A rock n' roll ride with the real-life gay bikers who kickstarted the sexual revolution in 1950s Chicago.

 

Acclaimed theatre artist Scott Bradley and recording artist Mercy Bell are creating a musical experience based on the Chuck Renslow biography Leatherman by Tracy Baim and Owen Keehnen. Jonny Stax and About Face Theatre lead the commissioning team behind the effort to bring these trailblazers to life in an immersive transmedia experience honoring the power of LGBTQIA+ individuals.

 

LEATHER DADDIES recounts the adventures of artist-entrepreneur-outlaws Domingo Orejudos (pictured left) and Chuck Renslow (pictured below) as they lead a pack of leather-clad rebels, pushing the boundaries of art, activism, and sexual exploration at a time of crushing conformity and persecution. They dreamt of a world where interracial same-sex love could be expressed without shame or hiding. That world didn’t exist, so they turned their dream into an underground empire that would grow into a global community.