Student Blog: A Place For Us: Celebrating Trans and Non-Binary Artists in Musical Theatre

This past weekend, I watched A Place For Us: Celebrating Trans and Non-Binary Artists in Musical Theatre. This was a theatrical virtual event that did exactly what it says on the tin. And believe me when I tell you it was an absolute joy from start to finish.

Usually, there isn't a huge spotlight on musical theatre writers. I would know, I am one. I regularly find myself going out of my way to search for new writers and familiarize myself with their catalogues. So for me, one of the most thrilling things about this concert was my lack of familiarity with most of the artists involved.

Before I saw this concert, I could count the number of non-cisgender musical theatre writers I knew on one hand. On the writing side of things, mainstream musical theatre isn't always the most diverse. But this concert showed me fourteen pieces, created by a whole host of artists that I now admire. It was so refreshing to see a space like this curated with such joy. It was invigorating, inspiring, and heartwarming to see so many people on screen that I related to and connected with.

As a non-binary musical theatre writer, I always felt that my gender identity didn't have anything to do with my work. That it couldn't. It felt like it was absolutely impossible to summon the vocabulary to write about my experience with gender. Therefore, I never tried to tackle it textually. But after seeing this concert, I felt reinvigorated. It showed me that I could make something pretty special if I threw my heart right into it, and embraced myself.

I won't go through each artist and performance individually. To express my immense appreciation and do each artist justice would take me days, and I have some musical theatre to write. Instead, I will tell you that the event will be hosted on Youtube until Friday. I implore you to watch it. Please. Share it with your friends. Shout it from the rooftops. It's truly one of the most beautiful things I've seen in a long time.

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