by For George Strus, the theater was a interests of many of them during their childhood in the north of New Jersey.
First, there was baseball. Then a short stay in the ice skating. “I was really on webkinz for two months,” said the 27-year-old during a telephone interview. This was soon followed by a fixation on Sillybandz, the colorful, animal rubber bracelets.
But a musical that was produced by her local YMCA aroused strus’ attention. SEUSSICAL Das Musical, to be precise, a comedy that on the works of the author Dr. Seuss is based. “I saw the advertisement in the newspaper at the time, so I listened to the show and got on,” they said.
A tiny role in Seussical Catapulted Strus’ love for art form. They started checking cast albums from the library and used their minimum wage job in the high school to pay cheap Broadway tickets. As a young adult, Strus now leads the breaking of the binary Theater (BTB), a new work development linkator especially for artists of transgender, non-binemes and branches+ (TNB2S+).
The BTB community and transness have changed “life-changing”, said Struss, who is trans, is non-bineme and used it. “The community I met by BTB shaped me as a person,” they said. “[It] My personal value system really arrested me and helped me to understand so much more about the world and what freedom can mean if it moves away from inhibitions that society has taken in to them. “
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A culture of cooperation
The BTB Theater, which was founded in July 2022, is a revelation, one of the few theater spaces that are created by gender-specific artists and led by gender-specific artists. BTB employees who help to facilitate many projects are located in New York and in other theater centers in the USA, which are included all year round all year round according to the needs of the organization. The group has no formal theater space that prefers to remain “nimble” in response to the different needs of the community, said Strus. Instead, group members meet practical and work with certain projects. “I really think about how BTB can best serve our community, at a moment when the circumstances change every day so quickly and change so quickly,” they said.
BTB monitors a rotation of initiatives for artists in various roles in the theater industry.
The Theater Hub organizes an annual reading series with works written and presented by TNB2S+ creatives. The series, which is sold out annually, contains a mixture of artists in different careers. Estonishing playwrights often work together with experienced actors and directors. The well -known participants of the program include Le Lee, the first open transformer who is a Tony Award nomination, dramatist and television author Jen Silverman, and the actor Indya Moore, who played in the FX series Pose.
The organization also organizes its free “summer -intensive” for six TNB2S+ Performers, a coveted chance of working with Lee on audition materials, storytelling and dealing with an industry that often makes itself spiking towards transparents. On March 31, BTB produces a Zine for the trans day of visibility every year and commissioned writers to make a contribution.
The group will go to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe at the end of July to August to produce red ink, a one-Woman show by the trans activist and artist Cecilia Gentili. Gentili was suddenly over in February 2024, a “earth shaken [moment] For so many people, ”said Strus. Even after Gentili’s death, strus and other producers wanted to continue producing the show with trans artists who were able to inhibit Gentili’s art.” We found that it was really fertile to hear other people [and] Enter to keep stories and your mind and work alive, ”said Strus.
A posthumy off-broadway production by red ink with the actors Jes Tom, Angelica Ross and Pfeffermint last June collected over $ 35,000 for various organizations, including trans power in diversity. The latest iteration at the Edinburgh Festival will include the performer chiquititata, one of the chosen daughters of Gentili. “[When] I think of people who actually do this work and the legacy of work and the way we wanted were the perfect person, ”said Strus.
Strus’ daily tasks rarely look the same, especially since they juggle as a commercial theater producer. There are design announcements that have to be sent to the press representative of the BTB Theater while preparing for a summer show and a script to give to strus notes. There are also wage and salary statements for BTB artists, offers letters that have to be sent for upcoming projects by e -mail, and readings for participation in the persecution of more TNB2S+ creatives. Strus ‘mother asked about strus’ work-life balance during a recent visit to the city and raised the topic with a slight touch of concern. In response to it, Strus replied that they “don’t really have one”.
“My hobby is also what I work on. I am really blessed that what my bills pays, even what I pay most passionately in the world,” said Strus. “So much of my life revolves around the theater, I wouldn’t have any other.”
For and after gender -specific artists
Strus’ journey with the gender is before the creation of BTB, but the creation of the organization is still its own self -discovery. They began to question their identity for the first time in 2019, and these questions increased during the Covid 19 pandemic.
“When the world closes, I had a lot more time I could think about,” said Strus. “If you take away all the distractions of work and conviviality and only have time to sit with your own thoughts, you really learn a lot about yourself.” Trans blessing was the biggest blessing. “I don’t even know that I have words to explain because I don’t believe that there are words that can summarize the gift it is.” At that time, strus worked as an agent in the A3 Artists Agency A3 Artists, which was no longer existing. By chance, strus began to represent a series of TNB2S+ artists: costume designer Qween Jean, playwright Reid Tang and others. This professional experience turned out to be fundamental and defined “where my understanding of the community really came from”. Even now, said Strus, TNB2S+ Creative and their work were seen as “not profitable”.
“My philosophy was different,” said Strus. “I would like to work with artists in which I am interested and art that excited me. Of course, I think that was the connective tissue. With all these artists, my work excited me and maybe it has something to do with transness, even if I didn’t know at the time. [the fact that] These artists could not find any houses elsewhere, so I was like the agent who was ready to work with them. “
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Months later, strus was hired by the Second Stage Theater in New York City to work as a manager for artistic development. As part of the role, strus visited a mandatory diversity, equity and inclusion training. The moderators presented the group a picture called “Rad of Diversity”. “[The image] The variety in the middle and then for the word were all things you should think about when you try to build a diverse group of people: breed, ethnicity, age, gender, class, for example. “Strus realized that every group represented has made a theater company especially for them, with the exception of TNB2S+ artists [was] No company focuses specifically on trans- and non-binary artists, ”said Strus.
A close friend, dramaturge Sarah Lunnie, was one of the first people with whom strut about their discovery spoke, the fact that there was no theater for gender artists. Lunnie gave them two guidelines: Write a short blurb about the project and tell at least three people. Strus confiscated Lunnie’s advice and told everyone who would listen to, and reached the interests of others who felt exuberant in narrow binary files of the theater. BTB was born eight months later.
Create art in times of right -wing extremism
The creation of art as a TNB2S+ artist is still difficult because the Trump government escalates its attacks against the community. The Republicans have tried to maliciously make gender-specific expansity and to issue the existence of trans- and non-binary people. As a founder of BTB, tries to prepare for potential attacks, especially since the group was only operated only as part of the bidges. But in the meantime, strus noticed that they “find a big consolation in what our community can do for each other and how we can raise each other at that moment”. When it comes to creating art in times of right -wing extremism in times of right -wing extremism, added: “[Trump’s agenda] It’s a reason for me to stop and think about how we can do it the safest, but it’s no reason to end it. “
