This page is no longer being updated and remains online for informational and historical purposes only. The information is accurate as of the last page update.
For questions about page contents, contact the Communications Division.
Dred Gerestant, a “gender-bending” performance artist, will perform 7 p.m. today in the Oechsle Hall auditorium.
Free and open to the campus community, the event is sponsored by the psychology department, the women’s studies and Values and Science/Technology programs, Association for Lafayette Women, and Questioning Established Sexual Taboos.
Gerestant describes herself as a “smooth-headed, internationally known Haitian-American, multi-spirited, performance artist, actress, activist, singer, comedian, poet, educator, and gender-illusioning woman.”
She has appeared on HBO, MTV, and Oxygen Network, and is one of the stars of the film Venus Boyz. Her film experiences also include recently working with Steven Spielberg on his upcoming film Terminal, in which she sings a Haitian Creole hymn she wrote. She has been featured in numerous international television and radio shows in Switzerland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Germany, Australia, Japan, and Brazil.
Using theater, dance, film, cultural history, music, and humor, she seeks to “break down racial and gender stereotypes, and conventional gender roles created in society, hoping to create a better understanding and acceptance of the beauty of the expression of one’s individual truth.”
“To her work, whether in drag or otherwise, (Mil)Dred brings a sophisticated understanding and insight into issues of race, gender, ethnicity and using the medium of theatre and dance to break boundaries,” states the United Nations Development Fund for Women.
“Dred represents the fluid boundaries between the many drag king performances,” says Judith Halberstam, author of Female Masculinity and The Drag King Book. “I include her in my section on Denaturalized Masculinity because she combines appropriation, critique and alternative masculinity in her presentation.”