A journey through the many stages of understanding and defining ones identity, Bay Bryan’s GROWING INTO MY BEARD is a story for those who sit queer of the norm. Starting with his childhood, we step into the life of Bryan as he counterpoints the mind and experiences of a queer child, with the social and behavioral expectations derived from a fairy tale notion of love. Bryan’s performance is open and vulnerable. His storytelling transports us to an uncomfortable and confusing time in a queer person’s life, while his authenticity creates a warm safe place that resonates with any personal experience of “queer” and fosters a strong sense of community between performer and audience.
Even through the sometimes-ridiculous theatrical devices in which parts of his story are experienced, Bryan remains viscerally genuine about his identity and discovery of love in a world that is anything but the fairy tale he heard about growing up. [Tabu Lounge & Bar, 200 S. 12th Street; other performances at 954 Dance Movement Collective, Philly AIDS Thrift, and William Way LGBT Community Center] September 3-13, 2015; fringearts.com/growing-into-my-beard.