The newest reimagining of the traditional Broadway musical Cats seems like a daring reclamation rooted in ballroom and queer tradition.
For actress Kya Azeen, being a part of Cats: The Jellicle Ball is a full-circle second, and a mirrored image of how a lot the tradition has had a hand in her success as we speak.
“Ballroom is how I grew to become who I’m as we speak,” Azeen instructed MadameNoire simply forward of one among her showday rehearsals. “It was, in some ways, as a result of I didn’t get to attend faculty, and once I joined ballroom, I used to be like 19, so it was type of like my faculty years of me discovering myself and understanding who I used to be as a trans lady, and simply as a Black queer individual.”
She added, “So to be on this area proper now, for one, my background inside dance and inside performing, and to additionally see it in an area the place its theater combined with ballroom, is actually bewildering for me, but additionally simply speaks to the younger child that’s like capable of simply do every thing that I used to be coaching for thus lengthy after which additionally to include a tradition that affect me so deeply.”
RELATED CONTENT: Jordyn Jay On Why Satisfaction Month Is Extra Than A Social gathering And How BTFA Is Empowering Black Trans Voices By way of Artwork [Exclusive]
Whereas it could appear that there can be loads of strain that comes with creating an area the place some Black queer audiences might even see themselves mirrored for the primary time, Azeen recounts how Cats: The Jellicle Ball takes that power and grounds it in authenticity.
“It’s so innate in me to be a Black trans lady who’s from ballroom,” stated Azeen. “It’s simply pure, and what I add to the present is already a tradition that I’ve already come from, so it does really feel pure, essentially. I do hope that different queer youth are this and positively seeing themselves, as a result of I believe for a very long time, and it’s so wild, as a result of I’ve a buddy who, years in the past, I assumed I’d by no means dance once more, and she or he at all times instructed me, like, ‘Woman, you are able to do this. You are able to do this,’ and tried to push me ahead. However it was a special time once I was 19, and simply trying again, I actually hope that these queer people are seeing themselves and saying, ‘I can exist as myself and nonetheless carry out and execute issues inside theater,’ as a result of I simply didn’t see it on the time. I believe as a result of I didn’t see it, I didn’t suppose it was attainable.”
As a Pose alum, a transfer made early in her profession, Azeen mirrored on not essentially realizing how a lot of an influence the present would have on the tradition, particularly because it pertained to the LGBTQIA-centered collection and productions that will comply with in its footsteps.
She jokes that her character in Cats: The Jellicle Ball could be very adjoining to her function as Blanca in Pose.
“So, the character I play is Etcetera,” Azeen recalled. “I had loads of assist constructing this character with N’yomi Stewart, who’s additionally a mom and inside ballroom, and our affiliate director. She had loads of assist with me, simply type of piecing collectively who Etcetera is, and what she’s doing. She principally was from the home of Macavity, Macavity’s daughter, after which left, with aspirations of becoming a member of and creating her personal home.”
“All through the present, I’m scouting about and having these concepts of like, who can I kind for me to have my very own assertion? Very Blanca in Pose, truthfully,” she chimed. “However it’s been cool. Once more, I really feel like I do know this tradition so effectively. It’s so dwelling for me. So it hasn’t been like loads of loopy homework to embody Etcetera. The one factor that I’d say is somewhat completely different is that typically, once I present up, I’m like, Kya might be loopy in her head. For the present, I really feel like I’ve to be extraordinarily fearless, which helps, as a result of we have now an incredible costume designer, Qween Jean, who has me on this lovely cheetah leotard and skirt that makes me simply step into simply leaving Kya past and being this final femme, and simply fearless all through the manufacturing.”
Azeen concludes our dialog by explaining why this reimagination of the Broadway sensation Cats is required now, greater than ever.
“It means a lot,” she stated. “I really feel like as folks, particularly as Black people, we want group greater than ever,” she stated. “We at all times want group, and I believe that’s the way in which that we have now to rally via the arduous instances and the triumphs that we have now needed to overcome via historical past. It means quite a bit to know that I’m in a manufacturing the place we’re celebrating one another each night time. We’re seeing one another, and there are even moments all through the present the place I’m getting emotional fascinated about it, like, particularly, when Chasity [Moore] comes out, and she or he’s singing ‘Reminiscence,’ I believe loads of us are identical to, I can not consider it. For somebody particularly from ballroom, a Black trans lady who’s being on a spectacle, in highlighting, and inside this manufacturing, and she or he’s singing an iconic musical theater track like ‘Reminiscence,’ and consuming it up each night time, it’s bewildering to see this.”
“It means quite a bit to see ourselves in all our glory and in our gentle and simply shining,” Azeen concluded. “I believe with all that’s occurring on the earth, prefer to silence it, that this manufacturing is required greater than ever, not just for the people who come to see us, however for ourselves.”
Click on right here for upcoming showtimes for Cats: The Jellicle Ball now on Broadway.
RELATED CONTENT: From Sizzling Woman To Headliner — Megan Thee Stallion Set To Make Historical past With Broadway Debut In ‘Moulin Rouge! The Musical’
