Seen last year at IRT, National Queer Theater's Criminal Queerness Festival will return for a second year this June, this time as an online event featuring live performances, panels, master classes, community building events, and more. The festival's original start date, of June 9, has been pushed back to allow participating artists to continue to support the Black Lives Matter movement.

Now running from June 13–29, the virtual festival will bring together queer artists, activists, and audiences to address global homophobia and transphobia.

The 2020 programming centers on the work of four international queer artists whose new plays were scheduled to premiere at Dixon Place (this year's partner with the festival) in June. They are Migguel Anggelo, a Venezuelan-born, Brooklyn-based multidisciplinary artist; Mashuq Mushtaq Deen, a resident playwright at New Dramatists and a 2019 Lambda Literary Award Winner; Amahl Khouri, a queer transgender Jordanian playwright and theatre maker based in Berlin; and Omer Abbas Salem, a Chicago-based actor and playwright originally from Syria, Turkey, and Egypt.

“While we can’t gather in person to experience the work of these brave playwrights, I’m humbled that the second edition of the Criminal Queerness Festival has transformed into a truly global event," says Adam Odsess-Rubin, the artistic director of National Queer Theater. "By moving online, audiences all over the world can now experience the festival’s powerful message that all people deserve the basic human rights to happiness, respect, and safety.”

In addition to Dixon Place, the 2020 Criminal Queerness Festival is in partnership with the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs and NYC Pride.

More information and a full schedule can be found at dixonplace.org.