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ABOUT US

Our History

National Queer Theater was founded in May 2018 by Adam Odsess-Rubin out of a need for a queer theater fostering community and positive representation. The name was inspired by culturally-specific arts groups, and theater companies using art to promote social justice across the country from Cornerstone Theater in Los Angeles to National Black Theatre in NYC.​

​2018

  • Founded by Adam Odsess-Rubin upon receiving a seed grant from Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS

  • DREAMers at NYU Steinhardt, a documentary play based on interviews with undocumented youth

  • Speechless at Theaterlab, a documentary play based on interviews with people living with HIV

  • Queer Village Reading Series at Arts on Site in the East Village

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2019

  • Debut of NQT’s Criminal Queerness Festival at IRT Theater during WorldPride, featured the works of Nick Hadikwa Mwaluko, Fatima Maan, and Yilong Liu

  • Kinky Pint-Sized Plays at The Eagle

  • Partnered with playwright Donja R. Love to help launch Write It Out! a free playwriting program for people living with HIV

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2020

  • Awarded the NYC Mayor’s Grant for Cultural Impact for Criminal Queerness Festival in partnership with Dixon Place and the NYC Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs

  • NQT’s Criminal Queerness Festival went virtual around the world, featuring work by Omar Abbas Salem, Migguel Angelo, Shayok Misha Chowdhury, and Raphael Khouri

  • Co-founded the Queer Theater Alliance, a national network of theaters serving LGBTQ+ artists and audiences

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2021

  • NQT, PEN America, and New York Theatre Workshop created a playwriting section of DREAMing Out Loud, a free virtual writing class for undocumented and immigrant queer artists 

  • NQT’s Criminal Queerness Festival featured the work of Dima Mikhayel Matta, Victor I. Cazares, and Martin Yousif Zebari at Lincoln Center and outside the United Nations through a pandemic-era program called Open Culture NYC​

​2022

  • NQT and Dramatists Guild of America piloted the New Visions Fellowship, a commissioning program for Black trans and gender non-conforming artists led by Roger Q. Mason, with Ayla Xuan Chi Sullivan and Nick Hadikwa Mwaluko

  • Carnegie Hall presented NQT’s Jubilee for a New Vision at MCC Theater Off-Broadway as part of their Afrofuturism Festival, in partnership with Dramatists Guild of America

  • NQT’s Criminal Queerness Festival featured the works of Jonathan Opinya, Steven Muleme, and Achiro P. Olwoch at Lincoln Center, with the final show live-streamed by Lincoln Center around the world

  • Partnered with St. Ann’s Warehouse on ‘Little Amal,’ a global human rights and puppetry project. NQT’s ‘welcoming events’ brought a 12 ft. tall Syrian refugee puppet to meet drag designer Machine Dazzle and attend a Drag Story Hour at the Brooklyn Public Library 

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​2023​

  • An Evening with L Morgan Lee, in partnership with Musical Theatre Factory at MCC Theater NQT’s Criminal Queerness Festival at Lincoln Center, featured the works of Wojtek Rodak, Andrew Kushnir, and Danielle Levsky, with a focus on the war in Ukraine

  • Launched Staging Pride: Queer Youth Theater at The Center, supported by the Pierre and Tana Matisse Foundation

  • Write It Out! In-person performance at The Center on World AIDS Day; transitioned into an independently run organization, led by Donja R. Love 

  • Produced Camp Mannupia at Brooklyn Art Haus

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​2024​

  • NQT’s Criminal Queerness Festival at PAC NYC, featured the works of Achiro P. Olwoch, Nick Hadikwa Mwaluko, and Raphael Khouri, bringing back hit shows from previous festivals

  • Partnered on Lady Dane Edidi Figueroa’s Black Trans Women at The Center with a nationwide virtual reading of new works

  • Launched Criminal Queerness Studio, a global virtual playwriting class, led by Achiro P. Olwoch 

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​2025​

  • Received an Obie Award for the Criminal Queerness Festival

  • NQT’s Criminal Queerness Festival at HERE Arts Center, featured the works of Jedidiah Mugarura, Dena Igusti, and Krystal Ortiz

  • Staging Pride: Queer Youth Theater began new partnership with Hetrick-Martin Institute 

  • Cherry Picked, a new play reading series on Fire Island, in partnership with Arts Project of Cherry Grove

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