NY/CHI: Upcoming Trainings
If you’re affiliated with either ART New York or the League of Chicago Theatres, I’ve got two very similar workshops coming up on creating theatre with, for, and/or about queer and trans people:
Making Gender-Based Theatre (ART NY): Tue, Mar 29 from 2pm-3:30pm ET @ virtual
Making Gender Inclusive Theatre (LOTC): Tue, Apr 12 from 6pm-7:30pm CT @ Black Ensemble Theatre
For either event, you should RSVP to your respective organization.
Hope to see some of you there!
OTHER WORLD at Delaware Theatre Company
I’ve been working with this team for almost a year now, through casting and rewrites. And I’m super excited that the show is finally coming to fruition.
OTHER WORLD is a fun, fluffy musical about gamers - and the team has known from the beginning that they wanted the cast to reflect the real-life gaming community. That means trans folks, disabled folks, older folks, folks of lots of different racial/ethnic backgrounds, and so on. And they brought on THREE diversity consultants (shout out to Tavia Rivée and Angela Johnson!), which was something I’d never encountered before and was very, very cool.
The show opens at Delaware Theatre Company on February 23 and runs until March 20. If you happen to be in the Philadelphia area, give it a look! You can find more info on the show page here.
AEA Member Training
If you’re a member of Actors’ Equity Association, I’ve got another of my regular trainings coming up on December 6 at 3pm ET. Check your email or reach out to diversity@actorsequity.org for more info!
ORLANDO at Royal Manitoba Theatre
In a couple of weeks I’ll be off to Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre in Winnipeg to sit in a rehearsal room for the first time in nearly two years. It’s for a production of ORLANDO, a 1998 Sarah Ruhl adaptation of a 1928 book by Virginia Woolf. It’s a beautiful story of a poet who transcends both time and gender(!), spanning over 400 years of British history.
RMTC has been amazing, building a team of FOUR gender consultants. And I’m in love with this script. I have a personal connection to it, as well: it’s written in the style of story theatre, which originated at Piven Theatre Workshop in Evanston. Sarah Ruhl grew up training at Piven; I grew up a couple miles away; the show premiered at Piven (starring Polly Noonan); and just over a decade later, I worked at Piven myself, stage managing a full season that included a Sarah Ruhl piece (also starring Polly Noonan) and learning about story theatre myself. It’s all coming full circle.
If you happen to be up near Winnipeg, the show runs November 24 - December 18; you can find more information on the RMTC website.
A Video Game Character!
I’m so excited to finally be able to talk about this! I’ve been working with the folks at Ubisoft to develop and cast a new, openly trans character for their game Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege. Her name is Osa, she’s voiced by a trans actress, and she’s a total badass.
You can read more about her on the Rainbow Six website or on their Instagram reveal post.
Intensive Starts Tuesday
Somehow a month has gone by since this was announced, and it’s now five days away. But I’m excited for the six-part deep dive training (‘Gender Inclusivity for Theatre Intensive’) to begin! If any last-minute signups are interested, it’s 90 minutes weekly on Tuesdays at 7pm EDT, and we’ll be covering the following topics:
Week 1 (4/27) - Language, Play Selection, & Building an Artistic Team
Week 2 (5/4) - Casting
Week 3 (5/11) - Rehearsals & Performances
Week 4 (5/18) - Intimacy (Physical & Emotional)
Week 5 (5/25) - Audience & Education
Week 6 (6/1) - Marketing, PR, & Press
More information and a registration link are available on A3’s website.
Period Piece Talkback
Following the first online performance of Period Piece, I participated in a talkback discussing period poverty with Mama Doctor Jones and Dana Marlowe, founder of the nonprofit I Support the Girls (don’t worry, they support more than girls, and yes we’ve talked about that name!). It’s available to watch on YouTube here.
Period Piece Announced
I’ve been working on this exciting show for some time and can finally talk about it now that the announcement was released today!
The show is Period Piece, a three-part series of monologues about menstruation. The 36 pieces include a significant number of trans and non-binary artists, including playwrights Quinn Fontaine, Jaime Jarrett, Ruth Tang, Else Went, and Kit Yan, and performers Carmen Carrera, Quinn Fontaine, Scott Turner Schofield, and Futaba Shioda.
Among the news stories reporting the announcement was ‘Dozens of Playwrights, Actors Join ‘Period Piece’ Monologues’ on ABC News; more information and tickets are available on the show’s official website at periodpieceplay.com.
The three unique one-night-only streaming performances will happen at 8:00pm EDT on April 12, April 19, and April 26.
New Theatre Intensive!
It all begins with an idea.
I’ve now done several iterations of my Gender Inclusive Casting workshop, most recently through A3 Approach (A3 is my agency). After this last one I got talking with the folks at A3 who hosted the workshop, and we decided to explore something I’ve had requested many times but never actually done before: a long-term intensive course on making gender inclusive theatre.
I’m super excited to develop this and share it with a limited-size group. It will be 90 minutes per night (7:00pm-8:30pm EDT), spread over six successive Tuesdays. The dates and topics are set to be:
Week 1 (4/27) - Language, Play Selection, & Building an Artistic Team
Week 2 (5/4) - Casting
Week 3 (5/11) - Rehearsals & Performances
Week 4 (5/18) - Intimacy (Physical & Emotional)
Week 5 (5/25) - Audience & Education
Week 6 (6/1) - Marketing, PR, & Press
More information and a registration link are available on A3’s website.
Casting Workshop at ART New York
It all begins with an idea.
For those who work with nonprofit theatres in New York that are a member of ART, I’ll be doing a gender-inclusive casting workshop from 2-3:30pm EST on Tuesday, March 23 over Zoom. We’ll be focusing on writing character descriptions, knowing who to call, audition room setup, communications, and more. Visit art-newyork.org/workshops and click on ‘Body Autonomy’ to sign up.
AEA Member Training
It all begins with an idea.
For members of Actors’ Equity Association, my next biannual member training in gender inclusivity for theatre will be happening on March 18 from 3-5pm EST. Members should get the information in their email; if you don’t, please either let me know through my contact form or reach out to the AEA diversity office directly at diversity@actorsequity.org.