Dito van Reigersberg, a prominent member of the Philadelphia LGBTQ community, will hold a question-and-answer session with University of Delaware students at 4 p.m., Tuesday, Sept. 13, in the dome area of Memorial Hall on UD’s Newark campus.

The session, which is free and open to the public, will focus on how the media covers the gay community.

At 7 p.m. that evening, van Reigersberg will perform in drag with his band, The Martha Graham Cracker Cabaret, at Bacchus Theatre in Perkins Student Center. The group, whose shows in Philadelphia and New York have sold out, will perform at UD with no admission charge.

Van Reigersberg is the founding artistic director of Pig Iron Theatre Company in Philadelphia, who began performing a cabaret show as Martha Graham Cracker, after Pig Iron productions. The cabaret group now features performances that are highly interactive with audiences, with songs from Soundgarden to Stevie Wonder to Prince.

“My hope for the Q&A is that students have a chance to meet someone outside their typical social circle,” said Dawn Fallik, assistant professor of English. “It’s a good chance to hear about LGBTQ issues, media perspective and how to reach unexpected audiences.”

The event was organized by the journalism program and is supported by the Office of the Vice Provost for Diversity, the College of Arts and Sciences and the departments of English and Theatre.