Our Origin
Queertauqua emerged from the depths of Kansas City’s archives, fueled by a desire to illuminate the queer narratives often tucked away in history’s shadows. We are a reimagining of the late-nineteenth and early–twentieth centuries traveling tent shows–Chautauquas–queerly. Our journey began with A Series of Unmentionable Acts, a vibrant project that unites academic inquiry with the transformative power of live performance.
We are dedicated to centering historical queer voices, proving that our collective past is a treasure trove of resilience and camp waiting to be explored. What started as local archival research has blossomed into a traveling laboratory that redefines the classic Chautauqua experience for contemporary audiences.
A Series of Unmentionable Acts
Experience our spectacular debut: a two-hour journey through taboo history, blending period melodies with theatrical stagings of long-ignored queer milestones. These vignettes reclaim the 'unmentionable' past with scholarly rigor and campy flair. Click here to explore the full production.
Redpath-Horner Chautauqua in Fairbury, Nebraska, circa 1920. Personal collection.
Founder | Artist & Historian
Joseph Germain Keehn II is a cultural creator whose interdisciplinary practice is informed by History, Theater, Museum Studies, and Queer Theory. Their conceptually driven projects bridge archival research with the glam of camp and the melodrama of the absurd to challenge conventional norms. Joseph navigates the past as a “performance artist as historian,” transforming silences into vibrant spectacles that address the struggles of those who came before.
Rooted in theorist Annamarie Jagose’s call to locate “queer as the source, not the destination,” Joseph centers LGBTQIA+ experiences as foundational to our collective history. By amplifying marginalized agency and resilience, their work offers a nuanced, empathetic, and critical interpretation of the past. Queertauqua is the manifestation of this journey—a thought-provoking and memorably camp laboratory for the tenor of our times.