HowlRound Theatre Commons: Transgender people are sort of having a moment right now. Many of us are finally feeling confident enough to assert ourselves in public spaces. Our representation has never been better in TV and film. (I’m not saying it’s good, but it’s never been better.) And I’ve noticed a small but mighty community of transgender and non-binary theatremakers grow over the past year, both online and especially in my home community of Boston, Massachusetts.
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I’m always excited to see more inclusive work being preformed and supported, it is so imperative that it gets done in such a thoughtful way. I’m also additionally excited by this since Boston is so close to my hometown. I also thought that the author had a great tone in addressing some of the problems she saw with the cis-women production of the show. I think the entire conversation in the article was done in a way that was simple enough to understand and proved a willingness to educate about the process of selection and its importance in adhering to it. I know that I myself love seeing this work done and seeing representation on stage, however I’m not the best at always using inclusive language or being aware and sensitive to the experience of these groups so I’ll always jump at the chance to be better educated on the topic.
I was in a play-reading class last summer and this was one of the shows that we read. Something we discussed in that class was if the show would still be as impactful if it was just women. And we all came to the same conclusion that this article did. That having this show as only cis women completely defeats the points of the story that Jacklyn Backhaus is trying to tell. I think the ideas and issues that Backhaus is presenting in this show are very important for an audience to see. Casting a show with exclusively women, trans people and non-binary people presents a new kind of show that has not been seen before or at least not very often. Some of the other articles that I have been reading have mentioned that the primary theatre audience these days is older white people. I think shows like this are more important than ever because the primary theatre audience these days are the exact group of people who need a show as diverse as this. Something I feel is missing from modern theatre is shows with non-binary characters. There are so many non-binary actors out there, but more often than not they are playing either men or women. Non-binary actors are starting to be more represented in live theatre, but something I still find is lacking is non-binary characters.
I had no idea that this show existed and think everyone should. Personally, growing up in Arizona, I am very familiar with the history behind this play, the Grand Canyon Expedition, and I think it would be awesome to see it told by people from all across the gender spectrum and people of colour. I think plays like this are absolutely amazing, and I definitely completely agree with the author of the article that including one homogeneous group of non-cis white men, for example, all cis women, is still not the goal of the show and does not have the same impact as casting an array of identities across the board. I think especially now, where representation is a huge issue and people are starting to pay attention to diversity in both writing ans casting, I want to see more and more shows like this one being produced in the theatre world.
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