This month alone, I've been interviewed by 2 podcasts, 1 live radio station, and joined a video live-streamed panel discussion. Behind the scenes, I'm lending input to more endeavors just over the horizon. To explain all this flurry of off-stage activity, I need to share some important recent events. A grand new role for me, curating a playwrighting competition. Pride Films and Plays brand new "Great Trans* Play Contest", exclusively for trans* playwrights.
I'll have more details on this project shortly. For contest rules and how to submit your work, visit: https://filmfreeway.com/festival/GreatTransPlayContest Chicago Shakespeare Theatre
January 29 thru March 5 Before my starring turn in "I Am My Own Wife" had ended, I was offered a job with of the largest and most reputable theatres in America. The story: yet another play examining a persecuted minority in Nazi Germany, Polish Jews trapped in the infamous Krakow ghetto (think, Schindler's List). A Difficult Good-Bye Its been nearly 4 weeks since this show closed. Tonight just for the heck of it, I started running my lines for Act I, the biggest and longest speeches, to see how far I could get. Turns out, about 99% of my words are still intact What a surprise!
Typically I'm eager to wrap-up a project and move on to the next. Once the exciting discoveries and creativity of rehearsals are long past, and the role has played out in front of various audiences, there seems little left to explore. But not this time. Whether its the significance this part holds in my career, or perhaps its the part itself, I have never felt anything but humble before this work. It always held more than I could possibly encompass. More nuances to tease out, transform into art, and master in performance. An endless bounty for which I must thank the genius of playwright Doug Wright. And perhaps also the real-life Charlotte Von Mahlsdorf herself. who like many trans people, remains a mystery wrapped in a puzzle inside an enigma even long after her death. |