Actor, comedian and butch icon Lea DeLaria will serve as grand marshal for Chicago’s 48th annual Pride Parade on Sunday, June 25, organizers announced today.
DeLaria is probably best known for playing “Big Boo” on Orange Is the New Black (which drops its fifth season on Netflix June 9). She became the first out gay stand-up comic to appear on a late-night talk show with her 1993 debut on The Arsenio Hall Show; she’s also performed on Broadway in the musicals On the Town (winning the Drama Desk and Theatre World awards) and The Rocky Horror Show. A native of downstate Belleville, Illinois, outside of St. Louis, DeLaria was given the Equality Illinois Freedom Award in 2015.
Also an accomplished cabaret artist and jazz singer with six albums to her name, DeLaria will perform a concert at the Ravinia Festival’s Martin Theatre at 7:30pm on Pride Sunday after leading the parade. Tickets for that show are $45–$65 for reserved seats in the theater, or $20 to hear the broadcast from the lawn.
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