PARTING SHOT
“IT’S VERY IMPORTANT TO HAVE TRANS VOICES CONTRIBUTING TO THE stories,” Orange Is the New Black alum Lauren Morelli says of her latest project, a remake of the cult classic Tales of the City, premiering on Netflix June 7. Morelli, who serves as executive producer and showrunner for the series, hopes to bring the Emmy-nominated original, which was based on Armistead Maupin’s groundbreaking books and debuted in 1993, to a new generation with some modern updates. Laura Linney reprises her role as Mary Ann Singleton, who returns to San Francisco to reunite with her chosen family, including Anna Madrigal, a trans woman once again played by Olympia Dukakis, but they are joined by trans talent including directors Silas Howard and Sydney Freeland, writer Thomas McBee and actress Jen Richards, who is best known for the web series Her Story and portrays a young Anna. “Because the show is so queer,” Morelli explains, it felt crucial “to be as diverse and as inclusive as possible.”
Illustration by BRITT SPENCER