The 2021 Young Canberran of the Year, Kat Reid, has a new project that's billed as a first for Canberra.
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They're producing Lost in Transit, an original musical written by and starring local transgender and gender-diverse artists.
Reid - who was honoured for their work in community services and the arts, and their service to the LGBTIQ+ community - says, "Lost in Transit is a musical we've been working with Tuggeranong Arts Centre to create since September 2020 as part of the community development program."
The musical tells the story of Hunter (played by Jolene Mifsud), a postman who is delivering a mysterious parcel to a resident - he's not sure who - in an apartment block. As he tries to discover the correct recipient, he meets the residents, a transgender and gender-diverse lot of people, and hears their stories.
"They help Hunter on his own journey of self-discovery."
Creating Lost in Transit was, Reid says, a collective process.
Reid was a facilitator at the start, seeking expressions of interest from artists from the transgender and gender-diverse community.
Nine came on but eventually this became six, "a mixture of amateur performers as well as seasoned people.
"As time went on it came down to the core group of cast members because of time constraints but there's still a lot of diversity."
Remus Douglas, Rachel Lee, MadB, Henry Zovaro and Kalokairi are the other cast members. The six of them are from a range of backgrounds and performance genres.
Once the artists came on board Reid functioned as producer, working with the artists in the writing and directing of the piece.
"There's one original song written by the artist themselves - Kalokairi wrote a tune to a lovely West Papuan poem," Reid says.
The other, pre-existing songs from a range of genres were chosen and arranged in collaboration with musical director Dianna Nixon to help create the story and atmosphere. Among those songs were Simon and Garfunkel's The Sound of Silence and David Bowie's Lady Stardust.
The songs will be performed with a combination of live instruments and backing tracks.
Reid, 25, studied psychology at the Australian National University.
They are non-binary ("for me, I exist between male and female ... I feel as though I have no gender") and been involved in LBGQT+ rights since adolescence, working with their school to on ways to be more inclusive of these groups.
While at ANU they started the university's main advocacy group for LGBT+ students and provided advice to the university as queer officer as well as serving on the ANU Students Association. They also started the queer magazine ShOUT and are currently chief executive officer of Women with Disabilities ACT.
Reid was "a theatre kid in high school" and says Canberra has "a huge underground cabaret industry" to which they were drawn. They perform as Electra Powerhouse in cabaret and drag shows.
Reid says that while "Canberra is a really great progressive city", a lot of its citizens don't interact with trans people and Lost in Transit will help its performers share their experiences with others and raise awareness.
Also coming up in May at Tuggeranong Arts Centre is Queerstories Canberra, celebrating the culture and creativity of the LGBTQI+ community.
Lost in Transit is on at Tuggeranong Arts Centre Theatre on April 29 and 30 and May 1 at 7.30pm. Free, bookings essential: trybooking.com/events/landing?eid=738751&.Queerstories Canberra is on at The Hunting Lodge, Tuggeranong Arts Centre, on May 8 at 7.30pm. Tickets $32/$27: trybooking.com/BQMMR.