WERK! REALNESS: The House of Providence

WERK! REALNESS: The House of Providence is a powerful docufilm directed by larryjean powell that traces the journey of a groundbreaking work blending the Ballroom Scene with conservatory theatre training. This film is the first installment in a three-part documentary series titled werk.shop.realness, tracing the birth, struggle, and realization of their piece REALNESS. Through a raw, personal conversation with the creator—interwoven with two electrifying live performances—the film explores the origins and spirit of a story rooted in authenticity, resilience, and Black queer brilliance. Filmed in front of live audiences made up of both Ballroom and Conservatory communities—on World AIDS Day (December 1, 2022) in New York City, and at the start of LA Black Pride Week (July 1, 2024) at Television City—these moments ground the work in the very worlds that shaped it. With development starting in 2014, before POSE and LEGENDARY brought Ballroom to the mainstream, the piece draws on larryjean’s lived experience in the early 2000s as a Los Angeles Chapter member of The Legendary House of Ultra-Omni while training at Carnegie Mellon University’s prestigious School of Drama. REALNESS honors those spaces and the questions that rose between them through the story of a young artist named Ramsey searching for a home—battling to keep his spot in The Conservatory by day, and win grand prize in Ballroom by night. The result is a soul-stirring work that asks the question: what is “realness,” really?