“We’ve Always Been Here” – The Need for LGBTQIA+ History in Theater

It goes back to the days of Vsevolod Meyerhold – theater has a social responsibility; that is to say, the theater has the responsibility to raise the voices and tell the stories of all kind of person and all community. Theater is the most magical form of storytelling, and the possibilities for telling these stories are endless. I just had the wonderful opportunity to see The Anthropologists’ No pants in Tucson (a work designed by and for the queer and feminist community), I started to think how much the theater world needs more of this kind of work, this queer-centric and queer-based work. It’s the kind of work whose main objective is to tell the stories of a community that is still struggling to be heard. I saw the most beautiful representation of trans people and queer people on stage, and it was so refreshing and reassuring to see how it is possible to tell stories that we have never heard but should hear . After learning that every thumbnail of this particular piece is based on true stories, I realized that there were probably thousands of other stories that had never been reviewed and were just waiting to be read. to be told on stage.
Queer and trans people have still been here. Their stories, unfortunately, have mostly gone unnoticed. But through collaborative work, rigorous dramaturgy and a desire for transparency, these stories can come to life on stage, and the resulting triumphs are endless. Not only could audiences feel safe, heard, and seen, but trans and queer theater makers could finally begin to take more of the space they deserve.
In the same vein as Shakespeare writing his history plays and having them acted out, the queer community can and should write about their history and have them acted out. Sure, we have plenty of well-known and lesser-known works of theater focused on the queer experience that span decades into the 20th century, but the surface has barely been scratched with what has been produced. We know the works of the 20th and 21st centuries as Indecent, children’s timeWhere In the next room, but we don’t know the actual 19th century experiences (under laws set by the government) that preceded these stories. Shouldn’t we be more familiar with these? Shouldn’t those who tell stories know the roots of the communities they are creating for?
The answer is absolutely. The story makes for a pretty good story, so let’s make an effort to get to know it and share it.