Join the Tenderloin Museum, Tenderloin transgender icon Collette LeGrande, and playwright Mark Nassar for the inaugural reading of Collette’s one woman play, Collette LeGrande, that tells a harrowing story of intense intimacy with matter-of-fact honesty. LeGrande and Nassar first collaborated on The Compton’s Cafeteria Riot play, produced and premiered by the Tenderloin Museum in 2018; since then, LeGrande has worked with Nassar to shape her charismatic telling of her life story into a performance for the stage. The resulting play is a genuine and deeply personal chronicle of a longtime Tenderloin resident’s journey of becoming her true self, set against the backdrop of the neighborhood’s iconic and (in)famous nightlife. 

Collette LeGrande takes us on a trip from Missouri, LeGrande’s birthplace, to the Central Valley, where she spent her childhood picking prunes off the ground at 5 years old while her mom, 7 times married, worked the orchards. Collette takes us on a detour to Chico State before landing in her forever home: the Tenderloin. While working a steady job at AT&T, she hustles on the street as a transgender woman to live as her true self. With profound inner strength, Collette fights her way, sometimes literally, to become Grand Duchess of the Ducal Court and raise hundreds of thousands for charity. Along the way, she becomes a beloved performer at Aunt Charlie’s, a celebrated playwright, the subject of an award-winning documentary, as well as a loving spouse in a long and happy marriage.

This reading will mark the first time the play is performed in public; after the performance, Nassar will facilitate a talkback with LeGrande. A Simple Tenderloin Queen will be one of Tenderloin Museum’s first in-person events since the recent omicron surge, and full vaccination (vaccine + booster) & indoor masking will be required throughout the event. 

Photo Credit: Mike Kepka for The Chronicle

Free advanced tickets sold out, $10 donation tickets still available