At times, people trying to be allies with non-binary people “mess up” – but as long as they learn from these mistakes, they should be given some slack, explained a Richmond actor.
Shel Wyminga is exploring the complicated issue of gender identity in a one-person play that launched this week at a Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»theatre.
The Pink Unicorn, put on by Far From the Tree Productions, is the story of a mother whose high-school-aged child is non-binary.
Dealing with her child’s gender identity isn’t a straightforward journey for the protagonist, and some of her comments are “cringy,” explained Wyminga, especially when she “dead names” her child, that is, uses the birth name as opposed to the teen’s chosen name.
However, theatre is supposed to make people feel uncomfortable, Wyminga added.
“It should make us think and have conversations,” Wyminga said. “As along as we’re talking afterwards, we’re doing something positive.”
While the original play had the mother in the main role, it has been tweaked so that the non-binary child finds their mother’s journals and reads from them.
The main character, Trisha Lee, is a Christian single mother in a small Texas town, who finds herself at the centre of a controversy when her non-binary child wants to form a gay-straight alliance at the local high school.
While Trisha has some discomfort herself around her child’s gender identity, in an attempt to support and defend her child, she ends up facing off with the school’s principal, her family, her pastor, half the town and many detractors on the Internet.
The play was written in 2013 and is set in Texas, but Wyminga said the material feels as fresh as ever.
“Some of this should feel dated, but it doesn’t,” Wyminga said.
They think the play will resonate with people who want to be allies with non-binary or other LGBTQ people, but might do it “imperfectly.”
When those who want to be allies “mess up” and say the wrong thing or ask the wrong questions about gender identity, this shouldn’t mean they should fear being cancelled, Wyminga said.
“(Trisha) is very human,” Wyminga said. “She says things that we all think now and then.”
When people are trying to be an ally, “we can’t expect them to do it perfectly right away,” Wyminga said.
In fact, it’s okay to mess up as long as people learn when they make mistakes, they added.
Wyminga, who lives in an artist’s residence in Capstan, said they expect some backlash from the play. But they’re unsure whether it will come from the LGBGTQ community or from those who oppose non-binary gender identities.
Wyminga and their sister Joelle are the co-founders of Far From the Tree Productions, an indie theatre company. The mandate of the production company is to create “honest, intimate theatre” exploring the complexity of human relationships, “particularly those bonds within family whether defined by blood, choice or circumstance.”
The Pink Unicorn runs until July 29 at Pacific Theatre, 1440 West 12 Ave. in Vancouver.
