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bosspigeon · 4 years ago

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Carabosse et la Fee des Lilas

Prompt: 💋Drag

Pairing: Adam/Male Detective, Bonus Found Family Vibes~

Words: 5,346

Summary: Tina spends some quality time with Arlo and Unit Bravo as they prepare for Wayhaven's first real Pride festival, Tina torments her best friend and his maybe-boyfriend (as is her god-given right), and Arlo has a big think about his favorite role and what that role allowed him to explore~

CW for references to transmisogyny and implications of past trans/homophobia

Sometimes, Tina wonders if Arlo missed his true calling. His hands are surgeon-steady as he pencils delicate patterns onto Felix’s cheeks, outlining with white eyeliner in preparation to fill them in with bold colors and glitter. Tina almost can’t wait for her turn, even though Felix looks like he’s in real, physical pain with the effort of holding as still as possible. She’s no stranger to that struggle herself.

Neither is she a stranger to Arlo’s forceful, if toothless, threats, overcome as she is by fondness when he growls that he's going to draw a mustache on Felix’s face with permanent marker if he doesn’t stop bloody bouncing.

It’s pretty fun to watch from the outside. Sure, when you first sit down when he’s like this—all sharp and snappish and “stop moving or I’ll chuck you out the window”—it’s hard to keep still, but Arlo’s got this sort of quiet intensity to him when he’s focusing on something that’s oddly meditative. He’s just a soothing presence, really. Like a capybara or something. He’s friend-shaped.

Whatever weird magic it is, it’s definitely catching, because Felix looks less like he’s about to burst, like he did when Arlo was putting down the foundation, and more like he’s enjoying the attention. Tina’s not sure how long it’s going to last, seeing as Felix has given her a run for her money in the “manic energy” department, and he’s nowhere near as caffeinated as she is at any given time, but for the time being, he’s (mostly) still and quiet.

There’s music playing, quiet enough that the broody one (she knows his name, but it seems to bug him when she calls him "the broody one," which is funny, so—) only grumbled about it for a few minutes when Arlo turned it on, and even seems to enjoy sitting close enough to Arlo’s stupidly fancy stereo system to, she guesses, feel the rumble of the bass through the floor. Vampires are weird.

Anyway, it’s Arlo’s usual sad goth boy nonsense, but as quiet as it is, and with its intense instrumentals and rumbling vocals, it’s pleasant background noise more than anything.

Nate (the handsome and charming one, because of course all Arlo’s vampire friends are handsome, so she has to differentiate between them somehow) is rifling through Arlo’s bookshelf like it’s his job, and visibly struggling to pick something to read, because Arlo’s sitting room bookshelf (the one she found at a yard sale three hours away and lashed to the top of her sedan with every single bungee cord she could find at the local hardware store because it was coffin-shaped, for god's sake) is where he keeps all his weirdo occult stuff to, quote, “make people who pop by unannounced leave faster.”

And then there’s the big, handsome, stupidly fit blonde Arlo still won’t call his boyfriend, even though they’re so obvious it’s sickening, and she means that with all the love in her heart. He’s sitting in the armchair by the bookshelf, positioned so he can look like he’s reading one of Arlo’s old music magazines and totally isn’t taking advantage of the perfect line of sight of Arlo perched on the end of his coffee table so he’s not too tall to work on Felix, sitting in a chair from the kitchen. Tina sure hopes he doesn’t think he’s subtle, being a super special vampire secret agent and all.

He seems to notice her eyeing him, at least, and keeps his attention pinned firmly on the magazine, though he is definitely not reading a single word. Nate keeps browsing, the Broody One keeps brooding, Arlo keeps working, and Felix starts to hum. Arlo gives him a sharp look, but it doesn’t seem to be moving his face in any major way, so he just rolls his eyes and keeps tracing pretty patterns onto that unfairly smooth, dark skin. Do vampires do skin care? They probably don’t even need to, and that’s probably one of the reasons people like to villainize them. It always comes down to jealousy, doesn’t it?

She sighs, loudly enough that every eye in the room turns to her, and while she did not expect the sudden attention, she knows she can at least use it to entertain herself. She homes in on Adam, and smiles when she finally looks at the magazine he’s still valiantly pretending to read. There’s a familiar man on the cover, and while she can’t be bothered to remember his name, she grins. “Oh, hey! Arlo, he’s reading the one with the guy who looks like you!”

Arlo doesn’t even look up, but he huffs out a laugh and rolls his eyes again. He’s going to give himself a headache if he keeps that up.

The comment does exactly what she wants it to, which is draw the attention of all the other vampires. Arlo even begrudgingly pulls the pencil away from Felix’s cheek so he can take a look, and he immediately bursts out laughing.

“Arlo!” he exclaims, slapping at Arlo’s knee. “You didn’t tell us you had a twin!”

Nate chuckles (warm and rich and handsome, if a sound can be called handsome) and turns from the shelf to study the magazine curiously himself. Even the Broody One peers over to see, a little smirk curling his permanently-scowling mouth.

“Considering he was born in the sixties, I definitely don’t,” Arlo drawls. “Tina’s been making that joke since we were kids. She’s just happy she’s got an audience who hasn’t heard it twelve times a week since she first saw my old Type O Negative poster.”

“Some jokes just get better with time,” Tina says archly. “Like a fine wine.”

“And some jokes age like milk,” Arlo fires back.

Adam tilts the magazine so he can look for himself, and his dour expression clouds over even more, brows furrowing and mouth twisting. He peers up at Arlo, studying him, then down again.

Got you. “Yeah, you’re right,” Tina says, nodding sagely at him. “Arlo’s much prettier.”

It has exactly the reaction she was hoping for. Arlo drops his eyeliner pencil and makes a strangled noise, glowering at her with his cute freckly cheeks going all red, and Adam, who is a good bit paler than Arlo, goes pink from the crewneck of his just-this-side-of-too-tight tee shirt to his hairline. Tina wants to punch the air as the other vampires snicker at them. Well, except for Nate. Nate’s not a snickerer. He chortles. It’s adorable.

“Speaking of pretty!” Felix crows once they’ve all had a laugh at their fearless leader’s expense. He points to his own face with both hands, dancing in his chair, and Arlo sighs and rolls his eyes again, bending to pick up the dropped pencil. Luckily, the tip isn’t broken, so he can get right back to work, once he’s given the young vampire a moment to get his wiggles out. He settles, sitting on his hands and pursing his lips when Arlo gives him a dry look. He hovers back in with the pencil, and then Felix blurts out, “How’d you get so good at this anyway? Well, I assume you’re good at it. I haven’t seen it yet.”

Arlo doesn’t say anything. He just looks at him, pencil poised, until Felix pinches his mouth shut with a quick little apology. Once Arlo’s satisfied his canvas is actually going to hold still and keep quiet, he gets back to it. “My school was pretty small, especially compared to the bigger-name performing arts schools out there,” he says after a moment of quiet focus, tracing the outline of a heart around one of Felix’s eyes. “Our department didn’t really have a huge budget, and workspace was at a premium too. We didn’t have a lot of time to prepare for performances before someone else had to use the theatre, so we all did our own makeup at once, for the most part. Sometimes we’d help each other out, because we all had our strengths and weaknesses.”

He pulls back the pencil, squinting critically at the heart like it’s not completely perfect. “Demi was the best at laying the groundwork, and at matching colors to our costumes and complexions. Viv was the best at coming up with concepts and making sure we looked like a matching set. Wendi could do insane prosthetics, and was the best at bullying our department head into giving us the money for them. I had the steadiest hands, so I always did the eyes and the details.”

“Was Wendi the one who did your Dracula look?” Tina gasps. “That one was so cool!”

“Dracula?” Felix blurts. Tina doesn’t miss how the others perk up with interest too.

Arlo glares at him, and he shrinks back with a sheepish little grin. “Yeah, we did Dracula, uh… second year, I think? That was when Tilly transferred in and started doing our choreography. She’s the one who got Professor Dacey to let us do less classical stuff and start branching out a bit.” He glances briefly at Tina, staunchly ignoring the way Felix pouts at him for dividing his attention. “And, yeah, Wendi did the prosthetics for that one.”

“She’s got to be magic,” Tina asserts. “She managed to make your sweet, mopey face look so scary.”

Felix and Mason both snicker at that, and Arlo’s mouth goes all lemon-sour pinchy, like it always does when she calls him a sad puppy man, or any variation thereof.

“Take a lap,” Arlo says to Felix. “Don’t touch your face.” He jerks his head at Tina when Felix bolts to his feet and starts zooming around the flat to get out some of his energy. “Your turn, if you’re done being a comedian.”

“I’m never done,” she says with a sunny smile, but she bounces over to take Felix’s place in the chair and closes her eyes serenely so he can start on her makeup.

“And, God, do I know it,” he grumbles under his breath, knowing full well she can hear him, and so can everyone else in the room, too.

“Do you have pictures?” Felix hollers. He’s dipped into Arlo’s studio, and he’s making no secret of rifling through the desk in there, drawers slamming and paper rustling.

Arlo tips his head back so when he sighs, loud and dramatically long-suffering, he’s not blowing his breath right in Tina’s face. She appreciates the gesture. “Bottom right drawer,” he calls back, resignation thick in his voice. Given how long he’s been putting up with Tina—and Felix might just be Tina’s second platonic soulmate (Arlo, of course, being the first)—he already knows that keeping quiet is just prolonging the inevitable. Tina opens her eyes briefly to see Felix come sailing out of the studio with a thick leather-bound album held triumphantly over his head.

“Oh, I haven’t seen that in years!” she coos happily.

Arlo bops her on the forehead pointedly with a sponge covered in foundation, and she closes her eyes obediently.

She hears Arlo’s antique sofa creak as Felix plops down onto it, rifling through the plastic pages. “Aw,” he whines, “no baby pictures?”

“I can’t imagine him ever being a baby,” Mason snorts, and he sounds closer than he was before. Tina knows better than to open her eyes while Arlo’s in the zone, though. He’ll bop her with something less soft than a sponge next time. “I figured he’s just always been a giant.”

Felix laughs, high and chiming. “No wonder Agent Priestley’s always so sour, then,” he says. Tina giggles, and it becomes an inelegant snort when Arlo bops her again on the nose.

“Ask Rebecca if you want to see my baby pictures,” Arlo mutters blandly, and Tina can feel the weight of his attention. “I doubt she has many after age two, and the ones before I’ve barely seen.”

Tina’s not a super-special supernatural secret agent, but she tries with all her might to will someone to change the subject before things get weird. Now’s as good a time as any to learn telepathy.

Felix, heart of her heart, interrupts what’s shaping up to be a real prize winner of an awkward silence with a loud gasp. “Woah!” he exclaims, and pages crinkle as he presumably holds up the book for Arlo to see. “Who’s this? Did you do her makeup too?”

Arlo’s hair rustles as he turns his head away from her, and then the hand on her cheek freezes. Tension radiates through every inch of his body, practically leaching into hers. She cautiously opens one eye, and sees Arlo sitting up impeccably straight, stiff as a board and staring at Felix like a deer in the headlights. He swallows so hard she can see his throat move. “Um,” he says, stilted and strange. “Yeah. I did.”

Tina opens both eyes and squints at the photo album. Oh.

Felix looks at the sudden strain in the way Arlo is sitting, the tightness of his posture, and looks quizzically down at the picture again.

Tina remembers that performance. She remembers Arlo dancing (ha) around the subject when she asked him teasingly if he was going to be playing the prince, who was the lead, was he excited to kiss a pretty girl?

She can’t remember the character’s name, not so many years after the fact, especially since they were all weird classical nonsense, either Latin or French or some mishmash of the two. But she remembers the costume. She remembers waiting with bated breath to see Arlo onstage, to stand and scream and cheer obnoxiously loud in support of her best friend. She shot to her feet the second she saw his obvious silhouette rise from a feather-bedecked black chariot, head and shoulders taller than anyone else onstage. The music swelled, lightning flashed, and then when the spotlight hit him, she was so stunned she plopped right back into her seat with her jaw on the floor.

Arlo’s always been one of those guys that straddled the line between pretty and handsome. Long, lustrous hair and eyelashes she would kill for, cheekbones that could kill, a defined jaw, a proud nose, and intense eyes she could only call sultry—if she hadn’t known him since they were both weird, gawky brats, she’d probably be half in love with him before figuring out she wasn’t his cup of tea. But seeing him onstage was always an adventure. He threw himself into whatever character he played, put his everything into them, from the costume to the makeup to the performance. He just became the character, and in a way that was so very Arlo, all that intensity and focus channeled into an act that completely stole the show, in Tina’s humble and completely unbiased opinion.

Carabosse! That was her name!

Carabosse was no different.

Arlo’s makeup was flawless, ghost-white foundation giving him intense Morticia Addams vibes, contouring that made his cheekbones look absolutely unreal, bold black (or maybe really dark purple?) lipstick and shiny, smoky eyeshadow that made him look ethereal and wicked, with a daggerpoint cat-eye that she spent an hour begging him to teach her after the show. When he turned his head in a sharp, birdlike motion to look down his nose at the dancers playing the King and Queen, she gasped at the way his hair rippled down his back, shiny-black and woven with actual feathers that trailed back from the ornate metal circlet resting on his brow like a bird’s crest. The costume was breathtaking, too, a tightly corseted bodice and a high collar, a dramatically billowing skirt and trailing, feathered sleeves that flared like wings whenever he moved.

And the way he moved! Arlo’s dancing changed with every role, whatever he felt would suit the character. One of her favorites was always his Hans-Peter (she had a soft spot for that one, and had ever since she was little—one of the first Christmas gifts her stepmom had ever given her was little storybook version of The Nutcracker that came with a CD) because his dancing was so stiff and stridently mechanical, he looked like a real toy soldier come to life. But his villains moved with a slinking, predatory prowl she’d only ever seen in monster movies, and never in something like a ballet. His Carabosse was as beautiful as she was terrifying, and it was incredible to watch. She wanted to fling herself at him after the show and babble at him endlessly like she always did, but she spent a solid minute staring at him slack-jawed, until he shifted awkwardly and looked down, and the confident intimidation of the Wicked Fairy sloughed away to reveal Arlo underneath.

He almost melted into the floor with relief when she finally startled to babble.

She puts a hand on his shoulder and squeezes, and he takes a slow, deep breath, offering Felix a strained smile. “Take a closer look, mate,” he says quietly.

Felix does. He looks up and squints at Arlo, and then back down at the photo. Tina has to bite her lip so she doesn’t laugh when he looks over at Adam, still holding the magazine with that metal singer that kind of looks like Arlo on it, and then back at Arlo. His mouth drops open into a little o, and he shoots to his feet and shouts, “No way!”

Mason was allowed his name back briefly, but he goes right back to Broody One when he grimaces at Felix and slinks pettishly back to his corner.

Arlo’s shoulders are practically around his ears, but he tries to keep smiling. “Yeah. Sleeping Beauty. Fourth year. I was the Wicked Fairy.”

“He was amazing,” Tina declares, shoulders back and chin tipped up challengingly. “The costume was insane, but the way he played her was absolutely, ridiculously badass.”

“You look awesome!” Felix blurts, still gawking down at the photo. He flips to the next page, and squeaks happily when he finds more pictures, from different angles, showing off the costume, the way Arlo loomed over the other dancers, the way he commanded the stage. Tina should really find out who took the pictures and send them her thanks, because they really put in the work. “Your makeup, your dress, your hair! How’d you even do that?”

Arlo laughs, and it sounds so utterly relieved, Tina’s heart breaks a little. Arlo’s always been sensitive, and for someone who dresses and holds himself the way he does, he worries more than he lets on what people think of him. Especially people he cares about. She squeezes his shoulder again, and he bites his lip when he glances back at her and smiles hesitantly.

“A lot of wire, and enough hairspray to choke a bloody cow,” he says, twisting around and slinging his long legs over the coffee table so he can face the sofa. “I think we bought every bag of black feathers the craft store had, and then spent an entire weekend painting them with this stupidly expensive embossing powder. We had to get, like, ten pots of the stuff, because the craft store only had pots the size of a quarter.”

“I admire your dedication,” Nate says pleasantly, strolling over to peer over Arlo’s shoulder. They tighten just a bit before relaxing slowly. “That costuming is superb. I’ve seen professional productions that weren’t half so detailed.”

“That would be Viv’s work,” Arlo laughs, looking down at the pictures fondly. “She took whatever cheap garbage the department had for us, raided the nearest clearance fabric rack, and worked her magic. The employees at that little craft store loved and hated us in equal measure.”

Arlo is still tense, but he’s loosening up little by little, and with him Tina does too. The easy camaraderie is soothing, and she knows how much Arlo cares about his vampire friends, so it’s got to be a huge weight off his shoulders to be able to let his guard down around them. He deserves that. He deserves to be able to be himself.

Adam standing up draws Arlo’s attention like nothing else could, and he freezes like a startled rabbit again looking up at the burly blonde vampire as he approaches the sofa. He looks a split second from bolting. Tina sits up straighter and gives Adam her most daring look, squaring her shoulders to make it perfectly clear she's ready to fight the second he opens his mouth. She’ll definitely lose, sure, but she’ll make as much trouble as she can before she goes down.

He reaches out, his hand hesitating before it touches the album’s glossy page, and he looks up at Arlo with a questioning tilt to his brows. Arlo looks like he’s barely breathing, but he nods, and Adam slips one of the pictures from its sleeve. He straightens his spine, shoulders back, holding the photo and studying it carefully. His face is impossible to read, about as expressive as a bloody brick wall. Tina’s vibrating with nervous energy. She’ll fight a vampire, though. She will.

When Adam does finally speak, his voice comes out so softly Tina almost doesn’t hear it over the adrenaline rushing through her. “You look… striking.”

Striking. Oh my god.

She wants to laugh. They’re ridiculous.

“Thanks,” Arlo chokes out, his cheeks and ears going red this time.

Oh my god. Tina covers her mouth with both hands. Arlo glowers at her. It’s a lot less threatening when he’s blushing like that. “I didn’t say anything,” she mumbles against her palms.

“Your face,” he hisses, and she yelps.

“Oh! Shit!” She pulls her hands away, and he grabs her by the chin to check the damage with a click of his tongue.

Tina thought things would get better once Arlo actually kissed the man (and maybe got a leg over, but that’s only her business when she can finally get Arlo to actually talk about if the big, beefy Adonis is as missionary-with-the-lights-off as he looks) but at least they’re not just staring longingly at each other from across the room and then getting all sad about it anymore . Thankfully, Felix seems to be an old hand at clearing up the weird tension between the two of them, chiming in a delighted, “I’ve never seen you look so scary!” as he rifles through all the pictures from the Sleeping Beauty show. “I mean, you’re pretty scary when you go all furry, but also, you sort of just look like a big lanky puppy, because it’s just you, you know? This is someone else! Who is she! She's so cool!”

Arlo sighs and turns around to fix whatever Tina’s ruined with her foundation, and throws himself back into dolling her up. Thankfully, the actual festival’s not for a while yet. She complained about the unnecessarily early start when Arlo suggested the time, but now she’s glad he’s such a persnickety prick about scheduling. “I had a lot of fun with it,” he admits, shrugging his shoulders. “The original script notes said to get, y’know, sort of silly with it, but I wasn’t a big fan of that angle for a character like her. Yeah, I wanted to be campy, but not in the way…” He purses his lips. “Okay, well, Nate probably knows this, but a lot of classical ballets that have a female villains do this thing with them that I hate.” He frowns deeply, patting at Tina’s chin with gentle ferocity. “ An evil female character is supposed to be sort of… sort of a cautionary tale, I guess? Like your typical bitter spinster crone, the old hag, or the wicked stepsisters, things like that. So they’ll specifically cast a male dancer and put them in bright, gaudy facepaint and garish costumes that are supposed to be cartoonish and ugly, that you're supposed to find funny, to show you that this character is bad because she’s indelicate and mannish, and that’s why she’s evil.”

His mouth twists around the words, and he looks up, back at the vampires, leaving Tina a moment to really appreciate that Arlo’s comfortable enough with them to do what he’s only ever really done with her—which is ramble about something he’s passionate about. It’s always fun to watch. He turns back to her, and she just wishes his hands weren’t occupied, because he’s a big hand-talker otherwise. “I got the role because the professor thought it would be funny to stick me in a role like that, being so tall and, y’know,” he gestures vaguely to his faded old band tee and dark jeans, the thick leather cuff around his wrist. Tina doesn’t see what he really means, seeing as he looks cozy and content right now, but she gets what he’s going for. “He was expecting me to be awkward about it. The big, tough guy doing drag as the creepy crone caricature.” He huffs. “I talked with Demi about it, and we decided to say fuck that.” He sits up straighter, tilts up his chin, and looks down his nose at Tina.

She peers up at him, wide-eyed, and suddenly wonders if this is how Demi felt, playing Aurora when Carabosse looked down her nose at her like an insect under her heel.

“I thought Carabosse deserved better,” Arlo says fiercely. “If I was going to be a villain, I was going to be a damned good villain. I was going to tower over all the delicate, dainty little princesses and fairies, and I was going to be fierce. Professor Dacey wanted Aurora, and Candide, and Florine to be the epitome of sweet, delicate femininity, the ideal damsel in any classical show. Carabosse is supposed to be the complete opposite. You’re supposed to root against her, not want to be her. She’s a threat to the idea of womanhood, of the ideal feminine. She’s bold and selfish and she takes what she wants. I leaned into that. I even danced en pointe for parts of it, even though Carabosse isn't supposed to, and between the rehearsals and the actual performance, I thought my feet were gonna fall off, but it was worth it.”

Arlo smiles, and Tina is thrilled by the wickedness of it. She thinks she even sees just a hint of fang. Arlo’s been so careful about showing his teeth, ever since he told her what happened to him, why he disappeared for so long, so it's somehow special for him to feel like he can show her even a hint of what he’s become.

“Professor Dacey was pissed, afterwards, of course,” Arlo laughs, but there’s an edge to it. He seems to shrink. From Arlo to Carabosse to Arlo again. He looks down at his hands as they work on Tina more than at her face. “He didn’t, y’know, say anything he could have gotten fired over, but he did rail about being left out of planning and the budget and all that rot. Got even madder when Demi pointed out we’d spent our own money on the costumes. I think if he was tall enough to look down on me, he would have.” He snorts, a bitter curl to his mouth. Tina thinks of it painted bold, dark purple, thinks of how it would look with those teeth behind it. She wonders if he’d let her do his makeup for the festival. She’s not nearly as good at details as he is, but she’s no slouch either.

“You should have let me put raw fish in his hubcaps,” Tina mutters, just to make Arlo laugh. It works, and she beams at him.

“Would have been a waste of fish,” he mumbles, sucking his teeth. He finally picks up a bright eyeshadow palette and starts waffling over colors. He’s quiet while he deliberates, but after a while, he sighs. “I liked being Carabosse,” he says, like it’s a secret. Like he’s trying very hard not to be ashamed.

“I wish I could have seen it,” Adam says, almost dreamily. Tina could scream. “I— We could have, I mean. All of us. In solidarity.”

“Smooth,” Felix whispers.

“I’m sure it was a phenomenal performance,” Nate adds helpfully. He’s taken the album from Felix to flip through to some of Arlo’s other shows. “The passion you have for your characters shines through in just photos. It’s quite impressive.”

“You should have gone pro,” Tina mutters. “You’d be a household name by now.”

Arlo snorts and bops her with the brush. How many bops is that now? She’s certainly on a roll today. “And who’d keep you in line back here?” he teases.

Tina squints up at him and sticks out her tongue. “Like you’ve ever even tried to keep me in line, you big softie. You love the chaos, just admit it.”

“I’ll admit you to the hospital when you do something stupid and get yourself hurt again, how about that?”

They bicker like children back and forth while Arlo finishes her makeup, a wash of pink, purple, and blue eyeshadow and matching lipstick, overlaid with a lustrous sparkle to her cheekbones and a cute little black heart-shaped beauty mark under one eye. Felix gets a bi flag heart to match her eyeshadow around one eye, and then the rest is a sort of confetti splash of sparkly stars and hearts in every color. Even Nate goes for the bi eyeshadow (Bi-shadow? She should have been saying that this whole time!), making him, Tina, and Felix a matching set, and Mason consents to a very simple pan flag on his cheek. Tina suspects Adam only allows the eyeshadow treatment so he can have Arlo cup his face all tenderly, but she keeps the thought (mostly) to herself. He looks good in pastels, she thinks when she sees the finished blue, pink, and white.

Arlo draws a little heart under his eye too. The heart in Tina's chest almost explodes with warmth.

And then Arlo disappears into the bathroom, leaving the rest of them to entertain themselves while he gets ready on his own. They go through the album some more, and Tina tells them all about her favorite shows, because she went to every single one she could manage, and got Arlo’s school friends to send her videos of the ones she couldn’t. Tina Poname is Arlo Priestley’s number one fan, and that will never change. Not even now that she's got some competition.

When Arlo comes out of the bathroom, they all look up in sync, and he stands there, shifting anxiously from foot to foot under the attention, and lifts his hands in a stilted shrug. “So?” he asks, smiling nervously. He’s changed clothes, too. Tight pants, big boots, a mesh-sleeved black shirt underneath his patch-and-pin-covered denim vest. His wrists jingle with chunky bracelets, and his hair is braided neatly over one shoulder. But his makeup is what really steals the show. That insanely sharp cat-eye, of course, but one eye is done up in blue, pink, and white, and the other in yellow, white, purple, and black. He smiles timidly. “I, uh, I couldn’t really decide on just one,” he says, sticking his gloved hands into the pockets of his vest. “I’m, um, I’m not sure which one’s really right for me yet, I guess?” He shrugs again, and Tina watches delightedly as Adam stands up slowly, his eyes on Arlo with such an awed intensity she wonders if he even remembers there’s other people in the room. Arlo keeps babbling as he approaches, the words tumbling nervously from his black-painted lips. “I sort of like matching with you, Adam, and I know they’re both fine, but I—”

Adam grabs him by the lapels of his jacket, yanks him down to his level, and silences him with a kiss. Tina throws her arms up in the air with an impulsive shriek of “WOO!” that Felix echoes even louder. They high-five over Mason’s head, and he looks like he wants to throw them both out the window. Nate sits by with a pleasant little smile, which only fades when he takes note of the clock.

Adam and Arlo are still kissing, Arlo’s hands cupped around the vampire’s cheeks and Adam clinging to his vest like he'll drown if he lets go. Tina thinks she might see a hint of tongue when Nate loudly clears his throat.

They break apart with an indecent smacking noise, and Tina yelps out a sharp laugh when she sees Arlo’s black lipstick smeared all around Adam’s mouth.

Nate crosses his arms and smiles dryly at them. “Why don’t you two go fix your faces,” he suggests. “The rest of us will make sure the car is packed for the festival.”

“Um, yes. You— We—” Arlo fumbles for a bit, touching his smeared lips, his eyes just a bit dazed. He and Adam look at each other, and then flee for the bathroom together.

Tina’s never been more excited for a festival in her life.

#the wayhaven chronicles #wayhavensummer #pride in wayhaven #tina poname #adam du mortain #a du mortain #felix hauville #f hauville #specialist agent mason #specialist agent m #nate sewell #n sewell #oc: arlo priestley #pidge writes #HELLO I AM FINISHING THIS AT 3:30 AM #I HAVE MY FIRST DAY OF MY NEW JOB TOMORROW #WISH ME LUCK #this turned out WAY longer than i meant it to but god was it fun #i hope you guys like it as much as i liked writing it #arlo playin w gender expression via ballet is my everything #the costume designs for carabosse can be SO GOOD #but some of them are SO BAD #ballet is like that #its very uuuuh traditional wrt its aesthetics and gender roles #and arlo and his friends were all like 'but what if not'#anyway title is v last minute bc *shrug*#tina gets to be the lilac fairy #i did so much reserach into this ballet y'all #the only thing i didnt do was watch the whole thing #tho i DID find it on yt so i could later....

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feministstruggle · 6 years ago

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Remembering the Lesbians in Lesbian/Gay Liberation

Remembering the Lesbians in Lesbian/Gay Liberation By Ann Menasche Under patriarchy, lesbians are not supposed to exist. Women - "normal" women at least - are supposed to need men to be complete, for love, for sex, for economic survival, for family, for legitimacy. In such a world, there is no place for lesbians; if a few manage to exist, they are seen as freaks or pariahs. Not surprising that we rarely appear in history or when we are named at all, we are portrayed as lonely spinsters pining after some man. (Remember the lies told about 19th century poet Emily Dickenson, who had a lifelong passionate relationship with her sister-in-law.) In the mid-to-late 20th century, ideas of traditional womanhood began to be challenged as women as a sex gained increased independence. By the height of the Second Wave of feminism in the late 60s and 70s, lesbians had begun to emerge from the shadows and establish themselves among the leadership of the newly emerged Feminist and Lesbian and Gay Liberation Movements. And as the synergy of Lesbian/Gay Liberation and Radical Feminism freed more women to be able to pursue a lesbian life, a vibrant culture of Lesbian Feminism emerged. That culture produced socially conscious music, poetry, books, publishing houses, newspapers, feminist theatre, coffee houses, and festivals run by and for women that inspired and sustained us and helped fuel the political activism of the time. And in this environment we began to rediscover the lesbians that came before us. We no longer felt so alone. But times have changed again and lesbians are being rendered invisible once more. Even the contributions lesbians made to the Movement for Lesbian and Gay Liberation are being forgotten. Many factors have contributed to this disappearing of lesbians from history, from our public consciousness, and often from ourselves and each other. While lesbians have won some mainstream acceptance through marriage equality, the accumulated losses have begun to be greater than the gains. Hard economic times, a conservative political climate, the growth and increased power of the Christian fundamentalist Right and a growing backlash against feminism have conspired to make lesbian existence harder once more. Independent lesbian culture has been destroyed. Even the lesbian bars that, despite their flaws, provided a place to meet and find community with other lesbians are now gone. In their place is a sense of utter isolation and despair among many lesbians. And there is often no place to turn for support except perhaps online forums. Moreover, though the illusion that we've already won our rights is widespread, the reality is quite different. Lesbians in the United States can still lose their jobs, be disowned by their parents, lose custody of their children, and be raped or murdered for loving other women. Anti-lesbian prejudice is everywhere. One of the most destructive influences on lesbians, which is erasing us from history and undermining the possibility of lesbian existence in the present, is gender identity ideology. As this ideology has become increasingly predominant, overwhelming our lesbian/gay communities and incorporating itself into law and culture, lesbians have felt ourselves surrounded on all sides. We are being pressured and guilt-tripped on the one hand to accept men calling themselves women into our communities and our bedrooms. At the same time, rebellious young girls with same-sex feelings, and lesbian adults are being convinced in growing numbers they are really "men" and are being coerced or swayed into "transitioning." As women’s liberation no longer appears to be a realistic goal, some of this vulnerability to the forces of transgenderism and extreme body modification may be summed up by the phrase “if you can’t beat them, join them.” How else escape the violent heavy hand of misogyny on our bodies and lives but to pass as male? Without question, Lesbians have become extremely marginalized within the modern LGBTQ+ "alphabet soup" - the corporatized stepchild of the Lesbian and Gay Liberation Movement. LGBT centers in the name of trans-inclusion, refuse to provide space for lesbians to even meet together outside of the presence of males. We are not welcome at Pride and even the Dyke March has been taken from us by “lesbians” with male genitalia and their supporters. And as lesbians have been virtually disappeared, so has the role we played in the struggles that came before us been disappeared as well. Our lesbian foremothers are once again gone from the history books, or are posthumously "transitioned," described as "queer," or treated merely as a footnote. But lesbians fueled the Lesbian and Gay Liberation Movement from its start. It would not have happened without us. And it is time to give credit where credit is due. The Stonewall Rebellion on June 28, 1969 was not led by individuals identifying as transgender. Transgenderism barely existed at that time even as a concept. What existed was large numbers of lesbians and gay men, some of whom cross dressed or dressed in drag, but did not thereby deny either their sex or their homosexuality. Drag queens and butch lesbians were among those who found community at the Stonewall Inn in New York, a bar owned and operated by the mafia but one of the few places that same sex couples could dance together. Police raids were commonplace but that historic night as police dragged patrons out of the bar and beat them, one butch lesbian, Storme DeLaverie, decided she had had enough. When a police officer shoved her and called her a "faggot", she punched him in the face. Four officers assaulted her and one hit her on the head with a billy club. Bleeding from the head, and dragged toward the police van, she yelled "Why don't you guys do something?" The rebellion was on and lasted six nights. Lesbian and Gay Liberation was born. Martha Shelley, a lesbian with strong left-wing politics, had passed by the Stonewall on the fateful night but thought she was seeing an anti-war protest. She had no idea that the people throwing rocks at the cops were gay. When she realized what she had missed, she contacted the Daughters of Bilitis and the Mattichine Society and made a proposal for them to jointly sponsor a protest march. On July 27, 1969, 200 lesbians and gays marched in Greenwich Village, in what was to become the world’s first Gay Pride Parade. The organizing committee formed itself into the Gay Liberation Front, a revolutionary group that demanded not assimilation but a complete overhaul of the patriarchal, racist, imperialist system. A new movement was launched, initiated by a lesbian. Almost a decade later in 1978 in San Francisco another lesbian was the central leader in the successful movement to defend Lesbian and Gay Rights then under attack. This was the struggle against the attempt by Christian fundamentalists to pass the Briggs Initiative, a proposition that would have banned gay teachers and all supporters of Lesbian/Gay Rights in the schools. Though everyone knows about Harvey Milk, many giving him credit for the defeat of the Briggs Initiative, it was actually Nancy Elnor, a lesbian-feminist and socialist, someone virtually no one has heard of, who was far more responsible for that victory. I knew Nancy personally and worked together with her in the Bay Area Coalition against the Briggs Initiative. We were on and off again lovers, our personal interaction often stormy, but my admiration for her never waned. Nancy worked long hours, doing amazing grassroots organizing work always accompanied by her German Shepherd "Bianca" and put together a mass movement that brought out tens of thousands into the streets against Briggs. She brought in organized labor and every progressive organization in San Francisco to join the cause, and chaired packed meetings of activists. The Coalition under her leadership, organized a televised debate between Milk and Sally Gearhart on the one side and Briggs and one of his cohorts on the other. A thousand people watched the debate on a big screen in a local high school auditorium. Nancy's in-the-streets movement building done through distributing thousands of flyers, making hundreds of phone calls, and attending dozens of meetings (there was no Internet) set an example for the whole state, helped change the political climate, and put us on the path to victory. Nancy died young but I'll never forget her. As many lesbians celebrate Pride with varying degrees of ambivalence or else consciously ignore the festivities as no longer speaking to us, it is important to remember and celebrate the heroic leadership of our lesbian foremothers who changed history. If we did it once, we can do it again. Read the full article

#BayAreaCoalition #BriggsInitiative #Christianfundamentalists #DaughtersofBilitis #DykeMarch #GayLiberationFront #GayPrideParade #GreenwichVillage #HarveyMilk #Lesbian/GayLiberation #MarthaShelley #MattichineSociety #NancyElnor #radicalfeminism #SallyGearhart #StonewallInn #StonewallRebellion #StormeDeLaverie #transgenderism

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transstudiesarchive · 5 years ago

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“I Want to be Called...” Gender in a Preschool Setting

An Interview with a non-binary preschool teacher working at a child-led gender open preschool.

Tell us about yourself

My name is Charlie Lewis, my pronouns are she/him/hirs, I identify as bi-gender, under the non binary umbrella. I feel like both a man and a woman at the same time in equal parts, more or less. I definitely experience some gender fluidity.

What do you like to do for fun?

I like to make movies, and watch movies, go hiking. I like reading scifi and fantasy, I write poetry, listen to music.

How did you get involved with Tumbleweed [The Preschool Where you work]?

Well I actually just saw a craigslist ad for it while looking for jobs in childcare, while also teaching as a drama teacher. I saw that they had a part time position, so I applied, and interviewed; and it seemed like it was a really good fit. The center and myself have a lot of similar views when it comes to childcare practices and best child-rearing practices because I studied both theatre/film and child development in college as well as some anthropology and sociology, and some political science. So I got hired on as a sub, or a float; I spent the last two years doing that and then started working for them full time a few months ago.

Some of our shared philosophies are that of a whole community in child rearing, so having a good relationship with parents and primary caregivers; as well as child lead, play-based learning philosophies. Rather than forcing children to follow a curriculum or something that the teachers think is important for them to learn, but following interests and allowing them to learn from curiosity and self understanding. This is a big part of why I wanted to work there.

Charlie with hirs students, two of the children in this picture use they/them pronouns. Courtesy of Tumbleweed PH Instagram.

How do you talk to the kids about gender?

Well both myself and the center are very open about gender with kids. I actually started at this job before I was out as non-binary. When I did come out as non binary to both my boss and coworkers, there was mostly just celebration like “hey we see you, it’s great to have you here”. There definitely has been a little bit of a learning curve with using my pronouns, but I feel like everyone has been trying on a regular basis. When it comes to talking to the kids about gender; I kind of noticed a shift where at first they were sort of open about it while not really talking about it directly, but then about six months ago they started focusing more on letting the kids know that if there was a different name or pronouns that they wanted us to use, that we could use those for them. This was because one student in particular wanted to change their name a lot, and was generally gender non conforming. Now it’s just really opened up.

We have a book called “It’s Feels Good to Be Yourself” that I really appreciate. It very clearly, in a way that’s easy for them to understand, lays out what it means to be transgender, cisgender, nonbinary, genderfluid; the idea the that you might change your feelings about gender from one day to the next, and that’s okay; that you can feel different from what people thought you were when you were born, and that’s okay; and that it’s all very valid in that however you feel about your gender is how you feel best. Which I think really falls into the idea of a child lead learning philosophy, because we’re allowing the children to know that what they feel inside is important and that is what reality is, and that it helps shape reality for them. Which is the same way that they, for example, decide what is important to learn, and we give them the tools to then shape their reality to be that.

When I talk to the kids about my own gender, a lot of it is very much letting them know that I’m both a boy and a girl; that they can call me “she” and “he”, and that my name is Charlie. That’s very much reinforced when the other teachers call me by he/him pronouns as well as she/her. The kids see that, and it very much normalizes it for them. I am able to just straightforwardly say “I am a boy and a girl, that’s who I am, you can call me this”. As an adult to kids at this age range, I am really helping them to give words to their reality. It’s really opened up the doors for them to be able to talk about their gender by me modeling for them “this is what I like to be called”,”this is what I feel”,”this is who I am”, “this is how I talk about myself and you can talk about me too”.

Courtesy of Tumbleweed PH Instagram.

How do the kids talk about their gender?

The kids love to talk about their genders! Especially reading the books is a really good gateway for them, I feel like. One of my favorite examples [It Feels Good to be Yourself], we read this book a lot, the kids really want us to read this book. It's got great illustrations. Definitely something I would recommend anyone who has kids, or works with kids to check out. Or even people that aren’t getting this transgender thing, 2 year olds can understand it. So we read this book and at the end of it one of the kids shouts out “I’m a boy!”; and the kid sitting next to them shouted “I’m a they! They! They! They!”. All around the circle, one by one, they all started shouting their pronouns and gender at everyone else. It just shows that they have this clear understanding within themselves of who they are.

At least a third of our kids, now, identify as gender non-conforming, or wanting to use “they” pronouns, or asking occasionally if they can use “they” in addition to other pronouns. I have kids that say “I’m all, I’m everything”, “I’m a boy, girl, and a they”. I have kids who say they’re a boy and a girl. Some kids feel strongly that they’re just one or the other, that they’re a binary gender, or cisgender. They know, they are very clear with how they talk about it. With three and up, with the two-year-olds, it's still a little abstract to them, but the older kids are very very sure of themselves.

And it's really interesting, like I had the other day. I'm always telling the kids, when they misgender through friends, “oh, hey, like this person actually uses “they” and doesn't want to be called “he” anymore”. And I had one of my kids, who identifies as cisgender boy, say when I told him that his friend used they/them instead of he/him, he said, “does they/them mean girl?” And I was like, “well, they could identify as a girl, they might not; but “they” is what they want to be called, It just means them.” It's sort of still this understanding that they're coming to, but it's become very normal for them. They really are able to just say, “hey, like I want to be called ‘they’” or “I want to be called this” right in this very straightforward language about it, they're very clear.

Mx. Lewis with a “she/him” pronoun button.

Do you have any hopes for the future?

I mean, of course I have hopes for the future. I feel like doing this work now is a result of the hope that I have for the future. Obviously, right now in our world, it's really scary to be a trans person. And as much as working in this preschool has felt like this really ideal space for gender. I've also worked a lot with older trans kids and they are a lot more scared. They're not as open about it. They feel it just as strongly. It's just as clear, obviously to them and they're able to express it so eloquently. But they get bullied a lot. They get questioned by adults as well as children. And obviously, with this administration, it's becoming scarier and scarier to be an LGBTQ person, especially if you are also not privileged in other ways, such as being a person of color, or being poor, or being houseless, or being undocumented.0

I also feel like doing this work and like working with trans kids, they have a lot of hope because when they're able to be themselves, they're so much happier. Being able to help create spaces that are safe for that happiness to prosper, for gender euphoria to prosper, as opposed to just dysphoria, as opposed to just feeling like the world will not accept you as you are. Creating spaces where it feels good to be yourself is what's really important. And if we keep doing that, we can keep managing to do that in our communities, for our neighbors, for our children or for our neighbor’s children. Yeah, I have hope. I feel like we can create a space in the future where it is safe to be yourself, because if we can't, then there's not really much else to really feel like we can do if we're not creating spaces that are safe for people out of hope.

What is one thing you want people to know?

Just that people know themselves. Children know themselves, adults know themselves. Nobody's confused. If somebody feels a certain way, they are that way. Just because you think that they might not have a reason to feel a certain way, doesn't mean that they don’t. I mean, that's a big thing with our kids. We're never invalidating their feelings because their feelings are real and their feelings about their gender are real. No matter who you have in your life, if there's somebody who's experiencing feelings that their gender does not match/goes beyond what they were assigned at birth, that believing them is the best thing you can do. About any feelings, just believing someone when they tell you they feel a certain way. Also treating kids with the same degree of respect that you treat adults. They know the way, they know what’s going on, they can very clearly tell you when you ask them. We just need to listen to their voices.

https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/40864913-it-feels-good-to-be-yourself

-F.D.

#trangender #transgenderstudies #Transpreschool #genderstudies #preschool #ece #Itfeelsgoodtobeyourself #interview #transteacher #nonbinary #gender nonconforming #transchildren #transyouth

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nycttophilic-a · 6 years ago

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Grelle Sutcliff~

=BASIC INFO= FULL NAME: Grelle Sutcliff NICKNAME(S)/ALIAS(ES): Red Reaper PRONUNCIATION(S): Gr-elle AGE: over a century old looks to be in mid twenties GENDER: Trans woman SPECIES: grim reaper BIRTH DATE: May 30th SEXUALITY: Pansexual =PERSONALITY= PERSONALITY: Teasing, flirty, trouble making, twisted, bloodthirsty, depressed EMBODYING QUALITY/IDEA: A god of death, one for a lust for blood and a knack for causing trouble. LIKES: Blood, red, drawing, fashion, sewing, singing, makeup, shopping, fighting, her chainsaw, love, romance DISLIKES: Paperwork, uniforms, rules, boring people, weak people, getting in trouble (caught breaking rules more like), getting told “no”, overtime, her work as a reaper, being a man, people who call her a male, transphobic and homophobic people FEARS: Never finding love WEAKNESSES: She has too much of a heart—or at least, she’s too quick to jump into love. She also just does whatever the hell she wants to do. STRENGTHS: is really tough and stubborn with her beliefs, is open to new ideas an experiences, is supportive of anyone and everyone’s sexuality and preferred pronouns despite living in an era where that’s unheard of SPECIAL/SIGNIFICANT BELONGINGS: Grelle adores her custom made death scythe, a red chainsaw. She also commonly wears red, and will most likely be donning the coat of her late mistress, Madam Red. =PHYSICAL AND HEALTH INFO= HEIGHT: 5′9 WEIGHT: 146 BODY TYPE: Slim body with toned muscles hidden under her clothes. She’s quite strong and muscular, just doesn’t seem that way. JEWELRY: Earrings, necklaces, bracelets, whatever she can find or buy in her spare time. She loves to look beautiful. PIERCINGS/TATTOOS: She doesn’t really have piercings, or for long at least. There have been a few times where she pierces her ears, nose, lips, and other areas over time. However, if she leaves the hole open with no ring, it will fill up in a day due to her being a reaper. SCARS/DISTINGUISHING MARKS: She has various scars along her body due to cuts with her own death scythe when she was training with it. She also has lots of freckles on her cheeks and nose, as well as shoulders, but she covers the ones on her face with makeup and the ones on her shoulders with clothes. =RELATIONSHIP INFO= RELATIONSHIP STATUS: Verse dependent PARENTS: Élisa Sutcliff (mother, deceased), Maurice Sutcliff (father, deceased) SIBLING(S): Christine (eldest sister), Sophia (second oldest sister), Rose (third oldest sister) – BEST FRIEND(S): Ronald Knox, Madam Red, verse dependent FRIENDS: William T. Spears (?), verse dependent ACQUAINTANCES: Ciel Phantomhive, Sebastian Michaelis, Undertaker, the Midford family, verse dependent ASSISTANTS: Verse dependent GUARDS: N/A ALLIES: Verse dependent PETS/SPECIAL ANIMALS: Verse dependent – ENEMIES: Ciel Phantomhive, Sebastian Michaelis, Undertaker, herself, her parents, verse dependent MAIN ENEMY(IES): Sebastian Michaelis, verse dependent MOST HATED: her parents, verse dependent =STORY INFO= STORIES THAT THIS CHARACTER APPEARS IN: Black Butler/Kuroshitsuji STATUS: Alive (well...dead, but alive) BACKSTORY: Grelle was born in late 18th century France, way out in the country. Her family lived on a farm, and she was the youngest out of four children and the only boy. As being the only son, she was forced to do all of the hard and draining chores. Her parents didn’t care about her in the slightest and only thought of her as someone to take care of the farm, not as their own child. Her sisters loved her though, and they would play dress up with her and play fun games that most little boys would cringe and complain about. But Grelle (or just Grell at the time) loved it. However, when she grew older, she found that she just didn’t feel...right in her own body. And to make matters worse, she seemed to have developed feelings for some of the boys in the nearby town. Way back then, homosexuality was a crime punishable by death, and being trans was just unheard of. So, Grelle had to keep it a secret from everyone. When her family finally found out, she was kicked out and told to go die somewhere. She stole some of her parents’ money and used it to go to London, as the English always fascinated her and her sisters had begun to teach her how to speak the language. There, she became a murderer and killed happy women who were in a happy relationship, something Grelle would never have. When she was almost caught, she hung herself in the hopes that she will be reborn as a woman. But that never happened. She awoke as a grim reaper, still in her male body, and has been trapped like this ever since. – PLACE OF BIRTH: France PAST LIVING QUARTERS: France, London, Madam Red’s Manor CURRENT AND FUTURE HOMES: Reaper world – NATIVE LANGUAGE(S): French LANGUAGES SPOKEN: French, English, German, some Russian, some Japanese. =TALENTS/OCCUPATION/EDUCATION= OCCUPATION/JOB: Grim Reaper BOSS: Reaper Council TALENTS: An excellent student back in her academy days, and an excellent fighter. She would be a great reaper if she would just do as told. YEARS OF EDUCATION: No formal education, was in the Reaper academy as a grim reaper for eight years LEVEL OF EDUCATION: Graduated the reaper academy =COMBAT= SKILLS/TECHNIQUES: Fights typically with her death scythe, a heavy chainsaw that requires two hands to hold. She’s better with heavy weapons and uses that to her advantage. Her style of fighting is a bit more barbaric as she goes straight for her enemy and will swing relentlessly at them. SPECIAL POWERS: As a grim reaper, she has super strength, speed, agility, and endurance. Also, and this is a headcanon of mine, all grim reapers have a secret and special ability that is unique to them and how/why they died. Grelle died with the hope of changing who she was. As a result, she was born with the ability to manipulate her appearance. However, grim reapers don’t know of this power to prevent an uprising. Grelle knows faintly of her ability to change her appearance, but just assumes all reapers can do that. She doesn’t have many friends to ask about this power to. She also doesn’t know of the extent of this power. WEAPON(S) OF CHOICE: Her customized death scythe, a red chainsaw (of death~~) STRENGTHS: Heightened Speed, agility, strength, and pain tolerance/healing speed. WEAKNESSES: Since her weapon is so heavy, her attacks are a bit slower and leave her vulnerable mid attack. But her reflexes are so fast that it almost doesn’t even matter. =VERSES= ~hσld чσur вrєαth αnd cσunt thє dαчѕ; wє‘rє grαduαtíng ѕσσn~ [High School Verse]—A modern day high school Verse!! Grelle is a popular and outgoing theatre girl who loves drama, on and off stage. Everyone knows her, but no one REALLY knows her. She’s also transgender, but doesn’t talk about it much so most people don’t know.

~í‘vє gσt α вlαnk ѕpαcє вαвч; αnd í‘ll wrítє чσur nαmє~ [Death Note! Verse]—Grelle is a Shinigami in the Death Note universe, so naturally this au is divergent from DN canon. For instance, there is so Ryuk or monsterous Shinigami. Instead, they are all humans that committed suicide and became reapers. I’ll explain in further detail if you’re interested~

~ѕσund σf mч hєαrt; thє вєαt gσєѕ σn αnd σn~ [Band Verse]—Grelle is a human who loves to play the drums and sing—as well as try to find a lover who gets her love for music. But finding a band who’ll accept her weirdness may be harder than she thought.

~í’m α crєαturє whσ‘ѕ up tσ nσ gσσd; í‘ll lσvє чσu líkє α vαmpírє wσuld~ [Vampire Verse]—This verse is very simple and the same for all of the muses that have it: the character is a vampire. This verse is very flexible, so if you have ideas please let me know so we can incorporate it into the thread!! But it’s nothing major, I just love vampires lol

~íf í tσld чσu whαt í wαѕ wσuld чσu turn чσur вαck σn mє?~ [Monster! Verse]—An AU where the world is humans/monster hunters vs. monsters. Grelle is a flamboyant and messy vampire who loves to tease and play with her food before drinking their blood. She doesn’t really care about monster hunters as she is excellent at avoiding them, and so she tends to mind her own business a lot.

~í cαn вє hαppч wíth чσu; вut í cαn‘t вє hαppч íf í‘m dєαd~ [Simulation Verse]—Do you want to ship your muse with one of my four girls? Then this is the verse for you!! That is, if you’re prepared for some REALLY messed up shit and triggers like suicide, abuse, murder, blood, and many others. This verse is not at all for the faint of heart, and it’s best if you don’t really know what you’re in for. If you want to learn a bit more about this verse, you can find it here.

~wє‘vє вєєn ѕpєndíng mσѕt σf σur lívєѕ lívíng ín thє gαngѕtα‘ѕ pαrαdíѕє~ [BSD! Verse]—Taking place in Bungou Stray Dogs, Grelle works for her cousin, Anne, as a Reaper. Grelle goes to different places and takes note on the Abilities in that region. Find more info here.

~tαkє mє thrσugh thє níght; fαll íntσ thє dαrk ѕídє~ [Villain! Verse]—Grelle is a villainess that mostly does mercenary work. Loves killing and making a mess of it all. Her quirk allows her to change her appearance, so you never know if she actually looks like herself—which she doesn’t, all the way—and people also can’t track her down.

like this post if you have read it and agree to it, please.

#Grelle Sutcliff #~🥀I’m super bored (OOC)🥀~

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fagpulp · 8 years ago

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Extensive list of questions

Tagged by - @somethingscarlet13

gender - Nonbinary atm (May be Trans Boy???)

sexuality - pansexual

name - Morty

age - 19

where do you live - Mississippi

still living at home - yes

in a relationship - yes

can you drive - yes

been in a relationship - yes

had sex - yes

given/received oral - no and dont rlly want to

how tall are you - 5′4

weight - Big

body type - stocky?

skin colour - white

race - white

where were you born - MS

finished school - high school only

got a job - Movie theatre

had a job - yes

looking for a job - yes (looking for a better one)

dream career - Storyboarder

want to travel - yeah

last thing you ate - Fish sticks and fries

what are you wearing - cute ass dog boxers

favourite tv show - In The Flesh or Ajin

favourite movie - Zootopia

last place you visited - Town

have kids - no

want kids - fuck no

have pets - yeah

know who your parents are - yes

have siblings - yes

marvel or dc - not big into heroes

favourite villain - u h

favourite hero - u h

what console for gaming do you prefer - Xbox

been out clubbing yet - no

smoke on a regular basis - no

have smoked - yes

done drugs other than weed - no

smoked weed - no

gotten drunk - no

vomited - no

passed out - no

stayed up more than one night - yes

traveled within your own country - yes

travelled overseas - no

best memory - Cant remember shit

worst memory - uuuuuh

lost someone you held dearly - yes

been to a funeral - yes

attending university or college - I did. not anymore

living by yourself - no

opinion on feminism - everyone should be one!

opinion of fedoras - no

my little pony fan - yeah. respect it and used to watch it

anime fan - yes

western comic books fan - yeah

what type of plants do you like the most - Succulents

what age gap are you okay with - Over 18 then the rest is up to them

whats your favourite season - Spring

star sign - Pisces

hurt yourself on purpose - yes

favourite band - Nsp

play an instrument - no

how long have you been on tumblr - idk

how many blogs do you have - 2

watch porn - yes

masturbate - yes

watch kids cartoons - yes

like your name - yes

been in a car crash - yeah

broken a bone - no

been to hospital - yes

had teeth out - yes

had appendix out - no

mental disorders - yes

been diagnosed - yes

had homicidal thoughts - no. more suicidal.

are you a godparent - no

how many siblings if any - 3

favourite drink - Anything caffeinated

favourite restaurant - anywhere we go

cats or dogs - cats

favourite word - goddamn

introvert or extrovert - introvert

opinion on gay rights - Am gay

ever had gay sex - yeah

want to have gay sex - yes

been to a gay bar - no

been forced into sex - no

forced another person into sex - no

been catcalled - no

eye colour - brown

kfc, mcdonalds, burger king, subway, dominos, nandos, or wendys - dominos

had sex to get something - no

been out of the country more than once - no

what kinds of grades do you get - had bad grades

good relationships with classmates - no

least favourite movie - the Boss Baby

nickleback?????? - no

favourite game - JaknDaxter

favourite colour - Pink

bdsm - no

have free tv or pay for tv - free

tattoos - no

want tattoos - yes

give money to charities - if i had money i would

facial hair - no but i want it

cartoon scoobydoo or liveaction scoobydoo - cartoon

opinion on drugs - helps me idk

religion - Atheist

favourite meme - mmm whatcha say

favourite shrek movie - number 2 is the only good shrek movie

many friends or a few best friends - like 4 best friends/ friends

lower class, middle class or upperclass - middle to lower

how would you like to die - Anything quick

ever tried to commit suicide - no but was close

shave - yes

prefer your sexual partner to shave down there or - i dont rlly care

any piercings - used to be on my ears

been on a cruise - no

favourite disney movie - Zootopia or Lilo and stich

gotten drunk by yourself - no

favourite scary movie - the borderlands

failed a class on purpose - sorta

gotten in a physical fight - yeah

gotten in a verbal fight - yeah

run away from home for more than a week - no

are your parents still together - yeah (also no cause my original dad is rlly fuckin dead yo

perfect place to live - a cheap place w others

if you could meet one person from history who would it be - Atticus actor from How To Kill a Mockingbird

favourite starter pokemon type - whichever looks the nicest. so far water

been in a moshpit - no

done something illegal - yes

been to jail - no

bought illicit substances - no

would have a threesome - no

listening to music, if so what - Evelyn,Evelyn

are you in a band - no

any friends in a band - no

go to the gym - no

console games or arcade video games - both r cool

hot or cold - hot

current emotional state - Calm

have scars - yes

if you could be an animal what would it be - dragon

what kind of animal do you think you most relate to - cat

if you could live forever would you - Probably not

is global warming real - yeah

best subject - English

worst personal quality - Will sometimes suddenly go completely blank

if you had one wish what would it be - Great Artist w a good job

if you received 1,000,000 $$ what would you do with it - Donate to a bunch of patreons and buy some good shit

the regular show or adventure time - Adventure time

worst fear - being abandoned (I.dont even have to retype some o these)

favourite sport - Cant get into sport

like to go to the beach - no

prefer to listen or have people listen to you - Both r nice

were you the ‘horse kid’ in primary school - no

most memorable show from your childhood - Ed Edd Eddy

good relationship with your parents - eeeeeeeehhhhhhhhhhhhh

on a diet - no

last book read - man idk

are you a jealous person - Depends

have anything your really proud of - i animated

who do you love - Jasper

had your heart broken - not rlly

broken someone else’s heart - i don’t know

like frozen - no

preferred gender - mmmm have flesh

want to get married - yes

want to settle down eventually or travel your life - Settle down

have nice voice - dont think so

find swearing offensive - no

think tattoos are unprofessional - no

tend to procrastinate a lot - yeah

halloween or christmas - i mean theyre both okay

if you could live in another universe (show/movie/comic/etc) what would it be - ATLA

believe in the supernatural - yes

weed or alcohol - idk

messy or clean - organized chaos

big night out or a cute night in - depends who im with

best joke - jokes that dont even seem like jokes

met a celebrity - no

every prank called someone - yes

have a set of keys - car keys

have a bank account - no

okay with all things gory - sorta

more into the commercial music or undiscovered music - both

met a band - no

good at math - no

tried to pick up someone before - no

had someone try to pick you up before - yes

opinions on other kin - live however u want love u

answered all of this truthfully? - yeah i think

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theatredirectors · 7 years ago

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Julia Sears

Hometown?

Born in San Francisco, grew up in Washington, D.C.

Where are you now?

Brooklyn most of the time, with escapes to Maine and Seattle on occasion.

What's your current project?

I’m currently working on Bullet Catchers, a devised piece that received its premiere last summer. The play centers on the first mixed gender infantry unit in the army from training to deployment. It deals with questions of leadership, cohesion, strength and what it means to be the first of anything.

I am also working on (get ready for the jargon) a promenaded style, immersive, double track Hamlet that will be staged in Seattle’s historic Stimson Green Mansion. Which is to say, two Hamlets at once! Exploring choice, identity, and who we are when our feet are put to the fire.

Why and how did you get into theatre?

I first got serious about theatre when I went to the American Shakespeare Center’s Young Company Theatre Camp around age 14. While I now mostly work on contemporary and devised pieces there is a special place in my heart for Shakespeare. Studying at the ASC I felt, for the first time, the true power of language. The range, and depth that could be reached just with a well placed word. Speaking Shakespeare’s text felt like taking a huge deep breath after being underwater for years. After that there was no real turning back for me. I wanted to breath and I wanted to make. So I kept doing it, until a passion turned into a career.

What is your directing dream project?

My dream project is one that moves the needle towards a more equitable and just society. I don’t know which play or project it will be, I don't know when or how it will happen. But art has the ability to impact culture. Culture can dictate changes in society. I want to be a driving force behind that impact, that change, because it can’t come soon enough.

What kind of theatre excites you?

I am most excited by the unexpected. As a lifer, I have seen and read a lot of plays. I’ve studied narrative and form and can often predict what will happen next in a story (I’m a nightmare to watch TV with). BUT when something is genuinely surprising, when turns and twists come out of the blue but make total sense at the same time, man, is it magical.

What do you want to change about theatre today?

I want to see more variety. There is nothing more dangerous to innovation than a single narrative. The time for “this is the kind of play that works” “this is who comes to the theatre” or “this is the way it’s always been” is over. Lets see more plays by women, more directors of color, more trans people on stage, more stories of immigrants, more differently abled actors, more non-binary playwrights, more queer female characters, more female identifying artistic directors. This is what the younger theatre generation is starving for so lets make it happen.

What is your opinion on getting a directing MFA?

I believe that directing is an apprentice art form and there are many paths to learn from those who’ve come before us. Just like with any tools in the rehearsal room, something that works for you might not work for the next person. So really it's a personal choice for every director.

Who are your theatrical heroes?

Phyllida Lloyd, Harriet Walter, Lynn Nottage, Young Jean Lee, Julie Taymor, Marianne Elliott, Anna D. Shapiro and just so so many more

Any advice for directors just starting out?

1) Your body and your brain are your tools for creation. Take care of them.

2) Get a contract for whatever work you're doing whether you're being paid $50 or $3000

3) See as much as you can. Theatre, visual art, dance, music; art can’t be made in a vacuum.

4) Be a person who makes things happen. No one is waiting in the wings to start your career.

5) Read the news.

And for any female identifying directors

6) Your voice is valued, your voice is needed, work hard and make yourself heard.

Plugs!

www.bulletcatcherstheplay.com

Hamlet @ http://www.thehorseinmotion.org/

www.juliasears.org @juliacsears

#Julia Sears #ask a director #theatre director

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londontheatre · 7 years ago

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Andrew Polec as Strat & Christina Bennington as Raven in BAT OUT OF HELL credit Specular

2017 has been a busy year with our team of reviewers attending and reviewing nearly 800 productions across London, including West End and Off-West End. These are the top picks for the year.

1. Bat Out of Hell The Musical – London Coliseum (21 June) Andrew Polec, as Strat (leader of ‘The Lost’, a collective of young rebels) leads a ridiculously talented cast with flair, energy and intensity. Polec’s vocals are outstanding, his stage presence amazing, and he was conspicuous by his absence whenever off-stage.

2. Everybody’s Talking About Jamie – Apollo Theatre (22 November) Hilarious and hard-hitting in equal measure, this is a great British musical not to be missed. I don’t like this show. I love it.

3. Barber Shop Chronicles – National Theatre, Dorfman (7 June) Filled with laugh-out-loud humour as well as food for thought, this electrifying and magnificent production is theatrical heaven from beginning to end.

4. Henry V – Southwark Cathedral (3 February) I wasn’t prepared for… quite how different and spellbinding this production was from any other Henry V I’ve seen before… Powerful and poignant.

5. Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? – Harold Pinter Theatre (9 March) The narrative unfolds over just one night, and this production is so intense and absorbing I found myself willing both the ‘interval’ of 15 minutes between Act 1 and Act 2 as well as the ‘pause’ of just five minutes between Act 2 and Act 3 to end.

6. The Life – Southwark Playhouse (30 March) The whole cast are well-drilled by veteran director Michael Blakemore, and the show is clearly influenced by more than one well-known musical theatre show […] what a magnificent and sensational production this is.

7. Hamlet – Harold Pinter Theatre (15 June) These sofas, these business suits, these sliding doors. It’s all bound to annoy the purists to high heaven. No matter. This is a surprisingly warm and inviting production, and a welcome addition to the many versions of this timeless play.

31 Hours – The Cast Photo by Lidia Crisafulli

8. 31 Hours – The Bunker Theatre (6 October) An admirable play with compelling performances, this intriguing and informative production doesn’t apportion blame or offer tidy solutions to a persistent problem. The script is poetic when it wants to be, other times flowing between characters so much it requires impeccable timing and pacing, which this cast possesses in abundance.

9. The State of Things – Jack Studio Theatre (13 September) A joyous final number sends the audience out with cheerfulness, even if all the ends aren’t tied up, loosely or otherwise. The script is tasteful and imaginative.

10. Fingering A Minor on the Piano – Soho Theatre (5 April) This is a compelling and passionate show, as much of an education into what’s really going on in the healthcare sector today as it is a fun-filled hour of hysterical anecdotes.

Chris Omaweng

*******

1. Priscilla Queen of the Desert, Bridewell Theatre This story of friendship and hope took two drag queens and a trans woman from Sydney to Alice Springs, in a big pink bus. Along the way, they met new friends, and face rampant homophobia. SEDOS brought every element of the show together beautifully, and to a standard that you would expect to see in the West End. Sold out virtually as soon as it was announced, this was the ‘must-see’ production of the year.

La Cage Aux Folles – Pamela Raith Photography

2. La Cage aux Folles, New Wimbledon Theatre This is was a touring production of a show that demonstrates the importance of family and how much a parent will sacrifice to help their offspring. John Partridge put on the stiletto heels and sequined gowns as Albert/Zaza and delivered a tour de force performance. With wonderful sets, costumes and songs like the iconic “I Am What I Am” this production hit all the right notes.

3. Richard III, Cockpit The amazing Kim Hardy led the cast in the title role of this first-rate production of Shakespeare’s play in fine style. With some extremely realistic battle scenes, the entire production brought the story to life in a really fantastic way. Richard is a role that Kim was born to play and has set the standard for anyone that wants to take on the king in the future

4. Henry V, Southwark Cathedral Another touring production as Antic Disposition visited various cathedrals around the UK this year with their version of this classic Shakespeare play. I caught the production at Southwark Cathedral where, under the watchful eye of the Bard himself. Aside from the highly impressive location, the production itself – set in a World War I field hospital – adds a wonderful poignancy to the show. Rhy Bevan was excellent in the role of Henry and led a superb cast who between them made this a very memorable show.

5. Loot, Park Theatre Back to the swinging sixties with this production of Joe Orton’s farce set around the funeral of an elderly woman. Whilst most assuredly of its time in some of its attitudes, Loot still works very well at holding various parts of society up to a critical light. The cast, set and costumes all worked perfectly to bring the sixties back to North London and overall this was one of the funniest things I’ve seen in a long while.

6. The Clockwork Orange, Park Theatre Another trip back to the sixties with this all-male production of Anthony Burgess’s horrific story of a dystopian future that, at times, has too many links to the present to make comfortable viewing. Stripped back in colour and set, the sho is headed up by Jono Davies absolutely smashing the lead role of Alex. An intense production that is not easy to watch but is totally engaging.

7. Lord Dismiss Us, Above the Stag Theatre Glen Chandler’s play is partially based on genuine experiences at a public school in the sixties and as such is a very well observed study of the English upper classes at a time when the world was about to change. However , instead of focussing on the outside, the play brings us into the school where a violently homophobic new headmaster decides there will be none of that business going on in his school. One of the great elements of the play is that one of the more negative characters from the start of the play turns out ot be the hero of the story. A lovely bit of writing, excellent translated to the stage.

8. Posh, Pleasance Theatre Probably one of the real surprises of the theatrical year for me. Posh was the story of an elite male dining club from one of our red brick universities on a night out. A fairly normal story you might think, but in this production, all of the roles were played by women. Retaining their femininity, the actors really brought out the roles well to the point that their gender was totally unimportant. A brave staging choice that worked extremely well.

9, Boys in the Buff – The Musical, Stockwell Playhouse and Boys in the Buff – The Concert, King’s Head Tackling the subject of body image and how we view ourselves and each other is not an easy thing to do but in these productions – the full one and the cut down version – it is done in a wonderful way. Humour, songs, dance and great writing combined to make the Boys in the Buff shows something well worth seeing. A fine cast, willing to give their all for the show, really entertain and inform and leave everyone feeling just that bit better about themselves.

Out There On Fried Meat Ridge Rd

10. Out There on Fried Meat Ridge Road, White Bear Theatre Back in January, this show showed up at the newly refurbished White Bear Theatre and completely took my breath away. The story of the inhabitants of a run-down motel and the wonderful revelations that come out, with the wonderful twist at the end, set the bar for every show from then on. Following its time the White Bear, the play transferred for a very successful run at the Trafalgar Studios.

Terry Eastham

*******

1. Out There On Fried Meat Ridge Road by Keith Stevenson at Trafalgar Studios Small town America at its side-splittingly smallest.

2. Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare at The National Simon Godwin’s delicious production takes role reversal to the limit.

3. Everyone’s Talking About Jamie by Tom MacRae & Dan Gillespie Sells at The Apollo Theatre Funny and heart-warming – best new musical of the century.

4. We Are The Lions Mr Manager by Neil Gore @ Tara Arts Theatre

Girl From The North Country

5. The Girl From The North Country by Conor McPherson @ The Old Vic (transferring). 6. The End of History by Ian Hollingshead @ Tristram Bates Theatre 7. Happiness by Lily Lowe-Myers @ The Bridewell Theatre 8. Rules For Living by Sam Holcroft @ The Rose Theatre 9. The Comedy About A Bank Robbery by Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer and Henry Shields – The Criterion Theatre. 10. Reasons To Be Cheerful by Paul Sirett @ Theatre Royal, Stratford East

Peter Yates

*******

Amadeus – Royal National Theatre Hedda Gabler – Royal National Theatre Follies – National Theatre Don Juan in Soho – Wyndhams

Paddy Briggs

Martin Freeman (David Lyons), Tamsin Greig (Jean Whittaker). Photo by Johan Persson

The Ferryman – the most superb play/production seen in London for years! Totally gripping throughout its 3 and a quarter hours – yet nothing happened! So Irish!

The Best Man – which I saw at Windsor and which has not yet opened in London: superb, a gripping play about USA presidential election: could have so easily have been trite but beautifully written and directed and co-starring Jack Shepherd as the terminally ill past president. He was superb: charismatic. I hope Bill Kenwright brings this into town in 2018. (Martin Shaw was very good too!)

Labour of Love at Noel Coward Theatre: again superbly written and acted. There have been many first-rate plays this year!

John Groves

*******

Blush at Soho Theatre The Ugly One at Park Theatre La Soiree at Aldwych Theatre

And an extra that I loved but didn’t review was The End of Hope at Soho Theatre

Roz Wyllie

*******

Rent 21st Anniversary UK Tour – this show stole my heart and reignited my love for theatre. Bruce Guthrie directed the production perfectly. It was raw, gritty and truly touching. Choreography by Lee Proud was innovative and interesting and the entire cast were outstanding. It felt like they were living their lives through the character for those 2 and a half hours each night. All cast members poured everything into each performance and everything came together to create magic on stage.

Yank at the Charing Cross Theatre, London – the story was powerful, gripping and relevant. Scott Hunter and Andy Coxon were just superb in their roles, particularly Scott Hunter who shone throughout. Staging and choreography were slick and in keeping with the story. It was also fantastic to see an audience of predominantly men, so many in fact that men were lining up for the toilet.

The Toxic Avenger at The Arts Theatre, London – the show really impressed me with its comic-timing, fantastic use of the stage and the actors were fantastic. Songs were catchy and the plot fitted well together. Certainly different from my usual favourites but I laughed my way through this show.

Amanda Reynolds

*******

Girl From The North Country: This would have been a wonderful straight play with a tremendous book from Conor McPherson but add some of Bob Dylan’s greatest songs and you have a masterpiece. It’s atmospheric and at times mesmerising. I’ve seen it twice at The Old Vic and hope to see it again when it transfers to the Noel Coward next year.

Follies: Follies has always been a difficult musical to stage due to the fact it has no real plot and a downbeat ending but the National have done Sondheim’s Magnus Opus proud. The production is wonderful and the performances from the likes of Imelda Staunton, Janie Dee and Philip Quast sublime.

Romantics Anonymous: This was the most magical piece I’ve seen on the London stage for a long time and is Emma Rice’s swansong before she leaves her post as Artistic Director at the Globe. This was a bit of surprise as being at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, it slipped under my radar. Let’s hope it gets a transfer to the West End as it deserves it.

Alan Fitter

*******

Alice’s Adventures Underground in the Vaults – a kooky, surprising and interactive take on the classic tale. Hedda Gabler by Euphonia Studio at the Drayton Arms – a stark, pared-down, psychologically compelling performance. When Midnight Strikes by MKEC Productions at the Drayton Arms – a funny and moving tale of a special New Year’s Eve.

Genni Trickett

http://ift.tt/2Dv0N4U London Theatre 1

#IFTTT #London Theatre 1

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everydayinferno · 8 years ago

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Gabriel Interview: Lizz Hudman, Director

For one night only, Everyday Inferno Theatre Company presents Gabriel By Francesca Pazniokas Adapted from George Sand (a workshop performance)

What even is gender anyway? In Gabriel, playwright Francesca Pazniokas' updated interpretation of George Sand's classic play, a bright, perceptive teenager feels trapped in the confines of society's unyielding approach to gender. His family wants Gabriel to be one gender, while her lover wants Gabriel to be another. A rarely-produced romantic drama of misgendering, female repression, and discovery of personal identity, Gabriel is primed to speak to our modern world and current political climate.

McAlpin Hall, West Park Center 165 West 86th, NYC May 25th, 8:00pm Free / Suggested donation: $5 Space is limited, reserve your free seats

What made you interested in developing an adaptation of George Sand’s “Gabriel”? I first learned about Gabriel in an undergraduate course taught by Dr. David Powell about gender-bending in French literature and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it. It is a play about a person who was born a woman but was told they were a man and now as a young adult they have to choose which gender they would like to identify with. Their family forced a gender upon them that was different from the one the midwife forced upon them at birth and none of those options seem to align with how Gabriel actually feels about their own gender, mostly due to the fact that most of Gabriel’s upbringing consisted of teaching them that women are terrible and inferior.

Simone de Beauvoir famously said, “One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman.” (which I believe is also a quote that I learned in that class). Additional quote: Amy Poehler says in her book Yes, Please, “It takes years as a woman to unlearn what you have been taught to be sorry for.” What these two quotes have in common is the idea that gender is something that is taught. After discovering the sex of one’s child, one must paint their room a certain color and buy a certain kind of toy for them and sign them up for certain kinds of activities; all these decisions are different based on which gender someone says this child is and almost none of them are rooted in any sort of fact except for “because that’s what you do.”

How do you see the director’s role in the development of an adaptation?When Gabriel was introduced to me in school, I was the only student in the class who was studying theatre at the time. Consequently, I was the only student to consistently point out why this play is impossible to put on a stage. George Sand was a brilliant novelist, but not a very practical playwright. The original text is full of impossibly long monologues, elaborately difficult scene changes, and a dog (named Mosca, who was actually used as a way to move the plot along). Though she tried and tried, this play was never produced in her lifetime because every theatre company rejected it due to its practical restrictions.

My job as a director and this production as a whole would be impossible without our brilliant playwright Francesca Pazniokas who took Sand’s fascinating characters and wrote them in a way that gives me something that is possible to stage.

I guess what I mean is my role as a director on this adaptation is to say, “this is why this story is important, these are the relationships that should be seen on stage, and these are the lessons the audience should learn from it.” Then I have an open discussion with Francesca and the rest of our creative team to figure out how we can make that work.

What questions would you like answered through this workshop? There are so many questions this story brings up: what is gender? Does gender really matter? Is it easier to be a man than a woman? Is the idea of “woman” something that society has made up? Is there really any measurable difference between being a woman or a man? How important is it to have a public identity? Is one’s own gender anyone else’s business? How much of one’s own personal life has to exist as public domain in order to be considered a human being? Is being forced to choose an identity simply a tragic component of becoming an adult? Why is it that becoming an adult can’t fix an unfavorable childhood?

Oh, you want answerable questions? The biggest question I want this workshop to answer is: Can it be possible to retain the beauty of Gabriel’s tragic journey without George Sand? Can this story have more impact on an audience than a reader? I believe that this story can be just as beautiful (maybe even more?) when it is performed live and this workshop exists for me and our team to measure exactly how to accomplish that.

Identity and people's perception of identity is one of the themes that binds the plays in our season. What does identity mean to you? One day in class, Dr. Powell called on me saying, “for example, Lizz, I noticed something interesting you wrote in your last paper.”

I, slightly panicking because I couldn’t remember anything I wrote in my last paper, responded with, “oh yeah?”

Dr. Powell says, “Yes, I noticed you spell your name with two z’s. Can you tell us why you do that?”

I proceed to tell everybody that when I was a child people mostly called me Elizabeth. Sometime in elementary school I decided I wanted to start going by Lizz and the first time I wrote it out on a piece of paper it simply looked better to me with two z’s. I didn’t mean to ruin his teaching moment by revealing the superficial origin story of my name, but I told him it really wasn’t a big deal.

“Ah but it is a big deal!” he says. He pointed out to me that that was the first time in my life that I, as a conscious being capable of rational thought, chose a piece of my personal identity and made it public.

Since then, I have been less shy about correcting people when they innocently spell my name wrong, but I can’t stop thinking about how life is made up of a series of those identity-building moments. For example, studying music and playing an instrument is a fact about one’s own personal identity; labelling oneself as a musician is an act of one choosing to turn that personal fact into a public identity. Believing in the equality of the genders is a fact about one’s own personal identity; labelling oneself as a Feminist is an act of one choosing to turn that personal fact into a public identity. Knowing that one is sexually and/or romantically attracted to more than one gender is a fact about one’s own personal identity; labelling oneself as Bisexual is an act of one choosing to turn that personal fact into a public identity. Feeling as though one is a woman is a fact about one’s own personal identity; labelling oneself as a cis-gendered female is an act of one choosing to turn that personal fact into a public identity.

Perception to me is fascinating because I live on that fence between “this is me loud and proud” and “this is none of your business go away.” But I can’t stop thinking about how every day you end up revealing a part of yourself to someone and then the parts you choose to reveal end up becoming your identity. Does your public identity really define who you are? *cue soundtrack to Disney’s Mulan

What current theatre artists are on your radar? What excites you about their work? I really need to jump on that Spicy Witch Productions train. Last year, their writer-in-residence Annette Storckman wrote an 80s slasher film version of Middleton’s The Revenger’s Tragedy called Bonesetter:A Tragislasher (directed by the always perfect Anaïs Koivisto) and I loved everything about it. I’m not being hyperbolic either; I loved everything about it.

I don’t know if I’ve ever told her this before, but Laura Hirschberg wrote the first Everyday Inferno play I ever saw (Heart of Oak) and I have been such a fan of her work ever since. Shameless plug: you should make plans to see Supertopia for free in the park this summer.

Go see Paula Vogel’s Indecent and Lynn Nottage’s Sweat on Broadway.

What do you wish the theatre had more of? Women.

What is the biggest challenge this piece has posed to you? The biggest challenge has been trying not to turn this into a capital T Transgender man’s story. It would be completely insensitive for me to ignore the parallels between Gabriel’s story and the struggles Transgender persons face, but it would be equally as insensitive for me, as a cis-gendered woman, to claim to know what those struggles are. It is easy for a modern reader to say, “oh so Gabriel is Transgender (or Gender Neutral or Gender Fluid or any of those other beautiful words that exist under the trans umbrella),” but I don’t believe that was Sand’s intention. Gabriel spends their entire life surrounded by people who are actively forcing a label on them and the one thing Gabriel wants is to not choose one. I don’t want to label Gabriel any more than they want to label themself.

There are themes in this play that I think every human being can relate to, but I am trying to take my queer hat off in order to approach it from a women’s studies perspective. I believe George Sand’s original text was meant as a way to illustrate the toxic results of the societal restrictions that exist within this binary gender system.

What about the play are you most excited to share with the public and why? All of it. In the majority of cases, this isn’t a play that anyone has ever heard of before and you can count on one hand how many times it has been produced. There aren’t that many heightened language plays written by women being performed these days, which is why I brought this play to Everyday Inferno, whom I know enjoy both heightened language and women. I want the public to develop an appreciation for historical female playwrights because they did exist, their stories are valid, and they deserve to be heard.

What do you hope the audience will be talking about after the showing?Grey areas. I love pointing out how uncomfortable people get when confronted with a question that doesn’t have a yes or no answer. Not everything fits into the world’s perfectly labeled boxes and I want the audience to talk about that and be ok with it.

What else are you working on/are excited about at the moment? Oh shameless plug time again? Ok well I’m in a band now. I’m the drummer for Crowd the Airwaves. You can google us and we’ll show up. We have a show happening at Arlene’s Grocery on June 7th. Like us on Facebook and stuff for more details.

Oh and check out the SheNYC Summer Theater Festival in July. It’s a festival dedicated to producing full-length plays, musicals, and adaptations written by women. You can find more info on the great shows in the festival this year at SheNYCarts.org and Facebook and things.

Lizz Hudman is a Company Collaborator with Everyday Inferno. Recent directing credits include Doppleganged and Alice Blue as part of If on a Winter's Night..., an all-female adaptation of Measure for Measure with WEBroadway's Women's Work Festival, Noteworthy: A Night of Female Songwriters, and assistant directing Everyday Inferno's The Roaring Girl.

#Gabriel #WhatEvenIsGenderAnyway #WomenInTheatre #EITC2017 #Perception #Identity #EverydayInferno #IndieTheatre #ItTakesAVillage #FreeTheatre #FreeNYC

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