THE GORGEOUS NOTHINGS
Inspired by real people and events, THE GORGEOUS NOTHINGS tells the forgotten story of the “Fag Ward” — an isolated wing at the Men's Penitentiary on Welfare Island, NYC, for inmates convicted of homosexuality during the 1930s. With a reimagined score from the Great American Songbook, this boundary-spanning musical weaves 6 inmates’ stories into high-camp numbers from The Fag Follies — the prison’s annual Christmas pageant — to expose a secret, fabulous, underground world that was never supposed to have existed.
PREMIERING FALL 2025
VIDEO
GALLERY
SUPPORT
This play was developed, in part, with funding from the National Endowment of the Arts, New York State Council on the Arts, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs (in partnership with the City Council), Drama League (in connection with the Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust and Howard Gilman Foundation), Actors’ Equity Foundation, ART/New York's Creative Space Grant (in conjunction with the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation), Embrey Foundation, Off-Broadway Angels, John Golden Fund, Puffin Foundation, Glasser Foundation, and Indie Theater Fund.
PRODUCTIONs
STAGED READINGS: New York Live Arts (February 12, 2024), Lincoln Center (December 12, 2022). CONCERTS: Joe’s Pub (June 27, 2024 & February 17, 2020), Playbill (June 20-27, 2020). RESIDENCIES: Yaddo (2023), Drama League (2020-2022), Graduate Hotel on Roosevelt Island (2021-2022), Tectonic Theater Project (2020), SPACE on Ryder Farm (2019).
PEOPLE
PLAYWRIGHT: Travis Lee Russ. DIRECTOR & CHOREOGRAPHER: Danny Mefford. ARRANGER & ORCHESTRATOR: Dan Schlosberg. SETS & COSTUMES: David Zinn. EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Kevin Jennings (CEO - Lambda Legal). PRODUCING PARTNER: Eric Marcus (Making Gay History). RESEARCH LEADS: Travis Russ (Lead Researcher), Emma Dorfman (Assistant Dramaturg). RESEARCH TEAM: Ale Campillo, Kyle Cherry, Andrew Dawson, Angela Dohrmann, Anthony Dvarskas, Brian Joseph Ferree, Colby Frederick, Dylan Gurrera, Ashley Hamilton, Thomas Hodges, Daniel Hurewitz, Jessica Kahkoska, Matt Kelly, Ashley Marinaccio, Derek McNally, Aisling Murphy, Carrie O'Dell, Nicholas Orvis, Kasha Pazdar, Daniel Rattner, Travis Lee Russ, Amy Marie Seidel, Zach Shultz, Lauren Sullivan, Roniel Tessler, Gareth Tidball, Linnea Valdivia, Harry Waller, Rachel Whorton, Emma Wilk, Levi Seth Wilson. DEVELOPMENTAL MUSIC CONSULTANT: Thomas Hodges. CASTING CONSULTANT: Dale Brown, CSA. VIDEO: Jeremy Kotin. KEY ART: Russell Warren-Fisher.