John Jarboe (lead artist, lyricist and performer) is a director, singer, writer, historian, and host serving you revolution, herstory, queer community making, and a whole lot of glitter. She is the founding artistic director of The Bearded Ladies Cabaret, transforming opera, cabaret, and live performance, making work that will make you sing, dance, and question. She has directed and written original work for La Mama ETC, Joe’s Pub, Opera Philadelphia, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, The Wilma Theater, and most recently directed Anthony Roth Costanzo’s cabaret for the Guggenheim’s Works & Process series and co-wrote and directed Stephanie Blythe’s Blythely Ever After for American Songbook at Lincoln Center. Find more of her work with The Bearded Ladies @beardedladiescabaret or beardedladiescabaret.com

Christopher Ash (director/cinematographer, sound mixer) is an international designer and filmmaker working primarily in the theatre for nearly two decades. A Philadelphia resident since 2015, he began his career in Chicago and Los Angeles and then went to New Haven to complete his master’s degree in scenic design from the Yale School of Drama. His scenic, lighting, and projection design work in opera, theatre, and dance have been presented in a dozen countries in a variety of venues ranging from Broadway to five thousand seat arenas to storefronts. His designs have received several awards and nominations. Notable productions include Broadway’s Sunday At The Park With George, and St. Joan, The Metropolitan Opera’s upcoming productions of Dead Man Walking and Don Giovani with Director Ivo van Hove, and Body Language, a dance/video installation in collaboration with David Bolger and Cois Ceim Dance first presented at the Royal Hibernian Gallery in Dublin, Ireland. christopherash.com

Emily Bate (composer and harmonies) is a harmony fanatic, obsessed with cooking up voice sounds with people in the seething soup of humanity. This manifests in a wide variety of disciplines (music performance, theater, film, performance art, social practice) and roles (composer, vocalist, arranger, conductor, facilitator, performer). Recent projects include: the score for the film Queer Genius by Catherine Pancake; several shows with frequent collaborator Erin Markey, including the anarcho-musical A Ride on the Irish Cream, featuring “accessible, often punchy pop-rock” (New York Times), and “soaring musical numbers” (Artforum) that were “startlingly gorgeous, and packed with heavenly harmonies” (New York Post); and a composing collaboration with installation artist Patrick Costello. Emily has worked with artists like MJ Kaufman, The Bearded Ladies Cabaret, and Mal Cherifi, and her work has been performed at venues across the US and UK. Emily founded and conducts a queer community chorus called Trust Your Moves, which focuses on new work by Philadelphians.

Rebecca Kanach (makeup and costume design) is a Barrymore Award-winning costume designer. In New York, her work has been seen at the Lincoln Center, Ars Nova’s ANT Fest, La MaMa, The New Ohio, and Joe’s Pub. Regionally, her work has been seen at companies including The Arden Theatre Company, Walnut Street Theatre, The Wilma Theater, Opera Philadelphia, and Bristol Riverside Theatre. Academic work includes designs with Swarthmore University, Rutgers-Camden Campus, and Temple University. Rebecca is the co-founder and resident costume designer of The Bearded Ladies Cabaret, and a company member of Lightning Rod Special, whose performance of The Appointment was listed as one of the New York Times’ Best Theater of 2019.

Justin Yoder (cello) is a Philadelphia-based musician and theater artist. He performs regularly with various orchestral and chamber ensembles throughout the region and can be heard on several recent albums and film scores. Justin has worked for local theatre companies as a pit musician, music director, and performer, with recent credits at Arden Theatre Company, Philadelphia Theatre Company, People’s Light, and Pig Iron. He teaches students of all ages at his private cello studio in West Philadelphia and is a music instructor at Arden Drama School. Justin holds an M.M. in cello performance from Temple University.

Heath Allen (piano and arranger) is a composer, jazz pianist and theater creator based in Philadelphia. Heath became music director of the Bearded Ladies in 2010, and developed a unique compositional style incorporating opera, cabaret and pop. With the company he composed and arranged the drag opera Mommie Queerest, the Civil War cabaret Wide Awake, and the James Bond opera/cabaret Beards are for Shaving. In 2014/15, Heath served as music director and lead composer for Andy: A Popera, a collaboration between the Bearded Ladies and Opera Philadelphia. Other recent undertakings include music and arrangements for the Bearded Ladies’ Marlene and the Machine and Bitter Homes and Gardens; text and music for Reports of a Rare Mammal; and The Bearded Ballerina, composed for John Jarboe and the Relache New Music Ensemble (the 2017 Dina Wind Commission).