Hell in a Handbag Productions co-founder and artistic director David Cerda will be the recipient of a special Jeff Award at this year’s non-Equity ceremony on June 5.
Over Hell in a Handbag’s decade and a half existence, Cerda has written or co-written well over a dozen of the company’s camp and drag infused pop-culture “parodages”—the company’s portmanteau of parody and homage. Cerda has also appeared onstage in many of them, often in drag himself, in titles including Poseidon! An Upside-Down Musical, The Birds and Caged Dames.
More than 200 supporters signed on to a letter to the Joseph Jefferson Awards Committee recommending Cerda for the award. Those signatories and the Jeff Committee cited Cerda and Hell in a Handbag’s philanthropic work as well as their artistic accomplishments. Hell in a Handbag has raised more than $58,000 for charities including Season of Concern, the Wounded Warrior Project and the Trevor Project. Cerda was inducted into the Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame in 2016.
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