June 9, 2026, 6:00 PM
Lokum Stonewall, 7 Fredry Street
free admission
Considering the musical together with queerness is neither anything new nor surprising in the field of academic research. The musical has long functioned [especially in the cultural sphere of the United States] as a safe haven for the LGBTQ+ community, creating spaces in which one can openly express one’s identity. From Cole Porter and Stephen Sondheim to Benj Pasek, gay composers and writers are widely celebrated and recognized by both academics and mass audiences. Where, in this narrative, should lesbian theatre be placed? Its history rarely appears in textbooks on musical theatre, in which only individual productions have received the recognition they deserved.
The lecture will focus on the analysis of the lost and forgotten influences of lesbians on musical theatre, with particular emphasis on representations based on lived experience. Examples of musicals created by queer women, incorporating queer narratives, will be presented. Their early representations can be found in the late 1970s and early 1980s, including I Like Me Like This by Gay Sweatshop Woman’s Company and In a Search of a Hammer by Front Room Theatre Guild.
The aim of the talk is to trace works that have not yet been studied and to fill gaps in history, as a result of which commercial success and critical acclaim were achieved in 2015 by Fun Home. A musical that was one of the first productions with a lesbian protagonist in the history of Broadway.
Nikola Nowak – theatre scholar, cultural studies scholar, third-year student at the Doctoral School of Humanities. She received her education at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań. She also continues it there. Her research revolves around queer and feminist readings of musical theatre. In her doctoral work, she focuses on musicals created by women. Her academic interests include: political and socially engaged theatre, feminism, queer studies. Outside academia, she is involved in activism and artistic activity.