Laura “Zee” Zablit has been busy in her two years at The Old Globe. She has helped develop and run the popular arts engagements series Behind the Curtain and Breaking Bread, as well as the Globe’s groundbreaking Globe for All Tour. But she may be best known as creator and host of Word Up!, an interactive Mad Libs–style community arts event.

The LGBTQIA+ community in San Diego had something to do with it. “I developed that collaborative arts practice onstage in Hillcrest, alongside my drag king numbers. Having a queer community space to practice, embrace audience participation, make mistakes, break lots of rules, innovate—that was the place where I could hone my creative voice and approach.”

To Laura, Pride Month means a continued investment in the LGBTQIA+ community that is important year-round. “Investment looks like caring deeply about justice for and within our community.” It also means honoring giants who came before, like Marsha P. Johnson, Sylvia Rivera, Miss Major Griffin-Gracy, and Stormé DeLarverie. “Recognizing, as with so much that is just and vibrant in life, that we owe Pride and so much of queer culture to Black trans women who remain among the most vulnerable in society and the most excluded from much of the LGBTQIA+ community.”

This outlook continues to fuel her work, both at the Globe and in her other activities in San Diego. She adds, “I’m looking to connect with San Diego MENA/SWANA drag performers. Hit me up if that’s you!”