Special introduction by the fabulous Sherry Poppins (Purchase Alumni)

Susanna Valentia a court translator and radio announcer who had emigrated from Latin America in the 1940s as Tito ValentiIi founded what became known as Casa Susanna. In the 1950s and ’60s, an underground network of transgender women and cross-dressing men found refuge at this modest house in the Catskills region of New York. The house provided a safe place to express their true selves and live for a few days as they had always dreamed—dressed as and living as women without fear of being incarcerated or institutionalized for their self-expression. Told through the memories of those who visited the house, the film provides a moving look back at a secret world where the persecuted and frightened found freedom, acceptance and, often, the courage to live out of the shadows.