The ninth annual Chicago Humanities Festival He/She, in 1998, approached gender as a “fundamental aspect of society, affecting furniture and architecture, constitutional and family law, landscape and urban design, health research and environmentalism,” and posited that He/She is “the paradigm within which we must all live our lives.”

In 2019 that is no longer the case–if ever it was. Increasingly we are moving toward a non-binary system of gender, identifying not as male or female, but as he, she, they, us–or even some combination of them all. Meanwhile the transgender rights movement has put forth a radical demand: not for inclusion within the existing system but for overthrowing gender norms entirely. From grammar and bathrooms to fashion, education and political movements, what does it mean to live, love, think and be within a non-binary world?

Throughout the year, the Re/vision Series will revisit and reinterpret some of the themes, people, and formats from past festivals.

This Spring Festival, we consider what it’s like to live, think, create, and exist in non-binary ways in the context of the history of drag performances. Comedian Frank DeCaro joins the festival for a special Shortlist-exclusive event. DeCaro will be joined by Chicago Drag Legends Chilli Pepper and Lucy Stoole, along with newcomer Angelica Grace, for an evening of conversation and drag performances.