GEORGE JORGENSEN, Jr. was born May 30, 1926 to Danish-American parents in the Bronx. After graduating from high school in 1945, the awkward, introverted George was drafted into the U.S. Army for two years of service at a desk in Fort Dix, New Jersey. Having always felt more feminine than masculine, George desperately began researching at a local medical library, where he read about hormone experiments and sex studies abroad. He soon discovered that sex change operations were being performed in Scandinavia, and in 1950 George flew to Copenhagen, Denmark, telling his family he was visiting relatives. He underwent months of hormone therapy and finally had his male sexual organs removed in 1952. The newly-named Christine's celebrity began on December 1, 1952 when the New York Daily News printed a front-page story entitled "Ex-GI Become Blond Beauty: Operations Transform Bronx Youth." She returned to New York City on February 12, 1953, where she was met by an unprecedented 300 reporters. The formerly shy Christine blossomed into her new role as a public icon. She put together a professional nightclub act in 1953 that toured successfully into the 1960s, then in the 1970s established herself as a popular speaker on the college lecture circuit, often drawing audiences in the thousands. With her health failing fast by the late 1980s, she moved to California and lived a more quiet life of working crossword puzzles and spending time with friends. Christine died in 1989 of bladder cancer. Though her name is generally unknown today, in the mid-fifties Christine Jorgensen was arguably the most famous person in the world. Her very public life after her 1952 surgery was a model for other transsexuals for decades; she was ahead of her time in understanding gender identity as a social construct, as performative, and as something in need of constant iteration. She forced the world to reconsider the boundaries of personhood-and she did it with grace, intelligence, and unreserved style.
PLATFORM THEATRE GROUP was formed in 2008 by GREG TULLY to create theatrical events to employ artists and engage audiences. Platform Theatre Group envisions the stage as a platform for connection that enlivens the senses, ignites the spirit, instigates discussion, celebrates diversity, and touches the heart. In the 1980's and 1990's, Mr. Tully began producing both independently and with a producing team (TRAN Theatreworks) in a variety of venues: the Emelin Theater, national touring sites, summer theater companies, and NYC metropolitan area universities. A social work practitioner, administrator, and academic for the past twenty years, he now returns to producing theater with the vision of creating memorable productions that both entertain and encourage thought-provoking insight while also providing quality, paid opportunities for gifted theater performers, directors, writers, designers, and administrators. Greg holds a BS in Educational Theatre and a PhD., both from NYU.
