opinions about an FtM doing and MtF part?
Jan. 13th, 2006 01:48 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
jjblue.livejournal.com posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
transSo last week I auditioned for The Vagina Monologues. Women's issues are still important to me, and I've wanted to do VMfor the last few years. Plus, it would be a chance to put a different face on female-bodied-ness, as well as showingthe universal experiences that female-bodied people go through. I showed up, read, and got complimented. They had me read Burqua (about covered Muslim women) and part of a group piece.
I came out as trans right away, telling them I am transgendered, in medical gender reassignment, and would they be open to me participating. They readily said yes and I was glad, because San Diego would not have been as welcoming. On my application I said I would do any part as long as it didn't celebrate visible femininity, and the director said fine.
Tuesday night I get a call. I am in, doing They Beat the Girl Out Of _______ and What Does My Vagina Smell Like. I said fine :) , great :) , got the rehearsal schedule.
Next day look up the piece. It is a newer monologue, the transWOMAN monologue, called They Beat the Girl Out Of My Boy. About gender, arbitrariness of gender assignment, violence against transwomen, etc. At its core it is a man who has finally become the woman she has always been inside. COULD THEY HAVE ASSIGNED ME ANYTHING LESS APPROPRIATE????
I was trying to figure this out, and thanks to a friend I found out there was some confusion. Apparently they thought I was MtF. Huh??? That's been cleared up and I'm still in, and still excited to be part of it. But I feel a little bit funny about doing an MtF piece. I just left a message with her so we can talk, most specifically about clothing and voice...how will this fly with me in a suit, because I refuse to wear women's clothing? And by then I'll be another two months on T, and probably sound and look different than I do now.
And while I guess it's no weirder than a biofemale reading the part, it strikes me as odd. I've been looking for a copy of this monologue online to no avail. I guess maybe to the director trans is trans? I think I'm going to have to do some real soul-searching on this one.
I came out as trans right away, telling them I am transgendered, in medical gender reassignment, and would they be open to me participating. They readily said yes and I was glad, because San Diego would not have been as welcoming. On my application I said I would do any part as long as it didn't celebrate visible femininity, and the director said fine.
Tuesday night I get a call. I am in, doing They Beat the Girl Out Of _______ and What Does My Vagina Smell Like. I said fine :) , great :) , got the rehearsal schedule.
Next day look up the piece. It is a newer monologue, the transWOMAN monologue, called They Beat the Girl Out Of My Boy. About gender, arbitrariness of gender assignment, violence against transwomen, etc. At its core it is a man who has finally become the woman she has always been inside. COULD THEY HAVE ASSIGNED ME ANYTHING LESS APPROPRIATE????
I was trying to figure this out, and thanks to a friend I found out there was some confusion. Apparently they thought I was MtF. Huh??? That's been cleared up and I'm still in, and still excited to be part of it. But I feel a little bit funny about doing an MtF piece. I just left a message with her so we can talk, most specifically about clothing and voice...how will this fly with me in a suit, because I refuse to wear women's clothing? And by then I'll be another two months on T, and probably sound and look different than I do now.
And while I guess it's no weirder than a biofemale reading the part, it strikes me as odd. I've been looking for a copy of this monologue online to no avail. I guess maybe to the director trans is trans? I think I'm going to have to do some real soul-searching on this one.