The Generations Project is back again for PRIDE at the High Line: Stories of Transformation, an intergenerational storytelling show featuring LGBTQ+ people of all ages and backgrounds. Inspired by the High Line’s evolution and ongoing history as a site for queer expression, the event will feature storytellers celebrating the journey of becoming your true self!

The event is emceed by the singing drag chanteuse, Castrata.

Learn more about the High Line’s LGBTQ+ history.

Advance registration is encouraged. Walk-ups are welcome if the event isn’t at capacity.

In the case of inclement weather, the event will be moved to the rain date of Friday, June 30. We will add a note to the website by noon on the day of the original event and email all registered participants.

The Generations Project

The Generations Project creates spaces for LGBTQ+ to meet and connect across all generations and backgrounds, to share and preserve our history and tell our stories in our own voices. By revitalizing the oral tradition, TGP provides opportunities for in-person gathering and community-building, ensures the handing down of LGBTQ+ experiences to future generations and uplifts marginalized voices.

Castrata

Castrata is the Drag Chanteuse of NYC! She is taking what it means to be a drag singer to the next level with her unique voice and glamor to match. She can be found all around the city giving shows on shows on shows. But most importantly, you can find her on all social media @castratanyc.

Storytellers

Storyteller 1: Roxanne “Rocky” Hoffman: Rocky is a non-binary Latine writer and professional, who shares about utilizing different aspects of their identity to help advance through their professional career, from traditionally “masculine” jobs like working on Wall Street to more stereotypically “feminine” work, like running the small independent literary press, Poets Wear Prada, since 2006. Rocky’s story will be about how identity is a fluid and ongoing process.

Storyteller 2: Wallace “Sharik” Winstead: Sharik shares about his difficult childhood and teen years, culminating in an early adulthood involved in the criminal justice system and nearly 20 years spent in prison. In 2016 Sharik decided education was a way to escape and transform, and has now earned his Masters degree and starts his PhD program this fall, sharing about the power and freedom gained through learning.

Storyteller 3: Armaan Dode: Armaan is a Pakistani Desi Trans social media queen and influencer, who shares about the importance of role models and positive mentors in our journeys of self-acceptance and authenticity. She shares about a coworker whose transition inspired her own choice to defy pressure and fear from family and society and become her true self.

Storyteller 4: Thom Kam: Thom is a Hawaii-native and long-term HIV/AIDS survivor, and former Mr. Eagle 2019, active in the NYC leather community. He will share about his personal journey through health scares and self-acceptance, from tricking as a youngster to mentoring as a community “elder”, against the backdrop of a changing NYC and Chelsea across the decades.

Storyteller 5: James Fitzgerald: James is a U.S. Army Combat Veteran turned Financial Services Professional & Podcast Host, who was critically injured during Operation Iraqi Freedom, falling down a ravine and breaking his leg. He shares about his journey of hiding in the closet, how in that near-death experience he still ultimately feared being outed more than dying. Eventually he did come out in a big way via a magazine interview, and now shares about how important authenticity is in his life.

Storyteller 6: Pauline Park: Pauline is a transgender activist and writer, who shares about her journey from self-suppression to vocal LGBTQ+ advocacy. She was born in Korea and adopted by European American parents and raised in the United States, slowly becoming a major recognized icon of the queer movement in the US. Her story culminates with a powerful moment in 2015, when she finally returned to Korea where she was the keynote speaker at the Queer Korea Festival/Seoul Pride Parade, the largest event in the history of the LGBTQ+ community in Korea up to that date, with a crowd estimated at more than 35,000