Lorelei Erisis

Lorelei Erisis is a writer, performer, activist, adventurer, improviser, and a genuine pageant queen! Lorelei is the President of the board of directors for Transcending Boundaries Inc. and she co-chaired the 2015 Transcending Boundaries Conference. She was also, much to her own surprise, the very first and still most famous Miss Trans New England (2009). For the past seven years Lorelei has written a popular monthly advice and opinion column called “Ask A Trans Woman” for The Rainbow Times newspaper. Prior to her life as an activist pageant queen, she studied improvisational acting and sketch comedy at The Second City in Chicago and Los Angeles, performing in many sketch and improv shows at their L.A. theatre. While in Los Angeles, Lorelei directed and performed with The Fully Functional Players: perhaps the first (and certainly one of the only) all-trans improv group. For the past several years she has often worked with the Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition and other organizations to help improve the lives of trans and gender variant people through advocacy, outreach, and legislative protections, helping to pass historic civil rights legislation and raise awareness of trans issues in Massachusetts and beyond. Lorelei was also a founding board member of the first fully 501(c)3-certified iteration of Northampton Pride. She was the first trans woman to serve at that level in the history of the Northampton Pride organization.On top of all this, for the past three years she has been the co-host and tech director of the show,“Tammy’s Twist” at The Broadway Comedy Club in NYC. Tammy’s Twist is the only trans-produced, hosted, directed, and focused comedy show in a mainstream comedy club in the country—maybe the first of its kind. Lorelei also speaks and performs regularly about gender, sexuality, and improv for various organizations, conferences, and universities. @erisis.