Numerous cultures have traditionally included–and often celebrated–third gender categories: a person might be, for instance, a
bakla in the Philippines, two spirit or equivalent designations among various North American Indigenous peoples, or a
femminiello in Naples, Italy. It is the
femminiello who is a central, structuring figure in Summer Minerva's punningly titled solo show
Femme in Yellow Tombola: mystical queer italian bingo.
Feminielli, while socially excluded in some ways—prompting them to queer certain traditions—are also considered lucky and, relatedly, have often called the numbers in the titular tombola, a traditional game comparable to bingo but in which the numbered squares have names and meanings attached to them (number 66, for example, is
le due zitelle, the two spinsters, associated with wisdom). Minerva, a genderfluid writer, performer, filmmaker, and educator, takes on the role of number-calling femme in yellow in her show, pulling the game's numbered
tombolini from their narrow-necked basket to determine which corresponding bite-sized playlet she will perform next. This June's performances of the eclectic, entertaining, and emotive
Femme in Yellow Tombola at UNDER St. Marks were part of FRIGID New York's 2025 Queerly Festival, "
FRIGID’s annual celebration of all things artistic and LGBTQIA2S+," which is currently curated by co-artistic director Jimmy Lovett and runs through July 3rd.
Minerva, who grew up queer in a conservative Staten Island Italian-American community, recently made a documentary,
Summer Within, about her attempts to learn more about her heritage and roots by traveling to Southern Italy, where she encountered the tradition of
feminielli.
Femme In Yellow Tombola shares some of these elements with Minerva's film, not only in its framing but also in its presentation of pieces both of personal and sociocultural history. Drawing a certain number might result in Minerva dramatizing an adolescent conversation with her Nonna, reading a passage from a journal entry of similar vintage, performing a traditional Italian dance, or discussing the Roman adoption of the goddess Cybele and her connection to tambourine music. There may even be meatballs involved.
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| A tombola board |
While the production uses some projected images, most notably of the illustrated tombola board, the stage is bare except for a table set by Minerva subsequent to drawing a particular number, which creates a site and sense of connection, exchange, and intimacy, including in some of the show's frequent audience participation. Minerva excels at facilitating these moments, whether they are fun and silly or emotionally open and vulnerable (and the improvisatory nature of some of them means that even she doesn't necessarily know beforehand which mood will characterize a given segment). Taken as a whole,
Femme in Yellow Tombola constructs a nexus considering queerness, gender roles, capitalism, the immigrant experience, and connection to and disconnection from heritage. We see, for instance, Minerva's Nonna having less interest in connections to Italy than a young Minerva does and, at another point, hear a poem of hers pointedly address the commodification of a certain version of Italian-ness. Yet another segment offers guidelines about how to use American privilege for good; and at the performance we attended, Minerva acknowledged that while one suggestion pertained to local politics, politics is not always enough, recalling Audre Lorde's admonition that "
the master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house." The unpredictability of
Femme in Yellow Tombola adds enormously to the enjoyment, but the one utter constant is that whether Summer Minerva is taking on the role of actor, dancer, storyteller, instrumentalist, or just conversational partner, she does so with a warmth, humor, and presence that make everyone in the audience a winner.
-John R. Ziegler and Leah Richards
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