In a recent article in TheatreForum, Cornell University Department of PhD student Joshua Bastian Cole discusses trans representation, trans casting, and explains the casting choices he made for his play Two Truths and Allie at Cornell in spring 2017.
"I knew from the start that I wanted to cast a trans man and a cis man in the lead roles, both of which are trans characters. Due to damaging cis performances and a dearth of acting opportunities for trans actors, there should be more of a push for generally casting trans actors in trans roles. Yet, I believe there is room for strategic and useful dynamics when mixing casting.
With Two Truths and Allie, I reversed Hollywood's trans casting traditions, as I will later explain, and challenged the objectifying, fetishistic gaze placed on trans characters by repositioning the audience's gaze onto a cis body. The two main characters are meant to be doubles: an original and an identical duplicate. These doubles, Bobby and Jason, are both post-transition trans men—they are different versions of their own trans masculine identity. Breaking from trans narrative tradition, the audience never meets a pre-transition version of this character, and instead explores variations of masculinity within a self. Casting identical trans men characters with a cis and a trans actor blurs expectations of bodily alignment with masculinity and maleness."
Read the entire article in TheatreForum.
