VIDEO: Watch a Sneak Peek at TAFFETA: A SHORT FILM!

The producers of Taffeta (Lovell Holder, Adam Hyndman and Roger Q. Mason), a short film written and performed by acclaimed Black Filipinx playwright and Kilroys List honoree Roger Q. Mason (they/them), are giving audiences an exclusive sneak peek of their short film, which is currently being submitted to film festivals around the country.

Watch the three minute trailer for the film below!

Taffeta is a portrait of a black, plus-sized genderqueer person looking for white male love from the cold glare of their food. Based upon Roger Q. Mason's Kilroys Listed play Lavender Men, this short film is a searing portrait of body dysmorphia, food addiction, and queer loneliness in the age of digital intimacy.

"We're incredibly honored to introduce you to our Taffeta," said playwright Roger Q. Mason. "She's a queen, she's a soldier, she's a lover, she's a person striving to conquer their own loneliness and suffering. In some ways, she could be considered my alter ego, and on paper we do share much in common: we are both African-American, Filipinx, queer, genderfluid, plus-size people striving through each day in America. Taffeta wants to inspire a discussion about loneliness, body image, and the alienation and abuse of BIPOC people within the LGBTQ+ community. And we hope you'll give her the chance to show you a window into her world."

"It was immediately clear to me how crucial Roger's own personal experiences were to the conversations Taffeta is fighting to provoke", said director Lovell Holder. "She has so much she wants to say. We knew we had to bring her to audiences sooner rather than later, some way, somehow. We could not wait."

Taffeta first exploded into being when playwright Roger Q. Mason began writing their play, Lavender Men. Roger was eager to investigate the queer history of Abraham Lincoln onstage, and they decided to do so by providing a contemporary surrogate onstage who was everything Lincoln was not. The play went on to have a public reading at Circle in THE SQUARE as part of the Circle Reading development series in 2019, and the world premiere of the play was scheduled for April 2020 at Skylight Theatre Company in Los Angeles. One week into rehearsals for Lavender Men's debut, the coronavirus pandemic brought a halt to Taffeta's journey. As the pandemic raged on, the play was featured and spotlighted in the Los Angeles Times, Playbill, and Broadway World as one of the new works stalled by the coronavirus, and in July 2020, the play was named to the prestigious Kilroys List. In the fall of 2020, a small slice of Taffeta's world was brought to life through a short film. Now almost one year after Taffeta was supposed to greet audiences onstage, she's come instead to invade their screens.

Roger Q. Mason (Playwright) (they/them) is an award-winning writer, performer and educator known for using history's lens to highlight the biases that separate rather than unite us. Mason's playwriting has been seen on Broadway at Circle in THE SQUARE (Circle Reading Series); Off and Off-Off-Broadway at New York Theatre Workshop, New Group, The Fire This Time Festival, Dixon Place, American Theatre of Actors, Flea Theatre, and Access Theater; and regionally at McCarter Theatre, Center Theatre Group, Victory Gardens, Chicago Dramatists, Steep Theatre, Serenbe Playhouse, Theatre Rhinoceros, Open Fist Theatre Company, EST/LA, Coeurage Theatre, Rogue Artists Ensemble, Son of Semele, and Skylight Theatre. They are an honoree of the Kilroys List; the recipient of the Chuck Rowland Pioneer Award; the Fire This Time Festival Alumni Spotlight, and the Hollywood Fringe Festival Encore Producers Award; and a finalist for the Geffen Writers' Room, Lark Playwright's Week and the Screencraft Play Award. Mason's films have screened at the Outshine Film Festival, Rochester International LGBTQ Film Festival, and the Pan African Film Festival. They've been recognized by the AT&T Film Award and Atlanta International Film Festival. Mason holds degrees from Princeton University, Middlebury College, and Northwestern University. They are a member of Page 73's Interstate 73 Writers Group, the co-host of Sister Roger's Gayborhood podcast, and the co-founder/lead mentor of the New Visions Fellowship for Black Trans and Gender non-conforming playwrights.

Lovell Holder (Director) graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Princeton University. He received his MFA from Brown University. Feature Film: Ian MacAllister-McDonald's Some Freaks (producer; starring Thomas Mann, Tony nominee Marin Ireland); Loserville (director/co-writer, producer alongside Tony winner Sara Ramirez; starring Darby Stanchfield, Matt McGorry); Robert Jury's Working Man (producer; starring Oscar nominee Talia Shire, Peter Gerety, Billy Brown); Henry Loevner & Steven Kanter's The End of Us (producer; SXSW 2021 narrative feature competition). Short Film: Samantha Soule's Birdwatching (producer; starring Oscar nominee Amanda Seyfried); Roger Q. Mason's Taffeta (director/producer), Daniel Talbott's You Say Hello (director/producer; starring Will Pullen); Olivia Hamilton's Surrogate (producer, alongside Oscar winner Damien Chazelle); Roger Q. Mason's Softer (director/producer), Daniel Talbott's Mike & Seth (director/co-writer); Anna Chazelle's Narrow (producer). Lovell is currently in production on Daniel Talbott & Samantha Soule's feature directorial debut Midday Black Midnight Blue.

Photo Credit: Matt Plaxco

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