Call Redialed: NEW Darwin Del Fabro Interview: Lili/Darwin - A Play About Identity, Memory & Becoming

actor actress film horror film movies music musical theatre off-broadway play recording artist regional theatre singer songwriter television theatre tv Jul 11, 2025

I first came to know Actress, Playwright & Musician Darwin Del Fabro in 2022 when she starred in Blumhouse Productions of They/Them, the groundbreaking queer horror film directed by John Logan.

It's so great to catch up with Darwin as she makes her triumphant return to the stage in her play Lili/Darwin.

In this NEW interview, Darwin once again answered my call, but this time around she shares:

What made now the right time to return to the stage
How Lili/Darwin can help someone who is questioning their own identity
How she has felt empowered by going through her own gender transition
How this show can give someone a better understanding of gender transition
So much more

Connect with Darwin: Website, Instagram, YouTube

A poetic solo performance exploring the intimate, overlapping journeys of Lili Elbe and Darwin Del Fabro, Lili/Darwin invites the audience into a raw, unflinching world of identity, memory, and becoming. Through voice, projection, and powerful language, Darwin brings to life the blurred lines of self and story, history and present.

After years of creative work in theater and music, Lili/Darwin marks her return to the stage following her gender transition. Drawing from an inspiring lifelong connection to the story of Lili Elbe, Darwin intertwines personal narrative with historical record in this deeply intimate, genre-defying piece. The play traces the evolution of identity through language, history, and transformation.

Lili Elbe was a Danish painter who was assigned male at birth, experienced what is now called gender dysphoria, and underwent the world's first documented sex reassignment surgery in 1930. Her life inspired the 2015 Academy Award-winning film The Danish Girl starring Eddie Redmayne, and a 2023 opera by Tobias Picker.

Lili/Darwin will be a featured mainstage show as part of The Tank's annual LimeFest, which invites new works by creative teams who identify as women, nonbinary, or gender non-conforming to make way for more gender parity in the performing arts.

Lili/Darwin will play from August 2 - 24, 2025 at The Tank in New York City. Click here for tickets!

1. It's so great to catch up with you after our last interview together in 2022. Following your own gender transition, you have decided to return to the theatrical stage. What made now the right time to come back? Because I was finally ready. Personally and artistically, I had reached a point where I could tell this story with honesty and strength. I had something urgent to say, and the stage felt like the right place to do it.

2. Your new show, Lili/Darwin, is inspired by your own connection to Lili Elbe, the Danish painter who underwent the world's first documented sex reassignment surgery in 1930. What did you relate to most about Lili's journey? Her need to live as her true self. That feeling of not being seen for who you are is something I deeply understand. Her courage to take that step, even when it was risky and isolating, was something I connected to immediately.

3. How long did it take you to write Lili/Darwin, from idea to inception? About 6 months from first draft to final version. But the real process started long before that, as I lived through my own transition and started to see the parallels between my life and Lili’s.

Darwin Del Fabro
Photo Credit: Oliver Miguel

4. How can this show help someone who is questioning their own identity? It can help by showing that questioning is okay—and that it’s a process, not a problem. Seeing someone else go through it, with all the confusion and clarity, might give them a sense of possibility and support.

5. What was the hardest scene in the play for you to write? Why was that scene so difficult? The hardest part was writing about the moments where I realized I wasn’t always kind to myself during my transition. It’s difficult to face the ways fear and survival instincts shaped my behavior. But being honest about that felt necessary. Growth doesn’t happen without accountability, and writing those scenes helped me see myself with more clarity and compassion.

6. Which part of the play just flowed out of you? The scenes where I compare Lili’s voice to my own. Once I found the structure, the writing came quickly. I knew exactly what I wanted to say and how.

Darwin Del Fabro
Photo Credit: Oliver Miguel

7. How do you feel Lili/Darwin will help someone better understand gender transition? By showing it from the inside out. Not just what happened, but what it felt like. It’s not about medical steps—it’s about identity, choice, and change. That’s where understanding starts.

8. As someone who has gone through their own gender transition, how do you feel more empowered now? I’m not hiding anymore. I can speak clearly, show up fully, and trust myself in a way I couldn’t before. That’s real empowerment.

9. Is there anything about your former self that you miss? If so, what do you miss & why do you miss it? It’s all here. I don’t miss who I was, but I respect that version of me. That Darwin helped me get here. If I miss anything, it’s the simplicity before things got complicated—but I wouldn’t trade what I’ve found for that.

10. What is something we didn't get to talk about in this interview that you'd like my audience to know about you? That this play is for everyone. It’s not just about transition—it’s about finding yourself, no matter who you are. I hope people come with an open mind and leave with a fuller heart.

More Darwin Del Fabro Interviews:

2022 (Read Here): They/Them - A Queer Horror Movie

Darwin Del Fabro
Photo Credit: Oliver Miguel

More on Darwin Del Fabro:

Darwin Del Fabro recently appeared in Blumhouse Productions' They/Them, a new film directed by John Logan. They/Them is now streaming on Peacock.

Since moving to New York, she starred as Puck in A Midsummer Night’s Dream with the Juneberry Collective, as Adam in The Feather Doesn't Fall Far From The Wing at Signature Theatre and Dominic in Real the play at the Tank.

Darwin has four albums recorded — the cast recording of the Irving Berlin Revue, Be Careful, it's My Heart, Darwin Del Fabro in Rio and Darwin Del Fabro: Revisiting Jobim. She recently released Darwin Del Fabro: Revisiting Jobim 2 and Darwin Del Fabro: Revisiting Elis Regina.

Darwin was in the Original Brazilian Productions of Shrek The Musical, Fiddler on The Roof, The Wizard of Oz and was in the hit Brazilian soap opera, Ligações Perigosas (based on Les Liaisons Dangereuses) and Novo Mundo.

Darwin founded Madalena Productions, a production company working across stage, screen, and music studios.

Be The First To Know

The Call Me Adam Digest will give you a front row seat to my interviews, podcast episodes & other behind-the-curtain adventures.

We will never sell your information. Yon can unsubscribe at any time.

Call Redialed: NEW Darwin Del Fabro Interview: Lili/Darwin - A Play About Identity, Memory & Becoming

In this NEW interview, Darwin once again answered my call, but this time around she shares:

More Darwin Del Fabro Interviews:

More on Darwin Del Fabro:

Be The First To Know

Join Our Free Trial