Scroll To Top
Theater

Ellen Page and Kiersey Clemons Are Lovers in Queer, Female Casablanca 

Ellen Page and Kiersey Clemons Are Lovers in Queer, Female Casablanca 

Ellen Page and Kiersey Clemons

The out actresses will lead a cast of mostly queer women at a staged reading that needs to be a remake! 

Support The Advocate
LGBTQ+ stories are more important than ever. Join us in fighting for our future. Support our journalism.

The all-female queer Casablanca we never knew we needed until it was dreamed into existence is happening for one night only in Los Angeles with Ellen Page slipping on Humphrey Bogart's trench coat as Rick and Kiersey Clemons playing Ingrid Bergman's Ilsa in a staged reading, according to Entertainment Weekly.

The performance is part of an ongoing collaboration between Page and her Juno director, Jason Reitman, who has previously staged an all-female reading of Glengarry Glen Ross and a performance or Reservoir Dogs starring only people of color.

Page famously came out of the closet as gay in 2014, and Clemons, who recently starred in the sweet queer-themed indie Hearts Beat Loud, has identified as queer since very early in her career. But the rest of the cast is all LGBTQ except for ally Olivia Wilde, who'll play Ilsa's spouse.

Comedian Hannah Gadsby, whose visceral Netflix special Nanette cemented her as one of the most important voices in years, will play the Vichy law enforcement officer Captain Renault. Meanwhile, Schitt's Creek'sEmily Hampshire, who recently asked her girlfriend Teddy Geiger to marry her, will play Ugarte, the part that Peter Lorre played in Michael Curtiz's 1942 masterpiece.

If all of that weren't enough, Pose sensation Indya Moore is slated to play the critical role of Carl the waiter, who comes to Rick's aid at several points.

The staged reading of Casablanca will take place December 13 at Los Angeles's Ace Hotel.

30 Years of Out100Out / Advocate Magazine - Jonathan Groff & Wayne Brady

From our Sponsors

Most Popular

Latest Stories

Tracy E. Gilchrist

Tracy E. Gilchrist is the VP of Editorial and Special Projects at equalpride. A media veteran, she writes about the intersections of LGBTQ+ equality and pop culture. Previously, she was the editor-in-chief of The Advocate and the first feminism editor for the 55-year-old brand. In 2017, she launched the company's first podcast, The Advocates. She is an experienced broadcast interviewer, panel moderator, and public speaker who has delivered her talk, "Pandora's Box to Pose: Game-changing Visibility in Film and TV," at universities throughout the country.
Tracy E. Gilchrist is the VP of Editorial and Special Projects at equalpride. A media veteran, she writes about the intersections of LGBTQ+ equality and pop culture. Previously, she was the editor-in-chief of The Advocate and the first feminism editor for the 55-year-old brand. In 2017, she launched the company's first podcast, The Advocates. She is an experienced broadcast interviewer, panel moderator, and public speaker who has delivered her talk, "Pandora's Box to Pose: Game-changing Visibility in Film and TV," at universities throughout the country.