Children and Their Parents

Becca Blackwell is an NYC-based trans actor, performer, and writer. Existing between genders, and preferring the pronoun "they," Blackwell works collaboratively with playwrights and directors to expand our sense of personhood and the body through performance. Some of their collaborations have been with Young Jean Lee, Half Straddle, Jennifer Miller's Circus Amok, Richard Maxwell, Erin Markey, Sharon Hayes, Theater of the Two Headed Calf, and Lisa D'Amour. Their film and television credits include High Maintenance, Ramy, Marriage Story, Shameless, Deadman's Barstool, Jack in the Box, If Found, and Sort Of. They have toured their solo shows They, Themself and Schmerm and Schmermie's Choice across the US. Additionally, Blackwell is the creator and star of the short film As Schmerm As it Gets. Blackwell was a recipient of the Doris Duke Impact Artist Award, the Franklin Furnace award and the Creative Capital Award. They recently made their Broadway debut in Is This a Room and can be seen in the forthcoming film Bros.

Kathryn Chetkovich is the author of the short story collection Friendly Fire, winner of the Iowa Short Fiction Award. Her work has appeared in Granta, Threepenny Review, New England Review, Mississippi Review, The Georgia Review, The Missouri Review, ZYZZYVA, and The Best American Short Stories 1998, among other publications. Her essay “Envy” was featured in The Best American Essays 2004. She works as a freelance editor.

Ivan Coyote is the author of thirteen fiction and nonfiction works, including Boys Like Her, Close to Spider Man, Bow Grip, winner of the ReLit Award for Best Fiction and the Stonewall Book Award Honor, One in Every Crowd, Gender Failure, Tomboy Survival Guide, also a Stonewall Book Award Honor winner, and Rebent Sinner. Coyote is a filmmaker, musician, stage performer, columnist for Xtra! and Xtra! West, and contributor to The Georgia Straight and CBC Radio. They currently serve as Writer in Residence at Simon Fraser University. Coyote’s latest work, Care Of: Letters, Connections, and Cures, was published in 2021.

Caitlin Horrocks is author of the story collections Life Among the Terranauts and This Is Not Your City, both New York Times Book Review Editor’s Choice selections. Her novel The Vexations was named one of the Ten Best Books of 2019 by the Wall Street Journal. Her stories and essays appear in The New Yorker, The Best American Short Stories, The PEN/O. Henry Prize Stories, The Pushcart Prize, The Paris Review, Tin House, and One Story, as well as other journals and anthologies. Her awards include the Plimpton Prize and fellowships to the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, the Sewanee Writers’ Conference, and the MacDowell Colony. She is on the advisory board of the Kenyon Review, where she formerly served as fiction editor. Horrocks teaches at Grand Valley State University and in the MFA Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College.

Cynthia Nixon made her film debut in Little Darlings at 12 years old and her Broadway debut at 14 in The Philadelphia Story. Since then she’s appeared in more than 40 plays, scores of films and television shows, and received 2 Emmys, 2 Tonys, and a Grammy Award. She is best known for her role as Miranda on HBO’s Sex and the City and is currently shooting a sequel series for HBO Max entitled And Just like That. In 2017, Nixon alternated the roles of Regina and Birdie with Laura Linney in Lillian Hellman's The Little Foxes on Broadway, winning her 2nd Tony Award. She appeared on numerous "best actress of 2018" lists for her portrayal of American poet Emily Dickinson in Terrence Davies' much-lauded film A Quiet Passion. Also in 2018 she ran for Governor of New York state. She was seen most recently in Ryan Murphy’s Netflix series Ratched opposite Sarah Paulson. In addition to And Just Like That she will next star in Julian Fellowes’ The Gilded Age on HBO. Nixon spends a good portion of her off-time fighting for funding for New York public schools, abortion rights, and LGBT equality. She and her wife, Christine, have 3 children: Sam, Charlie, and Max.

Phillipa Soo is best known for originating the role of Eliza Schuyler Hamilton in Hamilton. The role garnered her the Lucille Lortel Award in 2015 for Lead Actress in a Musical during the show’s pre-broadway, sold-out run at The Public Theater as well as a 2016 Tony Award nomination. Additional stage credits include leading roles in Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812 off-Broadway and Amélie and The Parisian Woman on Broadway. On screen, she has appeared in Smash, Here and Now opposite Sarah Jessica Parker, The Code. The Broken Hearts Gallery, The Broken Heart Gallery, Gumshoe, The Bite, and Dopesick. She can be seen in the forthcoming projects Gumshoe, The Shining Girls, and One True Loves.

Kate Walsh is widely known for her starring role as Dr. Addison Montgomery in the ABC dramas Grey’s Anatomy / Private Practice as well as Netflix’s 13 Reasons Why, The Umbrella Academy, and Emily in Paris. Most recently, she co-starred with Liam Neeson in the film Honest Thief and with Donal Logue in Sometime Other than Now. Walsh is an advocate and voice for change. She is passionate about carbon offsets, climate change, as well as ocean and marine life conservation. She has always been a strong voice in the fight for women’s rights, serving as a member of Planned Parenthood’s Board of Advocates for more than 10 years, as well as being an ambassador for Operation Smile. She created and founded the award-winning fragrance, Boyfriend Perfume, and continues to grow and expand the company.

CREDITS

No Bikini by Ivan E. Coyote, from Close to Spider Man (Arsenal Pump Press, 2002). Copyright © 2002 by Ivan E. Coyote. Used by permission of Arsenal Pulp Press.

“The World with My Mother Still in It” by Kathryn Chetkovich, from The Iowa Award: The Best Stories, 1991-2000 (University of Iowa Press, 2001). First appeared in Threepenny Review (Summer 1998) and previously collected in Friendly Fire (University of Iowa Press, 1998). Copyright © 1998 by Kathryn Chetkovich. Used by permission of The Permissions Company, Inc.

“At the Zoo” by Caitlin Horrocks, from This Is Not Your City (Sarabande Books, 2011). First published in The Paris Review (Spring 2009). Copyright © 2009 by Caitlin Horrocks. Used by permission of Sterling Lord Literistic.