The Doyenne

Joanne Cunningham is an actor, writer, producer, and drag musician. She is passionate about advocating and fundraising for the LGBTQ community, and subverting capitalism in any way she can. Joanne will definitely come to your house show, and is always on the hunt for donuts.  Instagram: @anxietyvarietyshow

Richelle Gordon is a digital media pioneer who served as the first online director for The Miami Herald and launched a master's program in digital publishing at the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.  She came out as a transgender woman in 2023.  Her band, Queer Country Bandwagon, plays regularly in Chicago, performed at the Americanafest festival in Nashville in 2025, and is...

Soupy Fischel (he/him) is the Drag King persona of (AFAB) visual artist Ruthie Fudge (they/he). He is new to the world of Drag; however, he is a seasoned visual artist and performance poet who has graced stages and galleries across the US. In 2006, Soupy took a break from public shows and writing to raise two fantastic humans. In 2016, Ruthie briefly emerged to perform stand-up, then relocated to...

  Jenny Magnus is a writer, performer, composer, musician, director, and teacher who is a founding co-Artistic Director of the Curious Theater Branch, now in its' 37th year. In 2014,  Observations of an Orchestrated Catastrophe: Plays and Performances,  9 plays and performances produced over 25 years, was published by Jackleg Press and had a 2 nd printing in 2021. Magnus has released 17 albums of...

IG: freerosie Rose Freeman is an award-winning stage director, teacher, writer, and producer of theatre and opera. Freeman's direction has been lauded as "virtually flawless" ( Chicago Classical Review ) and Operatic stage direction credits include Sonheim's Sweeney Todd at Opera Idaho, the 2023 revival of Spears' Jason and the Argonauts for Lyric Opera of Chicago, Puccini's La Boheme with LOON, D...

Honey Marie is a Portland based artist moving through the world in grief, mess, beauty, and joy. Honey's work will pull at your heartstrings and encourage a collective curiosity. Honey's movement exists in the space between the world we're in and the world we deserve. Honey studied movement and choreography at Columbia College and has performed with various artists, including Peter Carpenter, Davi...

Episode 5: Yvette Baltazar aka Millie May Named after her beloved grandmother but powered by pure chaos, Millie May has been shaking her shimmy all over Chicago since 2010.Taking campy bump-and-grind to a full comedic frenzy, she puts the oooh in buffoonery. With high-energy tassel twirling, fearless physical comedy, and a sparkly stage presence that refuses to behave, Millie May has become an ico...

"Victoria Libertore is one of the most original and subversive solo performers that I have ever met. She is the lovechild of Bert Williams and Marlene Dietrich." Rebecca Feldman, Creator & Tony Nominee,  The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee & writer for Transparent "The world she creates is slightly askew, sometimes eerie, but always strangely real and profoundly funny." Scott Morfee, Off-Br...

Episode 3: Elizabeth Hertiz Cortés Elizabeth Herlitz Cortés is an opera singer, producer, and strategist known online as "Soprano Big Sister." With over 25 years in the arts and 15 years in fundraising and policy-adjacent work, she translates complex systems—power, money, and policy—into plain English for everyday audiences. Her work sits at the intersection of art and civic life, grounded in the...

Episode 2: Ronit Bezalel Ronit Bezalel is a writer, photographer, and filmmaker based in Chicago, Illinois. Her work focuses on the underdog, the marginalized, and those living outside the mainstream. Bezalel began her career at the National Film Board of Canada, where she directed the documentary When Shirley Met Florence . After moving to Chicago in 1994 to study film at Columbia College Chicago...

The Doyenne is a podcast by, for, and about women/trans/nonbinary/afab artists over 40. Episode 1: Cristal Sabbagh Bio:  Cristal Sabbagh is a 54-year-old Chicago-based interdisciplinary performer, dancer, art educator, and mom. She is the founder and curator of Freedom From and Freedom To, an improvisational jam with dance and movement artists and live musicians paired by chance. She is also a mem...