Justin Vivian Bond : biography
Solo career and Shortbus: 2006–2008
Performing with the House of Whimsy Players at The Kitchen in October 2006, Bond staged Re:Galli Blond (A Sissy Fix), "a self-penned musical spectacle of transgender oppression and uplift." Bond also appeared in Paul Festa’s Apparition of the Eternal Church (2006).
Bond was featured in Shortbus (2006), a film directed by fellow Radical Faerie John Cameron Mitchell. In it, Bond played the mistress of ceremonies at the eponymous avant-garde salon Shortbus, appearing in the final scene singing "In the End", written by Scott Matthew. One journalist commented that this expressed "in just one scene that heightened sense of simultaneous hope and despair in post–9/11 downtown New York City."Albo 2011.
In June 2006 Bond also appeared in a one-off informal show When David Met Justin at London’s Bush Hall, during which Bond chatted and shared music with English cabaret performer David Hoyle.Walters 2010. In December 2008 Bond appeared in the Tiger Lillies show Sinderella on London’s South Bank, and is credited in the band’s album of the same name.
Filmography
Title | Year | Director | Character |
---|---|---|---|
Imaginary Heroes | 2004 | Dan Harris | |
Shortbus | 2006 | John Cameron Mitchell | Justin Bond, host of avant-garde New York City salon named Shortbus. |
Apparition of the Eternal Church | 2006 | Paul Festa | Kiki |
Early life
Growing up in the remote suburbs of Hagerstown, Maryland, Bond’s experiences with being queer began at an early age. In 1969, Bond began attending elementary school, where Bond first became aware that Bond was unlike the other little boys, preferring to play with the girls, causing some concern from Bond’s teachers, who deemed it to be abnormal behavior.Bond 2011. pp. 16, 19-22. It was during the first grade that Bond began wearing Bond’s mother’s lipstick, something which she put a stop to as soon as she found out.Bond 2011. pp. 3-5.
Bond has described feeling "invisible" in high school. The local Church of the Brethren served as an early creative outlet, where Bond sang in the youth choir. Bond was active in community theater, performing in Brigadoon, Kiss Me, Kate, and The Sound of Music with the Potomac Playmakers. Bond began voice lessons at age 13. Bond pursued a theater degree at Adelphi University, graduated in 1985, and later moved to New York City. Bond’s 2011 memoir Tango discloses a psychiatric diagnosis of adult attention deficit disorder, which helped explain much childhood behavior.Bond 2011. pp. 11-14.
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