Events › Lowell Lecture with Sasha Velour — The Revolutionary Art of Drag

Join us in person or over Zoom Webinar as acclaimed drag queen, author, and artist Sasha Velour gives the May Lowell Lecture, The Revolutionary Art of Drag. Sasha Velour will be in conversation with local performing artist and theater company director Giselle Byrd. After the main program, there will be a book signing with local independent bookstore partner, Trident Booksellers & Café.

This program will happen in-person and over Zoom Webinar. We plan to open doors fifteen (15) minutes in advance for our in-person audience.

Please register to be added to the waitlist attend in person or to attend online here.

Sasha Velour (she/they) is a Winner of RuPaul’s Drag Race and Co-Host of HBO's We're Here. Velour is one of the foremost experts on drag, known for her impeccable style, thought-provoking multimedia performances, and radical genderfluid approach.

Velour's NYC drag revue NightGowns has been running for over eight years and just completed a sold-out six-month residency at Le Poisson Rouge (raising over $30,000 for direct mutual aid). Her first one queen theater show, Smoke & Mirrors (2019-2022) combined drag with her signature high-concept video art and reached over 100,000 people across four continents. In 2023, she published her best-selling first book The Big Reveal: An Illustrated Manifesto of Drag (Harper) which explores the history and philosophy of drag through personal stories. As a visual artist and cartoonist, she has drawn a Google Doodle (Marlene Dietrich, 2018) and a cover for the New Yorker (June 2023).

Giselle Byrd is the Executive Director of The Theater Offensive, located in Boston, MA, making her the first Black trans woman to lead a regional theatre company in the United States. There, she is passionately continuing and amplifying the theater’s mission for uplifting and elevating the work of queer and transgender artists of color and LGBTQIA2S+ youth and their allies.

With over ten years of experience, holding multiple roles in talent management, production, casting, script coverage, brand partnerships, and fundraising, Giselle Byrd has used her expertise to help elevate both talent and brand collaborations with respective businesses and introduce brands and organizations to innovative solutions and a diverse array of emerging artists and celebrities who are redefining the foundations of the performing arts landscape. 

As a producer, she holds the honor of being the first transgender woman to be accepted into Through Her Lens: The Tribeca Chanel Women's Filmmaker Program. Her documentary film debut, Giselle’s Story, directed by Susan O’Brien, was accepted into the Imagine This International Women’s Festival. Her subsequent film, When We Arrive As Flowers, executive produced by Alexandra Billings, went on to receive acceptance into numerous film festivals throughout the country during the 2022-2023 season Her latest film, Candyland, directed by David Gil, in which she served as the associate producer and lead actor, told a narrative that unpacks gender dysphoria, addiction, and gun violence in youth and families of color. The film received its world premiere at NewFest (one of the leading LGBTQIA2S+ film festivals in the world) in October 2024. In November 2024, Boston’s 25th Annual Transgender Day of Remembrance Committee awarded her the inaugural Boston Trans Art & Culture Trendsetter Award, following the announcement that her efforts in conjunction with The Theater Offensive caused Boston’s City Council to officially commemorate Transgender Day of Remembrance.

In addition to this work, Byrd serves on the Board of Directors at both Callen-Lorde Community Health Center and The Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art. She is also the Co-Vice Chair of the advisory board for The Ali Forney Center.

This program is produced in partnership with the GBH Forum Network.

This program is part of the Lowell Lecture Series generously sponsored by the Lowell Institute through the Boston Public Library Fund.

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