About this Event
Creative Director and Host: Qween Jean
Icon, activist, and Tony Award-winner Qween Jean returns to Little Island for an explosive, one-night–only ballroom extravaganza. The third annual Summer Legacy Ball calls together a group of legendary performers and fabulous runway walkers in celebration and virtuosic spectacle.
Run time: 3 hours
CATEGORIES:
FACE
Stars of the City, bring it to the floor and let the panel see who truly shines amongst the constellations! Tonight, the heavens have opened and beauty is descending onto the runway. Let the panel see that your mug could stop any moon in its tracks! Your skin glows luminously across a midnight sky. Your smile glistens with cosmic radiance. Your divine features could guide lost travelers all the way to Freedom!
Your effect should let us know you ARE the universe’s finest creation!
TAG TEAM RUNWAY
Tonight, the sky is not the limit, it’s the inspiration. When you and your partner hit the floor, don’t just pump Hunnii, explode like a supernova. Prove to the panel your duo deserves its place in the universe. Your runway performance must capture the magic of the cosmos.
Your tag team has to embody the beauty, power, and wonder of the night sky in a coordinating effect! Heels are a plus, not a must!
COM VS COM
Commentators, your mission is to take us on a journey through the cosmos using nothing but your voice, wit, creativity, and command of the floor. Inspired by the stars in the sky, transform into a storyteller of the universe, painting vivid pictures of constellations, shooting stars, eclipses, galaxies, celestial Trans and Queer royalty.
BEST DRESSED
Head to toe celestial glamour. Your fashion aesthetic is the talk of EVERY galaxy.
This runway will become the backdrop for your greatest fashion composition! You are elevating fashion for the next century Hunnii!!
Texture, Tailoring, Volume, Drapery, Crystals, Diamonds, and Accessories are all ingredients in your masterpiece of visual harmony! You gotta look and feel like a blessing.
It’s Best Dressed, so every detail matters. The panel needs to see luxury, creativity, and execution that is out of this world O-P-U-L-E-N-C-E! Baybee, your garment should sparkle with intention, command attention, and leave the judges gagging at your descension from the nightsky!
EXECUTIVE REALNESS
You rule the game in every galaxy! The CEO of celestial enterprise. Bring it in a unique look that’s eye catching, in control and leading the movement from the galaxy and beyond!!!! Must include a cosmic prop that distinguishes you from the rest!
PERFORMANCE
Stellar Formation: A star will be reborn!!!! You must embody the resilience of our ancestors through your vogue performance.
Your effect must be inspired by constellations, sculpture, and haute couture silhouettes!
This performance should make us feel like we’re witnessing a centennial evolution erupting before our eyes.
Performers
Creative Credits
Qween Jean
Creative Director Qween Jean is a proud Haitian storyteller and human rights activist committed to protecting all humanity. She’s thrilled to return to Little Island for The Legacy Ball. Recently, Qween has designed costumes for Liberation (Broadway), Cats: The Jellicle Ball! (Broadway), Oh Happy Day, Saturday Church, Swamp Dwellers, and Donja R. Love’s new film Home.
Jean founded Black Trans Liberation, an organization that provides weekly fellowship, food, groceries, and housing resources for the TGNC community. She is the author of Revolution is Love (Aperture).
2026 José Esteban Muñoz Award Winner. Obie Award. Qween recently won the Audelco Award and Henry Hewes Award for Cats: The Jellicle Ball! Jean was a finalist for the NYC David Prize. She was the cover of American Theatre Magazine, entitled “A New Era!” MFA from NYU Tisch. “NO HUMAN IS ILLEGAL.” Learn more at blacktransliberation.com.
Simean Carpenter
Scenic Designer Bio to come.
Cha See
Lighting Designer
Cha See made history as the first Filipino lighting designer on Broadway with Oh, Mary! and Liberation. Her honors include the 2026 Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Lighting Design for The Unknown at Studio Seaview, a 2026 Obie Award for Sustained Achievement in Design, and an Obie Citation for Wet Brain at Playwrights Horizons. Recent highlights include Oh, Mary! in the West End, Jesus Christ Superstar at Goodspeed, The Disappear at Audible, The Monsters at Two River and Manhattan Theatre Club, Trophy Boys at MCC, Josh Sharp: Ta-Da! at Greenwich Theatre, Hold Me in the Water at Playwrights Horizons, and You Will Get Sick at Roundabout. Upcoming: Eureka Day at Huntington Theatre Company, The Whoopi Monologues at Lincoln Center, and The Notebook at Theatre Group Asia. seelightingdesign.com | @seethruuu
DJ Potts
Sound Designer
Off-Broadway: The Waterfall (Women’s Project), Triple Threat (Traverse32), Icons of Culture (PAC NYC), Refuge: A Concert Series (PAC NYC), Open Call (The Shed), The Bull Jean Stories (The Drama League), Hello Again (The Drama League). Regional: The Aves (Berkeley Rep), Primary Trust (Cleveland Playhouse), Red Pitch (Olney), Kunene and the King (Shakespeare Theatre Company), Fabulation, or The Re-Education of Undine (Chautauqua Theater Company), King James (Northern Stage), The Children (Northern Stage). Associate Design Broadway: An Enemy of the People, Jaja’s African Hair Braiding, Fat Ham, Topdog/Underdog, Slave Play, Clyde’s. Education: Romeo & Juliet (The New School), Glass n’ Mirrors (The New School), Angela Davis School for Girls with Big Eyes (Rutgers), Holy Week (Rutgers).
Cherie Tay
Venue Coordinator
“Cherie B. Tay (she/they) is a Broadway Stage Manager, Voice Actor, and Creator.
Cherie has been stage managing theatre, dance, award shows, and live events professionally for over a decade. Favorite cities to work include Tokyo, Seoul, London, NYC, Arezzo, and Paris.
Broadway credits include: The Outsiders, Cabaret, My Window, KPOP, A Strange Loop, Slave Play, Hadestown, Ruben and Clay’s Christmas Show, Gettin’ The Band Back Together, Amélie. Tours: In The Heights, War Horse.
Cherie has also music assisted on Broadway shows and workshops including Bring It On, Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots, Doctor Zhivago, Bronx Tale, and SuperFly.
In addition to stage managing and voice acting, Cherie is a photographer and ukulele teacher (Margaritaville National Tour). Their photography work has been featured in the New York Times, Washington Post, Vulture, Forbes, and more.
!אֲנִי אוֹהֶבֶת אוֹתָךְ”
Eloia Peterson
Assistant Venue Coordinator (Assistant Venue Coordinator) Eloia is a Stage Manager who has worked throughout the NYC theater community on shows such as I Need That (Roundabout Theatre Company), The Laramie Project (Audible Theater), Jordans, Plays For The Plague Year, and Fat Ham (The Public Theater). She also works as an Assistant Production Manager at Audible Theater and recently completed working on the Together repertory play series and Mexodus. She is excited to be back for another wonderful summer at Little Island!
Andie Burns
Production Assistant Bio to come.
Ana Karen Esparza Aguilar
Production Assistant Bio to come.
Ashton Goren
Production Assistant Bio to come.
Boom Boom Balenciaga
Honoree
The Summer Legacy Ball honors the trailblazers, icons, and ancestors whose lives, artistry, and activism shaped the worlds of ballroom, queer culture, and beyond. We remember them, name them, and carry their legacy forward each year through this celebration.
Brenda Continental Milan Soulja
Honoree
The Summer Legacy Ball honors the trailblazers, icons, and ancestors whose lives, artistry, and activism shaped the worlds of ballroom, queer culture, and beyond. We remember them, name them, and carry their legacy forward each year through this celebration.
Kiara St. James
Honoree
The Summer Legacy Ball honors the trailblazers, icons, and ancestors whose lives, artistry, and activism shaped the worlds of ballroom, queer culture, and beyond. We remember them, name them, and carry their legacy forward each year through this celebration.
Miss Major Griffin-Gracy
Honoree
The Summer Legacy Ball honors the trailblazers, icons, and ancestors whose lives, artistry, and activism shaped the worlds of ballroom, queer culture, and beyond. We remember them, name them, and carry their legacy forward each year through this celebration.
After The Show
After Summer Legacy Ball, head to The Play Ground for a free after party featuring DJ DANIRO.