Happy Pride! Costume designer Qween Jean made Tony Awards history June 7 when she became the first openly trans person to win a Tony Award. Jean won the prize for Best Costume Design of a Musical for Cats: The Jellicle Ball.
Said Jean in her acceptance speech: “This experience has been monumental. We are here for the legacy of queer people, trans people. We are taking up space in ways we have to take up space. We have to shift the paradigm. So I just want to say, thank you all so much for this incredible honor. The world right now is deeply, deeply combating so many ailments, and we know as a society that when we come together, we can make real, permanent change.”
In addition to Cats, Jean was also Tony nominated for Best Costume Design of a Play for Liberation. She also designed her Tony Awards gown, plus the dress for her fellow Tony nominee Whitney White (Jean told Playbill that her gown came together in just three days).
An activist as well as designer, Jean is the founder of Black Trans Liberation, “Pride is a protest. In this moment, we are seeing all across the city people, queer people, young folks, parents are being detained. They are being at the Newark Delaney Facility, it not only needs to be shut down, but there needs to be serious investigation. The police cannot investigate the police. It doesn’t make sense that billions are being poured into an institution of destruction when resources can be used to help people, can get htem lawyer, the human rights care they deserve. As a queer person, a leader, a mother, I will never stand quiet. If any woman is in pain, even if her shackles are different from mine, let’s get unshackled.”
While Jean is the first openly trans person to win a Tony, there have been a number of non-binary Tony winners: Cole Escola, Alex Newell, J.Harrison Ghee, and Toby Marlow.
Follow along with Playbill’s up-to-the-minute Tonys coverage at Playbill.com/Tonys.
