Gender Fucked Productions (Gender Fucked) Founder and former Executive Director and Artistic Director Dawn Heilung uses many labels to describe themselves— queer, bisexual, pansexual, polyamorous, trans, non-binary, transfleminine—because “I don’t think one can fully encompass my experience.”
“I started [the trans, enby and queer arts and event production focused nonprofit] Gender Fucked Productions in 2022 because I saw there was a gap here in Chicago,” said Heilung. “There were a lot of queer companies, but there was no one focusing specifically on trans artists.” Heilung knew they wanted to be a part of “holding that space and making it for us.”
Heilung chose the Gender Fucked name because they wanted something “beyond using just the word trans.” They also thought about gender in a transgressive lens. Heilung said the Gender Fucked name signals the space is safe and it’s a little punk, intense and all-encompassing. It is also a phrase the trans and non-binary community identified with whenever Heilung would use the term.
Gender Fucked’s three pillars are organizational sustainability, equitable pay and intersectional collaboration, which are infused into every performance, program and workshop they produce, Heilung said. Their ongoing goal is to bring people in who have multiple intersectional experiences and a shared vision, dream and reality.
“It’s a joy to have Gender Fucked include so many board and staff members, producers, creators and artists who say, ‘I want to make more space for trans people and make more opportunities for my community too,’” said Heilung.
As Gender Fucked artistic director, Heilung guided the entire artistic direction of the company and also hired new talent.
“I also viewed my role as artistic director as seeing the trans artistic community in Chicago and finding ways for us to connect, empower, fund and grow the things already existing naturally within our trans artistic environment in Chicago,” said Heilung.
Gender Fucked’s current co-executive directors are Eliot Colin and Yaz Stites and current co-artistic directors are Lorena Eli Torres-Garcia and Theo Alexander Sullivan.
Gender Fucked held an interactive dance spectacle, Queer Dance Freakout, because Heilung “loved making experimental dance and theater-based work.” They also performed in every Queer Dance Freakout since its inception. Trans Voices Cabaret, We Are Dance Collective and Gender Fucked Meetups are also a part of Gender Fucked’s repertoire. Some of Gender Fucked’s work can be found on its YouTube channel.
The group also marked its fifth anniversary its Trans-iliance Fest in mid-August.
Heilung is also a choreographer whose work was featured in The Addams Family and Thoroughly Modern Millie musicals, Chicago Dance Makers Forum, the Fly Honeys and Noumenon Dance Ensemble.
Professional dancing has been a part of Heilung’s life for over 10 years. They call themselves a “wiggly spaghetti noodle” because they often wiggle when they dance. Heilung also goes by the name “wave” because they “love smooth movement and a little roll and flow around. Spiritually, I also believe in the grand flow of the universe and the flow within me and others and our energy and how it all connects too.”
They have toured with the They Friend Non-Binary Theater and Arts Festival in San Francisco, Outside Festival in Austin, as well as at Thalia Hall, Den Theatre, High Hall and Steppenwolf in Chicago. Heilung has been a guest teacher and lecturer at Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana.
Heilung’s journey began in San Antonio, where they were born and raised, a place they said wasn’t very queer-, trans- or arts- friendly at the time. They studied dance and musical theater at the Northeast School of the Arts and then went onto Texas State University, where they received a BFA in acting and a BS in public health. Heilung also learned to dance and founded the first nonprofit of its kind in the state, Queer Theater Texas, while in college which they call a precursor to Gender Fucked Productions.
Their other professionals roles has been as the PopHealthCare Community Health Advisor and Teen HYPE Health Educator in Detroit and Howard Brown Health (Howard Brown) Sexual and Reproductive Health Outreach Coordinator in Chicago. Heilung did theater education alongside sex and drug education with the students in the Teen HYPE program which they believe are “intrinsically connected.”
Heilung decided to move to Chicago because they knew there were more artistic opportunities to be had and they wanted to live in a place where owning a car wasn’t necessary. They quickly got hired at Howard Brown Health and “I actually had a fully trans team when I was working there too.”
Heilung was also introduced to all the LGBTQ+ festivals in Chicago through their Howard Brown role: “It was a joy to be able to offer free STI and HIV testing and care to people in Chicago too.”
In 2022, Heilung not only founded Gender Fucked, but they also pivoted to Future Founders, where they were a Program Manager and are currently a Program Operations Senior Manager. Heilung said Future Founders works with young entrepreneurs and, “Even though I’d never considered my work as an artist and a person who runs artistic businesses as entrepreneurship, my boss does.
“I’ve been able to help mentor a lot of young queer, trans people, Black and Brown people who are trying to build their own businesses too. It matters a lot to me too, making sure the next generation has the same skills I was offered as a young person.”
This summer Heilung mentored a Black, trans and queer student who founded the Grey Area Chicago production company and was able to attend their first show on Juneteenth, which made her “so happy. I love all of my students.”
When Heilung isn’t hard at work, they love to ride their bike. They also run the Chicago Trans Authority bike group and marshal with the Fems and Thems bike group. Heilung plans to bike from Chicago to both Indiana and Wisconsin.
Heilung’s message is to the world is, “If you know trans people, try to support them. If you know trans people moving to Chicago, give them friends, community, a place to stay and other things necessary for their safety and well-being. It’s super important to build a world where we are all holding one another and making sure as queer and trans people flee the states where it’s unsafe for them to exist, they still have a safe place to be here too.”
