Miami Living: Darwin Del Fabro Returns to the Stage With LILI/DARWIN

The actress, singer, and writer channels her transition, her artistry, and the story of Lili Elbe into a raw, transformative theatrical experience.

Darwin Del Fabro has never been afraid of transformation — on stage, in life, or within herself. The Brazilian-born actress, singer, writer, and producer is stepping back into the spotlight this summer with LILI/DARWIN, an intimate, genre-defying solo play premiering at The Tank in New York City in August 2025. The work intertwines Del Fabro’s own journey with that of Danish painter and transgender pioneer Lili Elbe, whose memoir, Man Into Woman, first found its way into her hands when she was just 13. It’s a story that has lived within her for years, quietly shaping her understanding of identity, belonging, and the cost of becoming.

For Del Fabro, LILI/DARWIN is not simply theater; it’s a reclamation. It marks her first major stage project since her gender transition in 2024, a period of profound personal change and creative rebirth. In the piece, she blends live music, raw confession, and vivid historical storytelling to explore what it truly means to be seen. Abandoning traditional theatrical structures, she moves fluidly between forms — part diary, part memoryscape, part living archive — crafting a work that resists easy categorization.

In conversation, she speaks candidly about art as a form of healing, the freedom of breaking form, and the power of fashion, community, and courage in telling stories that matter — not just for trans and queer audiences, but for anyone who has ever risked everything to live as their fullest self.

LILI/DARWIN is such a deeply personal project for you, blending your own journey with the story of Lili Elbe. How did you first connect to her story, and why did you feel now was the time to tell it?

I first held Lili Elbe’s diary when I was thirteen. I didn’t speak English then, but the title — Man Into Woman — felt like it had leapt across an ocean to find me. For years, her story lived quietly inside me, almost like a secret I wasn’t ready to speak aloud. After my own transition and return to the stage, it felt like the right moment — not just to honor her, but to weave our stories together and share something that felt urgent, honest, and deeply alive.

The piece is described as “genre‑defying.” What artistic risks did you take that you might not have attempted earlier in your career?

Earlier in my career, I often worked within the boundaries of existing forms — traditional musicals, plays with clear arcs, songs that stood on their own. LILI/DARWIN let me break all of that apart. It’s part diary, part confession, part memoryscape. There are moments that feel like theater, others that feel like installation art, and others that are just me — unfiltered. It was terrifying to abandon the safety of structure, but it also freed me to create something that truly lives between categories.

Many talk about art as a form of healing. How did creating and performing LILI/DARWIN contribute to your own sense of healing and visibility after your transition?

Writing and performing this piece has been like stitching myself back together in public. There’s a vulnerability in saying, This is who I was, this is who I am, and this is who I’m still becoming — and then standing under lights and letting strangers witness that evolution. It gave me back my voice after years of feeling like it had been split between who I was expected to be and who I actually was.

In LILI/DARWIN, you explore what it means to be “truly seen.” When in your life have you felt the most seen, either onstage or off?

Oddly, the moments I’ve felt most seen haven’t always been on stage — though theater is my home. It was the first time my nieces looked at me after my surgery and simply said, “Hi, Aunt Darwin.” No hesitation, no negotiation, just recognition. That simple acknowledgment was everything.

Your work often pushes past labels to focus on the human experience. What do you hope audiences take away from LILI/DARWIN?

I hope they leave feeling less afraid of complexity — in themselves, in others, in the world. LILI/DARWIN isn’t a “trans story” or a “historical story.” It’s about longing, love, transformation, and the cost of becoming. If people leave the theater feeling cracked open in some small way, that’s enough.

You’re working with Christian Dior on your stage looks. How does fashion contribute to the storytelling and mood of the piece?

Fashion is its own kind of language. Working with Dior allowed me to shape the visual world of LILI/DARWIN with the same intentionality as the words. Each look isn’t just an outfit — it’s a state of mind, a transformation in motion. It’s the silk that softens a harsh truth, the structure that holds you when memory wavers.

Miami is a city that thrives on cultural fusion. How do you see your work resonating with Miami audiences?

Miami feels like a city in conversation — with its past, its roots, its layers of identity. LILI/DARWIN lives in that same space, where histories overlap and stories fold into one another. I think Miami audiences will connect to that sense of in‑between, of belonging everywhere and nowhere at once.

Miami has a vibrant performing arts scene with a growing presence of queer and trans storytellers. What excites you most about the potential for this kind of work in a city like ours?

There’s a hunger here for voices that haven’t always been heard, and that’s thrilling. I love the idea of LILI/DARWIN being part of a larger wave of queer and trans stories in Miami — stories that aren’t just about survival, but about beauty, humor, risk, and joy.

You’re not only an actress and singer, but also a producer and soon‑to‑be café owner. When you’re not working, what brings you joy or helps you recharge creatively?

Cooking for friends, walking my dogs, wandering into a bookstore, and losing an afternoon — those things ground me. Creating can be so consuming that you forget to live, and I’m learning that living is what fuels the work.

After LILI/DARWIN, what stories or creative projects are calling to you next? 

I’m writing a psychological thriller set during Carnaval in Rio — a very different kind of mask‑removing. But more than that, I want to keep creating spaces, whether onstage, on film, or even in a café, where people can come as they are and maybe leave changed — even just a little.

You can follow along with Darwin Del Fabro’s journey on Instagram @darwindelfrabo and on her website darwindelfabro.com.