CDI Fall Speaker Series Featuring Lea DeLaria

DSAES News
July 21, 2022

The UH Center for Diversity and Inclusion (CDI) will host its annual Fall Speaker Series on Monday, October 30 featuring actress, comedian, and jazz musician Lea DeLaria. The event will be held at 6 p.m. in the Student Center South - Houston Room. Known for her role as Carrie “Big Boo” on Orange is the New Black, DeLaria will teach audiences how to create change in a conservative society while trudging upstream in a muddy, bogged down river of political correctness.

DeLaria was the first queer comic to perform on television in America which launched her into world recognition. Before her success on Orange is the New Black, DeLaria appears in many TV series (Awkward, One Life to Live, Law and Order SVU, Will and Grace, and Friends), and movies (First Wives Club, Dear Dumb Diary, and Edge of Seventeen).

Lea's on and off-Broadway credits include her appearance on Broadway in On the Town, which she won Obie and Theatre World awards, as well as a Drama Desk nomination; an Ovation nomination for her appearance in the Boys from Syracuse; and playing both Edie AND Doctor Scott in The Rocky Horror Show.

DeLaria has five records out on the Warner Jazz and Classics label and her book "Lea's Book of Rules for the World" is in its third printing at Bantam Doubleday and Dell.  The Fall Speaker Series event is a part of the university’s LGBTQ History Month Celebration which takes place through October.

CDI’s Speaker Series is an opportunity for the department to host nationally recognized speakers who provide insight and knowledge on various topics that align with social justice issues. Past speakers include award-winning journalist Soledad O’Brien, inaugural poet Richard Blanco, and Olympic gold medalist Anthony Ervin.

For more information about the event, please contact the Center for Diversity and Inclusion at 713-743-6047.