To kick off Pride Month 2025, That Uppity Theatre Company and Missouri History Museum will present a third Free “Queer Writes Showcase of LGBTQ+ Writers” on Thursday, June 5.

Joan Lipkin returns with an all new bill when the Missouri History Museum will present the Third Annual Season of “Queer Writes” as part of its Pride Month programming.

Confirmed presenters include Paul Cereghino, Cheeraz Gormon, Matthew R. Kerns, Joan Lipkin, Romell Parks-Weekly, Jarek Steele, Diane Richardson and Jeff Trusedell. The Gateway Men’s Chorus will also perform for the first time for Queer Writes.

Paul Cereghino is a St. Louis-based comedian, pianist, and actor. As an actor, he has worked onscreen and onstage locally, and Off-Broadway and on across the east coast. Locally he has worked with St. Louis Shakespeare Festival, SATE, Max & Louie, Metro Plays, and many more. He won a STL Theatre Circle award for his work in Souvenir with Max & Louie. Paul has composed scores for new plays such as Titus Androgynous with Young Liars and Classic Mystery Game with SATE. He hosts and comedy all over the country and produces StLGBTQ: the queer comedy showcase for Helium St. Louis. IG @Chairuhgheeno.

Described as a multipotentialite, St. Louis native Cheeraz Gormon is an activist, cross genre writer, multi-medium storyteller, and public speaker whose work spans across the art forms of poetry, essay writing, photography, film production, music, and advertising. She is the founder and executive director of Sibling Support Network, a community centered social entrepreneur, and a helping professional devoted to the visibility, care, and healing of underserved and marginalized populations. The author of In the Midst of Loving, a collection of her poetry and writing, some awards include apexart International Arts Fellow, St. Louis Visionary Award as an Outstanding Working Artist, and a St. Louis Regional Arts Commission Artist Fellowship.

Matthew R. Kerns

Matthew R. Kerns, MFA, is an award-winning artist, educator, and community leader based in St. Louis, Missouri. He serves as President and Artistic Director of St Lou Fringe, where he champions diverse, independent voices in the performing arts. Kerns holds an MFA in Contemporary Performance from Naropa University and has directed and performed nationally, including Off-Broadway and at the Kennedy Center. His original works—such as Gay Fantasia and CHICKEN—blend immersive storytelling with social commentary. Recognized by the St. Louis Business Journal as a Diverse Business Leader, Kerns continues to shape the cultural landscape through innovation, inclusion, and artistic excellence.

Internationally recognized as a groundbreaking theatre artist, educator, and social activist, Joan Lipkin works at the intersection of performance and civic engagement, creating events and dialogues about the most pressing issues of our time. Since writing, directing, and producing Some of My Best Friends Are . . ., the first piece of LGBTQ+ theatre in Missouri, Joan has written many short and full length plays, including Small Domestic Acts, He’s Having Her Baby (with Tom Clear), The Date, Crab Cakes, and The State of Marriage, among others as well as the libretto for The Sage Cycle.

She has been featured on network television, National Public Radio, the BBC, American Theatre, and the Associated Press and her work presented in the US, Canada, United Kingdom, Asia, and Eastern Europe. Publication in Embodied Playwriting: Improv and Acting Exercises for Writing and Devising, The Future Is Not Fixed: Short Plays Envisioning a Global Green New Deal, Lighting the Way: An Anthology of Short Plays About the Climate Crisis, Best American Short Plays, Amazon All Stars, Scenes from a Diverse World, We/Us: Monologues for the Gender Minority, and numerous other places and platforms.

She is the Producing Artistic Director of That Uppity Theatre Company in St. Louis, Missouri, where she founded the nationally acclaimed Alternate Currents/Direct Currents Series, the DisAbility Project, the Louies, Apple Pie, and Dance the Vote.

Some awards include a Visionary, Ethical Humanist of the Year, Leadership for Community-based Theatre and Civic Engagement, a Woman of Achievement, What’s Right with the Region, among others and she received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the St. Louis Theatre Circle last spring. She is featured in the recent book Fifty Key Figures in Queer US Theatre, was inducted into the College of Fellows of the American Theatre last month, and is the recipient of the 2025 Margo Jones medal.

Romell Parks-Weekly is the founder of The Sanctuary church in Tower Grove South, and most recently, the Faith Evolution podcast. He received his Master of Divinity degree from Eden Theological Seminary and is currently pursuing a Doctor of Theology at Kairos University.

During nearly 30 years in ministry, he has published multiple transformative books, including Homosexianity, The Rebuttal, and Homosexuality and the Death of the Church. He is a nationally recognized leader in the affirming Christian community, and has spoken in conferences and seminars around the country. He resides in St. Louis, Missouri, with his husband of 13 years, Damion, and his son, Cameron.

Jarek Steele

Jarek Steele has lived in St. Louis and worked in its literary community for 23 years, first as an independent bookseller and now as a writing instructor. He helped found and develop the country’s first Transgender Memorial Garden right here in this city. Despite speaking in front of groups of people regularly, he’s much more comfortable in the woods, hiking with his wife, Barb, or sewing at his cluttered dining room table. His writing has appeared in HuffPost, Fourth Genre, Electric Literature, AWP’s Writer’s Chronicle, The Colorado Review, and elsewhere. His essay, “Nesting,” will appear in Best American Essays, 2025.

Diane Richardson has played music in the St. Louis area for about 45 years now. As a founding member of Girls with Guitars, she has had the privilege of playing at Pride several times. She has had the opportunity to open for lesbian folk singers Cris Williamson and Tret Fure, and has traveled from Florida to Provincetown to play with Nashville artist Stef Mahan. In addition to being a singer/songwriter, she is a published author. Her lesbian fiction novel entitled Sifting Through Summer is available through media outlets. After retiring from a long and dedicated teaching career, she is enjoying the many music projects she’s currently involved in.

Jeff Truesdell is a journalist and filmmaker. For 20 years he covered crime and social justice—most recently, the White House push to ban transgender military service members—as a staff writer for People magazine. His report on a pioneering program that united St. Louis Public Schools and the juvenile court to offer a second chance to at-risk teens inspired the acclaimed 2017 documentary For Ahkeem, which he executive produced. He and his partner of 34 years, Nelson Figueroa, married on Dec. 31, 2015, at St. Louis City Hall, waiting until the U.S. Supreme Court said they could because they wanted it to be fully

recognized in the backwards state they called home.

Previous presenters have included Charis, Chris Andoe, Kris Kleindienst, Sam Moore, Aja La’Starr, Mary Maxfield, Mariah Richardson, Maurice Tracy, Nancy Fowler, Kelly Hamilton, Michael Kearns, Philip Irving, Charlie Meyers, Gabe Montesanti and Summer Osborne who shared excerpts of their work in a variety of genres including music, poetry, lyrics, memoir, fiction, theatre and screenwriting among others. All of the writers are St Louis natives or people who have chosen to make St Louis their home.

Michael Kearns, the first openly gay HIV positive actor in Hollywood, who is also included in the opening Gateway to Pride exhibit, returned to St. Louis from his current home in Los Angeles to take part in Queer Writes last year.

Part of the goal of Queer Writes is to amplify the presence of St. Louis based or connected LGBTQ+ writers, to expand the circle and variety of representation with each version and to build on the great and historic literary legacy of St. Louis.

“In a sense, we are queering the concept of a more traditional writers event with our program,” said Lipkin. “We have memoirists but we also have a poet, singer/songwriter, comedian, minister, puppeteer and playwright. It begins with language and what and how someone wants to say something.”

Sam Moore, Managing Director of Public History at the Missouri Historical Society said, "At the Missouri Historical Society, we’re committed to sharing the full St. Louis story, and that means sharing the stories of all St. Louisans.

For the last year, we’ve shared those stories in our groundbreaking Gateway to Pride exhibition. And through the lens of the work of immensely talented writers, we’re looking forward to presenting the Queer Writes showcase, which will bring to life the same humor, perseverance, and strength that has been exemplified by Queer St. Louisans throughout history.” The exhibition closes July 6, 2025, but will be on display during Queer Writes.

This event, part of the History Museum’s Thursday Nights at the Museum series, is part of the Gateway to Pride programming. Gateway to Pride is an initiative of the Missouri Historical Society (MHS) that is gathering oral histories, artifacts, photographs, and more to add to its permanent collections. A major exhibit at the Missouri History Museum is open until July 6, and these histories and artifacts will be preserved in perpetuity at the Library & Research Center.

Lipkin said the program could not be more timely. “A record 575 anti- LGBTQ+ bills were introduced in state legislatures last year, including in Missouri, according to the American Civil Liberties Union. The focus has included bans on school sports, public accommodations, drag shows, accurate IDS, healthcare as well as redefinitions of sex, forced outings in schools and curriculum censorship. When we tell our stories, whether in song or memoir or many other genres, we say we will not be erased and that we have gifts to offer the community.”

Writer Jeff Truesdell said he was grateful to be included in Queer Writes with a piece that honors his late husband, Nelson. “We're under attack, again. But no single voice will stop it, because there is no one way we love, struggle, inspire and connect. Queer Writes amplifies not just my voice, but all of them.”

The event begins at 5:30pm with a happy hour in the Museum’s Grand Hall, where attendees can visit resource tables hosted by local LGBTQ+ organizations, engage in hands-on activities, and take mini tours that explore St. Louis LGBTQ+ history. Food and drinks will be available for purchase from Amighetti’s.

Some confirmed activities and tables include making your own DIY pride buttons and poetry magnets, TEDx with Mason Aid, MHS Historian’s Corner with Ian Darnell, Proud Art, PROMO, Pflag, CHARIS, AARP, BASL (Bisexual Alliance), and many more.

The presentation will begin at 6:30PM in the Lee Auditorium on the Museum’s lower level and the doors to the auditorium will open at 6 pm. The event will conclude at 8 pm.

This event is sponsored in part by the Regional Arts Commission of Saint Louis and the Missouri Arts Council, a state agency.

About That Uppity Theatre Company

That Uppity Theatre Company presents work about social issues for corporations, schools, social services agencies, community groups, and general theatre audiences.

They use the forms that best meet the need including improvisation, devising, and or scripted work. In some projects, we pair amateur actors and seasoned professionals to create work about the lives of underrepresented populations: people with disabilities, LGBTQ+ adults/youth, seniors, people with Alzheimer’s and dementia, women with cancer, survivors of suicide, supporters of reproductive choice, at-risk youth, university students, adolescent girls, communities of faith, women who have been sexually trafficked/exploited, and those in treatment for substance abuse. TUTC has always been groundbreaking.

In 1989, they produced the first LGBTQ+ theatre in Missouri with “Some of My Best Friends Are...”, and one of the first LGBTQ+ play festivals in the Midwest with the Briefs Festival of Short LGBTQ Plays (2012-2017).

Their DisAbility Project is one of the first and longest-running of its kind.

About the Missouri Historical Society

The Missouri Historical Society (MHS) has been active in the St. Louis community since 1866. Today it serves as the confluence of historical perspectives and contemporary issues. MHS operates the Missouri History Museum, Library & Research Center, and Soldiers Memorial Military Museum. MHS is funded by the St. Louis City and County taxpayers through the Metropolitan Zoological Park and Museum District (ZMD) and by private donations. To find out more, visit mohistory.org/society

Third Annual Queer Writes Showcase Kicks Off Pride Month 2025

About That Uppity Theatre Company

About the Missouri Historical Society