Our Queer Elders in History and Song

In celebration of Pride Month, the Vineyard Haven Library is pleased to welcome singer, songwriter and storyteller Katie Castagno for an evening of music and storytelling. “Our Queer Elders” will be held at 6:00 PM on Tuesday, June 10th at the Katharine Cornell Theatre, located at 51 Spring Street in Vineyard Haven (above Tisbury Town Hall). Free and open to the public. No registration required.

Katie Castagno uses storytelling and original song to celebrate and elevate the lives of people who have queered social and gender norms throughout history. At a time when queer history and voices are increasingly erased, “Our Queer Elders” is both informative and cheeky, whether it’s an account of Rachel Carson’s whirlwind romance with Dorothy Freeman, a sweet love song about Mary Oliver, or an imagining of the night Amelia Earhart and Eleanor Roosevelt took a joyride after dinner in 1933.

Katie Castagno is a geologist by day and a singer-songwriter by night. Drawing on roots in rural New England and collegiate a cappella, Katie writes about people, places, and geological phenomena. Katie has released several singles, including “High Tide,” an exploration of life as a menstruating field scientist. Katie’s first full-length album, Every House I’ve Known, is a collection of songs reflecting on what it means to call somewhere home, with each based on a different place of residence. When not making music, Katie is the director of the Land-Sea Interaction Program at the Center for Coastal Studies in Provincetown, MA, and spends most of the time in the salt marsh.