LILI/DARWIN: Darwin Del Fabro’s Powerful New Solo Play

Photo credit: Mari Eimas-Dietrich

Darwin Del Fabro, best known for Blumhouse/Peacock’s They/Them alongside Kevin Bacon and Carrie Preston, brought a new chapter of her artistic journey to the stage with the premiere of her solo play LILI/DARWIN at The Tank in New York City. Through live music, storytelling, and raw vulnerability, the play explored themes of identity, visibility, and rebirth, marking Darwin’s powerful return to the stage.

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Could you introduce yourself for those who might not know you?

Hello to readers around the world!

For anyone just discovering me: I’m Darwin Del Fabro, a Brazilian-born, New York–based actor, singer, writer, and producer. I gravitate toward stories that live at the intersection of identity and transformation, where personal truths become collective resonance.

When did performing first captivate you? Who’s been your greatest supporter?

I began performing professionally at age 12 in Brazil, music, theater, storytelling have always been life rafts. As for support: my journey has been shaped by family and mentors, but I’ve also leaned on inner resilience, especially understanding that performing was my survival tool.

I don’t always speak publicly about “the most supportive person,” but I know the community and creative collaborators around me.

Moving from Brazil to the New York stage, what was that like? 

At 13, I moved to Rio, but it was 2017 when I relocated to New York. I dove into the musical theater program at Broadway Dance Center—taking dozens of classes a week while learning English. At 18, I had a scholarship, took nearly 28 classes weekly, and learned so quickly. New York was a playground of creative risk, where I learned new forms, new languages, and eventually brought work like Real and A Midsummer Night’s Dream to the stage.

Your experience in They/Them working with Kevin Bacon & Carrie Preston?

Playing Gabriel in They/Them was unforgettable. The role was crafted for me, and working alongside Kevin Bacon and Carrie Preston in a slasher film centering LGBTQ+ stories felt both radical and deeply meaningful. Horror has always fascinated me, it externalizes fear, which resonates powerfully for queer and trans people.

Photo credit: Mari Eimas-Dietrich

LILI/DARWIN: what inspired you to write it? 

This solo play intertwines my own journey as a trans woman with that of Lili Elbe, drawing upon her diaries and my own memories. When I revisited her writings, first read as a teenager, I saw my story in hers. After my transition, what felt like “reinvention” was really an emergence into who I’ve always been. That urgency, love, and kinship with her voice inspired the play.

Why do you feel such a connection to Lili Elbe’s story?

I first encountered Lili Elbe’s story when I was thirteen. Even without speaking English, Man Into Woman felt like a message across time, a mirror of survival and courage. Her bravery, living authentically in a world that often prohibits it, resonated deeply.

What do you hope audiences feel watching LILI/DARWIN?

I want people to feel seen, and stirred. Not polished, but raw, honest, intimate. I hope audiences leave curious, tender, holding space for their own becoming. For anyone questioning their identity, I want them to feel validated: becoming who you are is powerful.

Tell us about Cahoots, the café and cultural hub you’re launching.

Cahoots is a café, bar, and cultural hub launching this summer in Manhattan’s Lower East Side. Co-founded with my best friend Daniel Frehner, it’s envisioned as a warm, unpretentious space for art, conversation, and community, where on some nights I might even perform. A living room for the city’s creative pulse.

What’s next for you after LILI/DARWIN? What do you dream of exploring next?

Looking to the rest of 2025, LILI/DARWIN continues into the fall, Cahoots opens its doors, and I’ll keep writing and producing through Madalena Productions. I’m also developing projects, like a Carnaval-set psychological thriller, that blend horror, myth, and transformation, and adapting a favorite Brazilian theater piece for a global audience.

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Journalist: D.R.

Courtesy of Conscious Hollywood PR

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