About

Art, theatre, and revolution have always been bound together — never more so than under attack. Celebration Theatre was founded in 1982, just as HIV/AIDS began devastating queer life and queer artists, and the work we made in answer was fierce, confrontational, healing, and built by and for our community. In 2026, the fight has returned in a new form: more than 500 anti-LGBTQ bills introduced in each of the last three years, targeting the public life queer people have risked their lives to claim. Art in the Revolution: Queer Theatre in 1982 and Today brings Michael Kearns — one of Celebration’s first Artistic Directors — into conversation with Brandon Kyle Goodman, creator and star of the Queerties-nominated Heaux Church. Moderated by Producing Artistic Director Christopher Maikish, the panel takes up the questions at the center of every queer artist’s life: What does it mean to make art as part of social change? What place does theatre hold in a political fight? What has changed — for our politics, our audiences, ourselves — and what stays the same? Paired with brief performances from then and now, Art in the Revolution is an intergenerational exchange built for artists and patrons across our community.

Event Organizer