Digital Program
Cast & Crew
Playwright's Note
Early in my transition I volunteered at SMYRC, a queer youth center similar to the one depicted here. After a time, I became a facilitator for the Gender Crash group. The young people I met there struck me as being light years ahead of where I was in their conceptions of, and interactions with, gender. Many were also experiencing daily discrimination at school and rejection at home. It’s always mysterious to me how a period of my life like that shows up in a script like this. I see my own story in different ways in all four of the characters depicted here, and I never knew any of the youth at the center well enough to translate what I’d learned about them into stories like the ones in the show. That said, I’d like to think the atmosphere or spirit of the place from that time would be familiar to a person who knew it.
Trans kids are, unfortunately, “in the news” quite a lot these days – or, more accurately, a full- scale attempt to legislate them out of existence is. When I think about that too much, it drives me to despair. What gives me solace are memories like the ones I have of the youth from Gender Crash, who, similar to the characters you’ll meet here, had to, out of necessity, become resilient enough to withstand the transphobia and hate of people who mistreated them simply for being themselves.
Mikki Gillette, September, 2023
Special Thanks
Ronni Lacroute
