Profiles of Pride: June 10th! 🏳️🌈Abigail Thorn🏳️🌈
Abigail Thorn (born 24 April 1993) is a British YouTuber, actress, and playwright, best known for producing the YouTube channel Philosophy Tube.
Philosophy Tube began in 2013, when Thorn sought to provide free lessons in philosophy in the wake of the 2012 increase in British tuition fees. In 2018, her videos became more theatrical, beginning to incorporate dramatic studio sets, lighting, costuming and makeup. The channel has been positively received by critics, and has over one million subscribers.
In 2019, Thorn hosted a livestream on Twitch in which she read plays from the Complete Works of Shakespeare for the mental health charity Samaritans. The stream lasted five days, featured a number of guests, and raised over £100,000 for Samaritans. In September and October 2022, The Prince—a play written by and starring Thorn—ran Off West End. The transgender-themed work is based on characters in Shakespeare's Henry IV, Part 1 becoming self-aware.
Thorn publicly came out as a transgender woman in January 2021, with the video Coming Out As Trans – A Little Public Statement and the more theatrical Identity: A Trans Coming Out Story.
In 2022, Thorn was awarded an Off West End Theatre Award ("Offie") in the "OneOff" category. The awarding body credited her as "a pioneer for trans rights" across her YouTube work, Shakespeare charity livestream, and role in The Prince.
Thorn was nominated in the category Online Influencer for a 2021 British LGBT Award. Thorn declined the nomination citing moral and political disagreements with the award's sponsors.
Thorn wrote and was the acting lead in the Off West End play, The Prince, at the Southwark Playhouse. The show features characters becoming self-aware and trying to escape from Shakespeare's oeuvre, centering around Henry IV, Part 1 and Hamlet. Natasha Rickman served as director. The eight-person cast was majority-trans. Previews began on 15 September 2022 and the performance run was from 19 September 2022 to 8 October 2022. In February 2023, a filmed performance of the play was released on Nebula.
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