BREAKING THE BINARY THEATRE ANNOUNCES DATES AND VENUE FOR FIFTH ANNUAL FESTIVAL – GEORGE STRUS TO STEP DOWN AS ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, PLEASE
BREAKING THE BINARY THEATRE
ANNOUNCES DATES AND VENUE
FOR FIFTH ANNUAL
BREAKING THE BINARY THEATRE FESTIVAL
AND
A ONE NIGHT ONLY CONCERT OF
NEW MUSICAL
“THE DANISH GIRL”
FOUNDER GEORGE STRUS TO STEP DOWN AS ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
AT THE END OF THE YEAR
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New York, NY (August 26, 2026) – Breaking the Binary Theatre (George Strus, they/them) announced today that the fifth annual Breaking the Binary Theatre Festival will take place from October 5 – 11, 2026 at The Susan & Ronald Frankel Theater at the Robert W. Wilson MCC Theater Space. The Festival, which will continue the groundbreaking theater company’s mission of producing work created and developed by transgender, non-binary, and Two-Spirit+ (TNB2S+) theatre artists, will announce full programming in the coming weeks.
In addition to the yearly week-long festival, the organization will also present a one-night-only concert of The Danish Girl taking place at Lincoln Center’s David Rubenstein Atrium to celebrate Transgender Day of Remembrance on Friday, November 20, 2026.
Based on the award-winning book by David Ebershoff, the new musical features book and lyrics by Nora Brigid Monahan, an original score by Alex Parker, and direction by Georgie Rankcom. The production, which held its first private workshop earlier this year, is being developed by Strus’ commercial producing venture, Benson Drive Productions. Information on casting and tickets will be announced in the coming weeks. All tickets are complimentary and General Admission. For more information, please visit https://lincolncenter.org/series/lincoln-center-presents/breaking-the-binary-810.
Strus also announced today that following this year’s festival and concert, they will step down as Artistic Director of Breaking the Binary Theatre in December 2026. New leadership and succession plans will be announced later this year.
In a statement, Strus said, “It is with profound gratitude that I am stepping down as Artistic Director of Breaking the Binary Theatre in December of this year. For the past five years, it has been the honor of my lifetime building this organization from the ground up with thousands of artists, supporters, and audience members. From the very beginning, I felt a space like BTB was necessary, not only for the transgender, non-binary, and Two-Spirit+ (TNB2S+) community, but also for the theatrical ecosystem at large; in my wildest dreams, I could never have imagined how deeply life-changing and life-saving the work would be, not only for me but also for hundreds of other TNB2S+ theatermakers. From our launch–BTB’s inaugural Festival in 2022–through the end of my tenure, I am overjoyed to say that Breaking the Binary Theatre will have paid out over $1,000,000 to over 600 TNB2S+ artists. I am so incredibly proud of what the BTB community has built and I am forever grateful to every collaborator who helped shape the organization’s body of work and impact. As I depart, it brings me great solace to know that Breaking the Binary Theatre’s crucial work will continue, and I look forward to passing the torch and watching with great excitement as BTB enters its next chapter and continues to create space for TNB2S+ artists to tell their stories, share their artistry, and shape the future of our theatrical industry.”
For more information, please visit https://www.btb-nyc.com/. Breaking the Binary Theatre is a new work development and community building hub wherein transgender, non-binary, and Two-Spirit+ (TNB2S+*) artists come together to reclaim our artistic license and liberty through a number of initiatives and programs, including the annual all-TNB2S+ Breaking the Binary Theatre Festival each October.
Launched in July 2022 and founded and led by George Strus (they/them), the organization has produced over fifty workshops and readings of new works by TNB2S+ artists; produced an all-TNB2S+ concert of The Drowsy Chaperone at Carnegie Hall led by led by Jonathan Van Ness, Betty Who, Dylan Mulvaney, Alex Newell, and Laverne Cox, which earned a Special Recognition Award at the 37th Annual GLAAD Media
Awards; produced a three-week run of Cecilia Gentili’s Red Ink off-Broadway starring Jes Tom, Angelica Ross, and Peppermint, raising over $35,000 for charities; co-produced the world premiere of Sarah Mantell’s In The Amazon Warehouse Parking Lot with Playwrights Horizons, commissioned over fifty TNB2S+ artists; hosted over thirty community events; launched a free educational Summer Intensive for emerging TNB2S+ performers, a New Musicals program to develop musicals written by and featuring TNB2S+ performers, and a BTB Across America program for TNB2S+ artists outside of New York; published three collections with Broadway Licensing; partnered with Playbill, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Signature Theatre, Roundabout Theatre Company, and BroadwayCon; been in-residence at Playwrights Horizons, Williamstown Theatre Festival and New York Stage and Film; and paid out over $1,000,000 to over 600 TNB2S+ artists!
*Breaking the Binary Theatre uses the term “TNB2S+” in hopes to encompass any person who is transgender, non-binary, Two-Spirit, gender non-conforming, genderqueer, agender, intersex, gender expansive, bigender, gender fluid, or any identity within the umbrella transgender community.
Breaking the Binary Theatre is counseled by its Core Community, a voluntary advisory board of prominent TNB2S+ theatre artists working to further its outreach and impact. The board includes Tony Award-nominated designer Adam Rigg (they/them, The Skin of Our Teeth), Kleban Prize and Jonathan Larson Award-winning writer César Alvarez (they/them, Futurity), New York Stage and Film’s former Artistic Director Chris Burney (he/they), Princess Grace Award Honoraria recipient and director David Mendizábal (they/he, The Bandaged Place), Guggenheim Fellow and writer Jen Silverman (they/them+, Spain), Tony and Obie Award-winning actor and writer John Cameron Mitchell (he/they, “Shrill” on Hulu), Tony Award-winning multi-hyphenate KO who was formerly known as Karen Olivo (they/them, In the Heights), Kleban Prize and Jonathan Larson Award-winning poet Kit Yan (they/he/she, Interstate), Tony Award nominee L Morgan Lee (she/her, A Strange Loop), Jane Chambers Prize and Helen Merrill Award-winning writer MJ Kaufman (he/they, A Transparent Musical), Antonyo Award-nominated costume designer and activist Qween Jean (she/her, Primary Trust), Tony Award-winner and activist Sara Ramirez (they/them, “Grey’s Anatomy”), Co-Director of A.R.T./New York Risa Shoup (they/them), Tomás Matos (they/them, “Fire Island”), Grammy Award-winning interdisciplinary storyteller Ty Defoe (he/we/ty, Straight White Men), and Artistic Director of Rattlestick Theater Will Davis (he/him). Breaking the Binary Theatre is powered by Producer Hub. For more information, please visit http://www.btb-nyc.com or @BreakingtheBinaryTheatre on Instagram.
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