Who is Missionary Woman!?

The conservative city of Straightsville's superhero, Missionary Man, tirelessly defends the city from the queer supervillains who escaped from the local liberal arts college. That is, until The Mayor reveals that he is planning to unleash anti-trans legislation on the town! Oh no! Missionary Man sees no choice but to reveal her long-kept secret and come out… as Missionary Woman!!!! The Mayor fires her on the spot for embracing her truth (yikes) and Missionary Woman is forced to ally herself with her arch-nemesis, Professor Strap-On. Together, they take on the city's ugly, oppressive cishet regime.

This new play, written by Meg Rosensweet and directed by L.D. Kelley, features an all-trans cast and company. Missionary Woman uses camp, satire, and absurdity to deal with themes of systemic transphobia and conservative fascism. The play was written in response to the torrent of anti-trans legislation currently spreading across the United States and the world. It reflects on the desperate circumstances gender non-conforming people often find ourselves in, and how our greatest solace is found in our own community. At a time of unprecedented visibility for transgender people, Missionary Woman aims to help audiences realize what is at stake for one of society's most vulnerable populations.

New work by independent artists often never sees an audience, much less in a theater like the one we've found for this production. In supporting Missionary Woman, you are not only helping to ensure that it has a home, you are also making it possible for over two dozen trans theater artists to be paid for their work. If you are cis, at this point, you should currently be making a donation. (For legal purposes, this is a joke. Missionary Woman LLC does not condone blackmail. We also aren't an LLC. Thank you for your time.)

Please help Missionary Woman fly!

How you can be a hero!

We need to raise $12,001 to bring this production to life. Here's the breakdown:

-$2,850* for our venue (MITU580) and event insurance. We have already raised $900 for our first payment, and this is what's left. *Now 1000, reflected in our updated gofundme goal. We raised all of our pre-box office payments at our fundraiser! The last of this we plan to pay after the show, but we would still like to have it before going in! However, it is our last priority after everything else is fulfilled.*

-$1,200* for rehearsal space. This is approximately 60 hours of rehearsal at $20 an hour.*Now 1141, we raised some of this at our fundraiser!*

-$2,000 for set, prop, and costume materials.

-$550 for incidental expenses, which can include food, transportation, PPE (Personal Protective Equipment – face masks, Covid tests, etc.), and printing costs.

-$1 for a little treat.

-$7,200 to give to 2 dozen actors, designers, and event volunteers. This is the largest and most important piece of our budget, because we want to share with everyone helping us as equitably as possible.*

*Everyone who agreed to work on this project did so with the expectation that they would not recieve any money at all. We don't want that to happen. While this is a passion project, people deserve to be given something for their work, and this show is going to be a lot of work.

The Impact!

When we were casting Missionary Woman, we posted an open casting call on Playbill asking trans actors to audition for a new, unpaid superhero comedy. At our callback auditions, we witnessed a room full of transgender actors exploring, some of whom hadn't auditioned for anything in decades. One auditioner said they wished every audition could be like ours.

We are embarking on a very difficult but rewarding journey to make theater together as an exclusively trans and GNC company. It's extremely rare. We are so proud to be able to show others that this is possible.

We want Missionary Woman to have a long life. This is our first production of the play, but it won't be our last. We are honored to share something that is deeply, passionately, and unabashedly trans. The world needs more work like ours.

Other Ways You Can Help Save the Day!

If you can't donate to this campaign, please share it! Send it to your friends, your lovers, your cousin who you haven't talked to in a while, your rich brother-in-law and his mean wife who I do not like, that person you always see at the coffee shop and you like their style, and you exchange glances, and you've never talked, but you do get the sense that they're rich! Share the campaign with all of those people.

You can also follow Missionary Woman on Instagram @missionarywomanplay.

if you’d like to contribute to us directly through venmo you are welcome to do so @thehumantwink.

Thank you again! See you at the show!

No raffles, sweepstakes, giveaways, or returns on investment are offered in exchange for any donations made to this GoFundMe.