Bio

Photo by Syd London

Kestryl Cael is a dandy trans butch performance artist with too many stories to tell.   Kestryl Cael has appeared at conferences, colleges, festivals, and local theatres across North America . Whether on-stage or behind a podium, ze considers it hir artistic duty to engage hir audiences in provocative dialogue without letting them take hir (or themselves) too seriously. Ze was a member of “The Language of Paradox,” a performance ensemble founded and directed by Kate Bornstein. Cael’s writing appears in anthologies such as Kicked Out, and ze is half of the performance duo, PoMo Freakshow.

Kestryl Cael’s full-length performances include XY(T), 348, and Traitors without (T)reason.  Ze regularly tours to colleges and universities to perform, teach workshops, and talk to students and staff about gender, sexuality, mental health, and social justice.

Featuring testosterone, transgression, and an enormous pink strap-on, Kestryl’s solo performance debut, XY(T),  had it’s world premiere in Portland, Oregon.  The show’s NYC premiere occurred as part of the 2008 FRIGID Fringe Festival at UNDER St. Marks Theatre, then participated in the 2008 New York International Fringe Festival and a month-long run at the historic WOW Cafe Theatre. Critics described Kestryl Cael’s work as “provocative,” “brave,” “appealingly wry,” “heartfelt,” “profound,” and “essential.”  XY(T) has toured across the country, delighting and discomfiting college students and soccer moms.

348, Kestryl’s newest solo performance, examines madness, queer mental health, and the troubled teen industry.  Versions of the performance in development appeared at Collect Pond and WOW Cafe Theatre, prior to 348‘s first full production at Dixon Place in November, 2010.  Kestryl is continuing to refine 348, in preparation for touring and a full-length run in 2011.

Kestryl holds a Bachelor’s degree in Theatre and Anthropology at Lewis & Clark College, and a Master’s in Performance Studies at New York University. Ze lives in Brooklyn, New York with hir partner, two puddle-shaped cats, and a chihuachsund.