Join us for an Artist Discussion on the development of If This Be Sin by CRITICAL BREAKS with CRITICAL BREAKS duo Kirya Traber and Sissi Liu. Set against the sultry backdrops of Harlem Renaissance nightclubs and Old Hollywood of the 1950s, If This Be Sin is a musical work based on the life and legacy of Black queer & gender-bending creative Icon Gladys Bentley.

If This Be Sin, spans from Bentley’s formidable ascent to fame, to her tumultuous choice to conform and marry a man in the 1950s, celebrating her riotous queer and gender resistance throughout. She was known as “Harlem’s King” and the pinnacle of Harlem Renaissance performance, but her name had been overlooked in history for decades until recently. Traber & Liu’s new musical gives life to the story that has too long gone untold.

As CRITICAL BREAKS artists, Kirya and Sissi will focus on the development of the musical elements of this project. CRITICAL BREAKS is a residency program for artists who are in a pivotal phase of developing new work.