Although She Has Exited Stage Left, Julie Dafydd’s Star Will Shine Brightly For Generations To Come

The Twin Cities lost a bright light on July 12 with the unexpected passing of the inimitable Julie Dafydd. A tireless transgender activist and advocate, a witty writer and one of Lavender’s first columnists, a shining presence on the theatre stage and a force to be reckoned with when it came to her fierce efforts in her unwavering support for the community, Dafydd proudly wore many unabashedly glittery crowns in her life, and her loss will be felt deeply for years to come. She was a vibrant luminary who didn’t just talk the talk; she walked the walk.

Dafydd was born on November 17, 1951, and grew up in Soderville, Minn. As a young person who was discovering their true self, Dafydd knew that she was trans, but did not realize then that there was even a word for it. She just knew that she was different and that she was often the brunt of bullying from other students.

According to longtime friend and owner and artistic director of Candid Theater Company, Justin Kirkeberg, Dafydd tended to be extremely private about her childhood, but did bond with him one night while meeting about her play, “Soderville: Excavation of a Life,” and the two “talked about how our families disowned us at a young age and how theater became the home and family we both missed.”

In a 2022 interview, she commented that, in her late teens, she took a Greyhound bus to Minneapolis and subsequently found her niche after watching what was then billed as a “transsexual stripper” act at the Gay 90s. While she had no intention of being a stripper, the idea of drag performance intrigued her, and Dafydd began attending the drag balls at hotels such as the Nicollet and the Leamington, which are long gone now. They did, however, set her on her course for a life on stage that would touch a great many people over the coming decades.

Dafydd was also well-known as one of Lavender’s longtime columnists who wrote the incredibly witty and funny “Consider the Source” column that always held court at the end of each issue. She, Steve Lenius and John Townsend were the three charter writers of the magazine, right from its first issue, which was published on June 9, 1995.

Lenius remarks that he remembered Lavender’s founding editor, George Holdgrafer, telling him once that “Julie wrote all of her columns in longhand, and for every issue’s column, he would have to pick up the column from her.” However, Lenius says that, based on Julie’s popularity and writing skill, Holdgrafer almost certainly “felt the extra work was worth it.”

Lenius also tells of the time that Lavender’s then-editor, Tim Lee, would produce a feature entitled “Lavender Lampoon” around April Fool’s Day, and Lenius and Dafydd decided to trade places by writing parodies of each other’s columns.

“Julie wrote a ‘Leather Life’ parody column called ‘Weathered Life: Tooting, er, Touting a Contest,’ which was illustrated with her looking somewhat weathered (befitting the name of the column), wearing a white t-shirt and leather biker’s cap, and smoking a cigarette,” Lenius says. “I returned the favor by writing a ‘Consider the Source’ parody called ‘Ponder the Origin.’ Oddly enough, right next to my column was Julie, appearing in an ad for the Spectacle Shoppe.”

Dafydd was also extremely active in the community on both national and local levels. Another longtime friend, Bubba Thurn, comments that she was at the first Pride protest, one of the first to undergo transgender surgery and that she personally went to all of the businesses along Hennepin Avenue to advocate for donations in order the purchase the Pride flags that line the street each Pride season.

She was an active and engaged member of the Imperial Court of Minnesota, serving as the Empress of Reign III with Chuck Madsen as the Emperor and honored as “Queen Mother for Life.” She also served as the Imperial Council Vice-Chair for the Court.

Dafydd’s true love, however, was theater. She was associated with Candid Theater Company from 2012-2012, as well as serving as a board member for the company. Her first show with Candid Theater was “Parallel Lives,” a project which Kirkeberg remarks “showcased Julie’s comedic sensibility and the hidden dramatic depth she could provide.” She continued to partner with Kirkeberg and Candid for eight more shows throughout her years there.

One of the jewels in Dafydd’s theatrical crown was her one-woman show, “I’ll Eat You Last,” which was co-produced with LUSH and Candid Theater Company and directed by Kirkeberg. Delivering her monologue with brassy charm, she brought legendary Hollywood super-agent and power broker Sue Mengers to life for audiences for four weekends after Pride in 2014. Kirkeberg said that, during the run of the show, Dafydd was plagued with severe back problems and was having to use a walker.

Still, according to Kirkeberg, “for the 97 minutes Julie was on stage, she owned that room and that audience; every night she was Sue Mengers, fierce and funny and full of spit and vinegar. She was truly in her element on any stage.”

Kirkeberg also spoke about Dafydd’s performance on a production entitled “Quilt: A Musical Celebration” in New York City for the 50th anniversary of Pride. Twenty actors from across the US had gathered to rehearse and perform the material. According to Kirkeberg, it had not been performed in over 20 years and needed some updating in regards to both music and content, with only nine days to re-orchestrate the 17 songs, rehearse and perform the finished product on time.

Unbeknownst to Kirkeberg, Dafydd had been unable to afford airfare to New York City, so she hopped a Greyhound bus for the 43-hour-long trip, not wanting to be left out of a project that she felt so strongly about.

“She arrived at Judson Memorial Church in NYC the night we hung the largest single collection of AIDS memorial quilts in one location since they had been displayed at the National Mall in 1987,” Kirkeberg notes. “Julie entered the church and was overwhelmed, and proceeded to regale the cast with stories of life pre-Stonewall and during the AIDS epidemic.”

During her career, the Metropolitan State University alum was honored by the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival (KCACTF) when her autobiographical play, “Soderville: Excavation of a Life,” named after her hometown and in which she plays both the Dafydd of the past and the Dafydd of the present, was selected as one of the seven plays that were chosen for the 47th Region V Festival held in January of 2015.

Julie Dafydd’s impact will continue to be felt through the lives she touched, the conversations she sparked and the wisdom she imparted as she left her stamp on the LGBTQ+ community of the Twin Cities. She was a legend who blazed a trail for many in the trans community, easing the path for those who followed behind.

In Dafydd’s own words and in the memorable way that she signed off on each of her columns in Lavender, “Bye for now. Kiss, kiss.”

There will be a Celebration of Life for Julie Dafydd held at The Saloon from 2-4 p.m. on Saturday, August 9. A light luncheon will be served as family and friends come together to share memories and stories of Dafydd.

facebook.com/events/s/celebration-of-life-for-julie-/1048876240749699/

A second memorial will be held at the Twin Cities Pride Cultural Arts Center (1201 Harmon Place, Minneapolis, MN) on Sunday, September 1st from 2-4 p.m to share stories and memories.