis, nor even with the fight for marriage equality. It’s something that continues to be written, right up to this very day.

That’s why two new documentaries, both dropping on VOD platforms June 1, should be considered required viewing for anyone who understands that knowing history means staying informed about it even as it happens. That’s especially true when the history being told is trans history – something that, until recent years, has been swept into the background even within the scope of the larger chronicle of our LGBTQ+ community. In the case of both of these new films, that makes them an even more valuable addition to our watch lists. Each film provides a layered, up-close profile of a trans pioneer forging new pathways to acceptance within the rarified environment of an insular professional community where trans inclusion has been far from the norm.

In “The Sound of Identity,” the profession in question is one that is usually out of the question for all but a privileged few – but that privilege has little to do with either gender or sexuality, and everything to do with natural talent and ability. It focuses its lens on Lucia Lucas, an opera singer about to step into her first leading role after a decade of building a career and reputation for excellence. She’s confident, gifted, driven, and more than up to the challenge. She also happens to be the first known transgender woman to take on a principal role in the history of professional opera, and the role happens to be one of the most iconic of all time – that of the scheming, womanizing title character in Mozart’s “Don Giovanni,” in a production by the Tulsa Opera in 2019.

Directed by James Kicklighter, the film follows Lucas as she prepares for the historic performance while also negotiating the intense media spotlight that accompanies it. There’s extensive rehearsal footage, revealing the self-assured mastery she brings to her work as well as the respect with which she is treated by both fellow cast members and creative personnel – including Tulsa Opera’s Artistic Director, Tobias Picker, a renowned composer in his own right and Lucas’ longtime mentor. Picker, who has risked his position on choosing her for the role, clearly believes in her skill; he’s less sure, however, of her chances at drawing audiences, not just because she is trans but because of the outside-the-box casting of a female singer in a male role – even if she is a baritone.

For Lucas’ part, she is determined to prove his fears unfounded. She works as tirelessly in promoting the production as she does on her role, engaging with the community, singing at fundraisers, and waking up before dawn to do phone interviews with journalists many time zones away. The additional strain of all this activity takes its toll on the singer’s voice and stamina, causing concern that she may be undermining her own ability to perform at her best on opening night. This, combined with the Lucas’ impending reunion with long-estranged family members who are coming to see her perform, provides just enough drama to give the movie a touch of narrative.

More than any of that, though, Kicklighter’s movie dwells on the world of opera itself. On the job, Lucas’ identity as a trans woman takes a back seat to her work, and the director wisely chooses to devote much of his running time to the process of mounting “Don Giovanni” itself. Because of this, we get to see Lucas the way she sees herself – as an artist striving to be among the best in her field. If that means letting us see flashes of temperament, bouts of insecurity, or the occasional moment of unapologetic ego, so be it. After all, isn’t being a diva part of what being an opera star is all about?

On arguably the opposite end of the cultural spectrum is the subject of “Julia Scotti: Funny That Way.” Directed by Susan Sandler, this short but sweet documentary profiles a subject who had a successful career as a stand-up comic for many years before transitioning at 47. It made her the person she felt truly destined to be, but it also meant the end of both her personal and her professional life, as family, friends, and an entire professional community turned their backs on her. Scotti then spent a decade reinventing herself as Julia, teaching classes and finding opportunities to blend her truth into her work as a performer. Shot over a five-year period, the movie tracks her triumphant return to the comedy stage, as well as the rekindling of her relationship with her children, with whom she had lost contact 15 years before.

A seasoned pro, Scotti comes off well on camera. She knows how to work her vulnerabilities into her material and diffuse them though laughter, but she also knows when to let the truth shine through without self-deprecating irony. These qualities, which serve her well in her chosen field, undoubtedly helped her through the difficult years after her “disappearance” from the public eye. More to the point, here, is her willingness to use those gifts as a means to open eyes and minds to the experience of trans people, and Sandler crafts her movie to highlight that aspect of Scotti’s persona, creating a portrait of someone who has transcended personal struggles to become a beacon for empathy and understanding – without losing her sense of humor in the process.

What’s remarkable about both of these films is that, ultimately, the “transness” of the women at their centers has nothing to do with the work that they do – and yet, at the same time, it is essential. Her skills and her passion are unrelated to gender, but because she is trans, Lucia Lucas is able to find dimensions in Don Giovanni – a character almost synonymous with toxic masculinity – that no one else could see. In the same way, Scotti blends her trans experience with her seasoned understanding of comedy to craft a unique act that puts both trans and non-trans audiences at ease and helps them find the common ground of laughter. In each case, the point is not that they can do the work in spite of being trans – it’s that their trans identity helps them to excel at it.

In a culture still combatting the regressive attitudes of transphobic bigots and the lawmakers they elect to office, both Kicklighter and Sandler have given us films that not only provide much-needed trans visibility on our screens, but remind us of how much more we can all contribute to the world when we are allowed to bring our entire selves to the table.

You can’t ask for a better Pride month message than that.

SANTA CLARA, CA. – The San Francisco 49ers have announced month-long plans for the organization’s annual celebration of June LGBTQ+ Pride month. Led by 49ers PRIDE, the official fan club of 49ers Faithful who identify as LGBTQ+ and allies, the 2021 celebration will be highlighted by the 2021 49ers PRIDE Collection.

Every fan can feel seen

The San Francisco 49ers call their new retail line of rainbow-logo’d tops, tees and jackets “genderless.” We think you’ll call them cool- two years after the San Francisco 49ers led the NFL with the first official community for LGBTQ fans and allies, back in May 2019, the team hopes to score another win for its diverse fanbase Thursday with a new retail line that isn’t limited by binary gender styles.

The new array of team-branded and Pride-themed clothing is the league’s first and only “genderless” collection, according to a news release from the Niners. The threads are by Fanatics and the team promises 100% of the proceeds from this collection will benefit the San Francisco LGBT Center, the Oakland LGBT Center and The LGBTQ Youth Space: San Jose.

“Supporting the LGBTQ+ community in sports is a priority for the 49ers organization because sport has not always been inviting,” the 49ers’ Hannah Gordon told the Los Angeles Blade. Gordon is entering her tenth season with the 49ers and third as chief administrative officer and general counsel.

“We created 49ers PRIDE to make space for all of our LGBTQ+ fans and allies and it quickly became an incredible community. This year, we designed the first genderless retail line by an NFL team because we don’t want there to be 49ers fan who wants gear but doesn’t feel seen. If you want to support the Niners, we have something for you.”

There will still be items available that fans who prefer a feminine cut can purchase at the team’s online store, but the 2021 Pride collection is specifically geared toward Niners fans who aren’t interested in reinforcing gender stereotypes when they support their team and fly their Pride colors.

“With this line, we have pieces that were designed so that however you identify, you can find a fit and any two people can express different styles with the same piece,” said Gordon. “I love seeing how our fans wear these pieces and express their style. Doing it your own way is faithful to the Bay.”

Click here to view the collection and find out more about 49ers Pride.

‘2.5 Minute Ride’
Streaming through June 6
Studio Theatre
$37
Studiotheatre.org

Tony Award-winning lesbian playwright Lisa Kron writes about families. Sometimes her own, and sometimes other people’s.

With her autobiographical solo show “2.5 Minute Ride,” now streaming at Studio Theatre, the focus is on her relationship with her father, a nearly blind Holocaust survivor with a mad passion for roller coasters.

The 75-minute piece opens with Lisa (engagingly played by Dina Thomas) alone in an empty theater. Casually dressed in jeans and a flannel shirt, she arranges a couple of chairs and a slide projector. She’s about to open the family album – usually a dreaded experience for strangers, but not so here.

Rather than an endless cavalcade of unknown faces and places, these projected slides are blank pictures, allowing the audience to imagine people and locations of their own conjuring.

From the start, it’s clear that this anecdote-jammed monologue will be a mix of laughs and sadness. As Lisa, Thomas pokes fun at her oddball relatives. There’s the brother who finds a bride on the Internet, a grandmother who left behind countless unopened packages of cosmetics bought because she felt bad for the Avon Lady, and Lisa’s closeted uncle whose hoard of gay porn was uncovered after his death.

Though not in the least bit sugarcoated, Kron’s descriptions are never cruel.

But the foremost eccentric here, is Lisa’s thrill-addicted father Walter. A German Jewish immigrant, he escaped Nazi Germany as a teenager by Kindertransport. His parents weren’t so fortunate — unable to get out, they met tragic fates in the camps.

Over the years Walter establishes an upper-middle class life in Lansing, Mich. Almost annually, the family makes trips to Cedar Point amusement park, the roller coaster capital of the world, in Sandusky, Ohio, where Walter, a bona fide coaster junkie, indulges in his favorite pastime, a habit that he’s loath to give up even as he ages. So, at 74, despite failing vision, diabetes, and a bad heart, Walter continues to ride the coasters (the play’s title is a salute to this passion)

Lisa marvels at her family’s bad health. Most of the extended family is dead or crippled, she says.

They’re so different from her girlfriend Peg’s physically vital, outdoorsy clan.

There’s another journey whose details Lisa generously shares. It’s the one-time trip she and her dad take to Auschwitz, the death camp where Walter believes his parents to have perished. As traveling companions, the pair do pretty well. She supplies sight while he brings the languages. During their time alone together, Lisa learns a lot about Walter, the ways in which he processes joy and grief, for instance, along with some larger lessons about how great tragedy exists alongside the mundanity of life.

Streamed solo shows have become staple theatrical fare throughout the pandemic. If they’re not your thing, then “2.5 Minute Ride” may not be for you. That said, Thomas gives a compelling, layered performance as Lisa. Ably directed by Joanie Shultz, Thomas convincingly talks about family with compassion but not sentiment. Through Kron’s prose, she vividly recreates relations and locales ranging from her maternal grandmother’s home, the brother’s rented wedding venue, a rental car, the Auschwitz parking lot.

Kron, who is married to fellow celebrated playwright Madeleine George, is probably best known for writing the book and lyrics for “Fun Home,” the award-winning Broadway musical, a queer coming-of-age story adapted from Alison Bechdel’s 2006 graphic memoir of the same name. Kron also wrote the biographical “Well,” a family memoir centered on the relationship of mothers and daughters, and wellness.

“2.5 Minute Ride” offers a funny, poignant entry into Kron’s family. It’s an invitation worth accepting.