Beyond Magenta: Transgender Teens Speak Out - Plot & Excerpts
Soft, sticky flakes slow down traffic and white out the majestic state capitol. Sixteen-year-old Luke (Luke’s real name has been changed, and his image is only partially revealed, at the request of his family) is in rehearsal with an LBGTQ teen theater group called Proud Theater. Every week, teen actors and writers divide up into small groups to explore a chosen topic. They ask one another questions and share personal stories. Then they do improvisations, searching for common threads that could turn personal stories into something theatrical. At the end of the rehearsal, they all come together to present their theater pieces. The theme tonight is transgender youths. On a bare stage with no lighting and three people in the audience, Luke rehearses a poem he wrote. Later in the evening, he will read it before the entire company. They told me No. Said, ‘What are you?’ said, ‘you gotta choose’ said, ‘Pink or blue?’ and I said I’m a real nice color of magenta everyday extremists that made this world just black And white solid stripes of a penitentiary uniform, imprisoned ourselves with nothing but the ideas of who was on top and who was on bottom, bathe yourself afterward, perhaps for the sake of hygiene, they told me, but gently make sure that soap and water doesn’t wash away your definition — red and sore down there from the moment those red curtains opened, exposing me to the cries of “It’s a —”
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