BECOME A KEY
Are you a queer woman and / or TGNC artist working on and offstage in musical theatre? Apply to be a Key!
HIRE A KEY
Are you a theatre-maker seeking to hire a queer woman or TGNC artist? Use our Directory of Key Members to find artists! Search by discipline, city, gender identity, and more.
SUPPORT A KEY
Are you an ally and supporter? Give a gift to help queer the stage and transform the musical theatre landscape.
Our Mission
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Ring of Keys promotes the hiring of self-identifying queer women, transgender, and gender non-conforming artists in the musical theatre industry.
We elevate the work of queer musical theatre artists through showcases, our social media platforms, and our monthly newsletter.
We provide a visible, supportive community for our Members, with a focus on networking events, job-sharing, and monthly meet-ups.
In addition, we collaborate with arts organizations and community partners to mobilize our industry to advance the musical theatre landscape and queer the stage.
Ring of Keys is an national network of queer women, transgender, and gender non-conforming artists working professionally on and offstage in the field of musical theatre.
Our membership is made up of actors, directors, dancers, singers, stage managers, lighting designers, dramaturgs, artistic directors, producers, casting directors, librettists, lyricists, composers, props designers, scenic designers, sound designers, choreographers, costume designers, and production managers who self-identify as lesbian, bisexual, trans, queer, femme, masc, non-binary, and the diversity of genders that queerness contains.
We strive to kick (ball-change) the closet door open to create a vibrant, diverse musical theatre landscape for the future.
COMING TOGETHER
- We believe that by coming together we build intersectional awareness and community within our industry.
DIVERSIFYING
- We believe that our diversity is an asset to the musical theatre landscape.
ELEVATING
- We believe that by elevating queer women, trans, and gender non-conforming artists in our industry, we give conscious and subconscious permission to other queer artists to elevate themselves.
MAKING SPACE
- We believe in making space for marginalized voices within our own queer community.
About Us
“Pssst. Andrea. You should meet your cast mate Royer. She’s…a lesbian!”. Our identities have a history of being whispered in our industry. This is, in fact, how we met. But our friendship was born out of a mutual desire to shout our identities from the rooftop. We realized that while we inhabit a professional space that is gay-friendly, queer women and tgnc artists are underrepresented within that space, despite being a huge and vital part of the industry. So we started Ring of Keys (with Lisa Kron and Jeanine Tesori’s blessing, of course). What began as two queer sopranos eating cheese and crackers in a new york city apartment is now a sprawling professional network of 300 members representing 40 cities. Welcome to the Ring. Do you hear our hearts saying hi?
–
Royer Bockus and Andrea Prestinario
Co-founders
Key Team
ANDREA PRESTINARIO (she/her)
Co-founder, Executive Director
ROYER BOCKUS (she/her)
Co-founder, Membership Director