RED BANK – Two River Theater is known for giving actors, directors and playwrights visibility and support.
But the non-profit theater company turned its attention to a different group on Sunday: transgender citizens.
A six-person panel, comprised primarily of theater professionals, highlighted a Day of Visibility at the venue, where those who identify with various titles and pronouns sought to bring attention to their successes and issues.
“It is a very interesting time to be transgender in America now,” said Mac Allen, the theater’s marketing associate. “We are trying to do our best to support our transgender community.”
International Transgender Day of Visibility (TDOV) is an annual event that began in 2010 “to raise awareness about transgender people. It is a day to celebrate the lives and contributions of trans people, while also drawing attention to the poverty, discrimination, and violence the community faces,” according to the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD).
It was launched by trans advocate Rachel Crandall, the leader of Transgender Michigan, “in response to the overwhelming majority of media stories about transgender people being focused on violence. She hoped to create a day where people could re-focus on celebrating the lives of transgender people, empowering them to live authentically, while still acknowledging that due to discrimination, not every trans person can or wants to be visible.”
After a networking breakfast in the Two River Theater lobby Sunday, several dozen attendees engaged with the panelists inside the theater where topics ranged from discrimination of actors and others in productions to the recent decision by the Tony Awards not to offer gender-neutral categories.
“Acting is not a gender activity,” said Saawan Tiwari, a costume designer who identifies as they/she. “It is sort of this unfortunate situation.”
Em Hausman, another panelist and veteran New York performer, said too much discrimination still occurs in the theater and outside: “I would like to be able to try out for parts where I am not playing a transgender person.”
But the panelists and hosts said inside theater issues are not the only ones needing attention. JJ Maley, a Tony-winning producer, actor and writer said the public still needs to know that transgender people are like anyone else.
“We are just other people who do the same jobs and a community full of a breadth of knowledge of all fields,“ Maley said. “It is freeing, it is joyous.”
A 2002 Pew Research study of public attitudes found that while 64% of respondents favor protection of transgender rights, 60% believe that a person’s gender identity is assigned at birth, up from 54% just five years ago.“I think if a lot of people had the chance to meet transgender people, I feel that the perception would be different,” said Allen.