A reading by Paul Outlaw, “The Place in Which I’ll Fit Will Not Exist Until I Make It: Eight Black Voices from the Eight Decades of One Institute” features excerpts from writings by and interviews with queer African American luminaries from the 1950s to the 2020s. These words serve not only as snapshots of queer culture in the second half of the 20th century and the first decades of the 21st, but also as a timeline of our triumphs and challenges.

Content Warning: This program may contain explicit references to topics relevant to the Black LGBTQIA+ experience, including but not limited to sex, self-harm, substance abuse, racism, homophobia, and transphobia. This program may not be suitable for all ages.

About the Programmer

Paul Outlaw is an award-winning Los Angeles and Berlin-based multidisciplinary performing artist. The central themes of his artistic practice are the constructs of race and sexual identity, and the ways in which violence—both physical and psychological—has haunted them throughout Euro-American history. Recent collaborations and solo projects have been presented in Los Angeles by LACMA, MOCA, REDCAT, the Getty, Boston Court Pasadena and Los Angeles Performance Practice; nationally by The Lab (San Francisco), Yale Union (Portland, OR); and internationally by the Maxim Gorki Theater (Berlin) and GES-2/V-A-C Foundation (Moscow), among others.

This program is organized by Paul Outlaw as part of the 2023 Circa: Queer Histories Festival, presented by One Institute. This program is co-presented with the Los Angeles LGBT Center.

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  The Los Angeles LGBT Center is a safe and welcoming place where the LGBTQ+ community finds help, hope, and support when it is needed the most.