Mi Casa es Su Casa

As you probably know, "Casa Valentina is a play written by Harvey Fierstein which premiered on Broadway in April 2014 and opened in London in September 2015. It tells the story of men who spend weekends at a resort in the Catskill mountains, dressed as women." (source Wikipedia)

The play is based on a real upstate New York resort called "Casa Susanna" where men spent weekends dressed as women in the early 1960s.

Casa Valentina is also the name of a high fashion boutique in Lima, Peru, that sells cocktail dresses and evening gowns.

I wonder if any of its customers are men who spend the weekends dressed as women!

Wearing Rebecca Taylor dress, Sophia Webster sandals and Jean Bespoke clutch.

Christian Clemenson in the Los Angeles stage production of Casa Valentina.

Casa Susanna Interview

Salon.com today posted an interesting interview with Katherine Cummings (photo right), a former guest at Casa Susanna and a consultant on the stage production Casa Valentina.

You can read the interview here.

Dos Casas

You can see vintage Casa Susanna photos and an article about Casa Valentina here.

(Thanks to Meg of Call Me Meg fame, for the link.)

Actors Wade McCollum, Scott Willis and Bryan West in the Phoenix, Arizona,
stage production of Priscilla Queen of the Desert in 2013.

Wearing AQ/AQ Uropa.

A casa by any other name is still Casa Susanna

Casa Susanna was a guest house in the Catskill Mountains of Upstate New York where crossdressers dressed en femme during their visits in the 1960s.

Although not mentioned by name, My Year Among the Girls by Darrel G. Raynor published in 1968 documented one crossdresser's experience at Casa Susanna.

Casa Susanna by Michel Hurst and Robert Swope published in 2005 was a collection of snapshots found at a New York City flea market that depicted various crossdressers during their stay at the guest house.

I have mentioned both of these books here in the past. My Year Among the Girls was an eye-opener for me; reading that book when I was 17, I discovered that I was not alone.

Later this month, Casa Valentina opens on Broadway. It is a play written by Harvey Fierstein and is loosely based on the activities that occurred at Casa Susanna 50 years ago.

I hope I have an opportunity to see the play, preferably en femme.

 

 

 

Harvey Fierstein, circa 1970.

 

 

 

Wearing Madeleine.