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The film introduces us to Taffeta (Roger Q. Mason), a Black, Filipinx, queer, and plus-size stage manager whose vibrant identity is rendered invisible in the beige world of a tired theatrical production about Abraham Lincoln. We first meet them in the thankless shadows of the wings, their expertise and passion met with dismissive nods and patronizing smiles.

The story ignites after a particularly cruel moment of dismissal and abuse from one of the play’s actors, a final humiliation that leaves Taffeta alone in the empty theater. It is in this void, a space of profound frustration and pain, that something transformative happens. Taffeta claims the stage for themself, conjuring a personal “fantasia” from sheer will.

Here, they take control of the narrative, resurrecting the rumored, hidden romance between a young, vital Abraham Lincoln and his devoted companion, Elmer Ellsworth. This reclamation is not a dry academic exercise; it is a desperate,...

The flair for the theatrical is at the core of “Lavender Men.” The film is set in a small theater where a rather mediocre play about Abraham Lincoln is being staged. But no sooner has the proverbial curtain come down on that self-serious proposition (with but a handful of people in the audience) than Lovell Holder’s film, co-written by creator and star Roger Q. Mason, truly begins. Described as a “fantasia” created within the mind of Mason’s Taffeta (the play’s stage manager), “Lavender Men” is a heady and meta-theatrical excavation of Lincoln’s long-rumored gay affair that’s wildly ambitious if a tad overstuffed.

“Lavender Men” began, as seems obvious from its logline, as a play. With Taffeta, a self-described Black, Filipinx, queer plus-size character, Mason devised a theatrical conceit wherein the stage would help recast the sanitized version of Lincoln the U.S. has been presented in schools.

Chicago – As the road is being paved to Pride Month 2025, a queer film about identity, history and one person’s hope is played out through the Gay-braham Lincoln rumor/theme in the sharply portrayed backstage drama/comedy “Lavender Men,” currently in select theaters, produced/co-written and directed by Lovell Holder.

’Lavender Men,’ Produced/Co-Written and Directed by Lovell Holder

Photo credit: Pride Flix/Entertainment Squad

Rating: 4.5/5.0

The lonely and frustrated Taffeta is currently serving as the stage manager of an uninspiring play about the life of Abraham Lincoln. Moreover, Taffeta is recovering from a one-sided crush on the play’s director, which has compelled them to work around the clock trying to salvage the misbegotten production, from washing the cast’s dirty costumes to compiling extensive research on Lincoln all for the director’s approval. This would appear to be the story of Taffeta’s life … they are constantly looking for connection,...

It’s rare to watch a film as rich as Lovell Holder and Roger Q. Mason’s “Lavender Men.” It’s based on a play. It looks like a play. It is intricate and complicated cinema. There are those who behave as though cinema and theater are polar opposites, and that to be “cinematic” is to evade any whiff of the “theatrical.” Remove thyself from a single location, and only then art thou in a film.

But film captures life and life takes place at the theater, at least whenever we’re in there. For those to whom all the stage is a world, those people who make live theater breathe , a film about their lives must take place on stage. And in “Lavender Men,” Roger Q. Mason plays a theater manager whose contributions to a rather unremarkable play about Abraham Lincoln are unsung, or only sung with the wrong pronouns.

A narrative feature exploring Abraham Lincoln’s personal life and queer legacy has landed a theatrical release.

Lavender Men is set to hit select theaters May 2 in Washington, D.C., Los Angeles and New York City from Pride Flix. Lovell Holder helmed the film and co-wrote the script with Roger Q. Mason, who also stars in the movie that is based on Mason’s stage play of the same name. Pete Ploszek and Alex Esola co-star.

The project focuses on theatrical stage manager Taffeta (Mason), who is feeling demoralized while working on a play about Lincoln and ends up in an elaborate daydream about the 16th president’s supposed gay love affair that has been fodder for speculation.

A trailer that is exclusive to The Hollywood Reporter can be seen below. Pride Flix is an Entertainment Squad label.

Mason wrote the play of the same name that premiered in 2022 at...

Entertainment Squad has acquired worldwide rights to Lavender Men, adding the queer drama to its international sales slate for this week’s European Film Market (EFM) in Berlin.

The film will get a limited US theatrical release this spring under the Lgbtqia+ PrideFlix label, which Entertainment Squad acquired last month.

Adapted from his own stage play by Roger Q Mason and directed by Lovell Holder, Lavender Men blends historical fiction and contemporary memoir in the story of a non-binary stage manager (played by Mason) who re-imagines Abraham Lincoln’s life through a queer lens.

Also starring are Pete Ploszek, Alex Esola,...