Hi all. Writing blog posts on the internet is a new experience for me, so I will try my best to make this a cool and casual experience for both the reader and myself.
First off, my name is Andrew Lee. I am a senior here at UMW studying geography. I know everyone was expecting communications or theatre from my topic, but really, I am just a theory-ridden senior spending most of his time somewhere between the HCC and Jepson (RIP Monroe). I do, however, have my foot in the door in Theatre, as I was a theatre major for most of my time at UMW and I am on Studio 115’s committee. We’re a fun, student run theatre on the first floor of duPont.
I am so proud of my accomplishments here at UMW that I wanted to expand my work, and dive into this passion project of mine. All theatre students are required to take Theatre History, and in that class is where I learned my passion was still in research and theory. I was introduced to so many cool artforms that I ended up reading tons of books and articles about avant-garde theatre. This is where the project stems from.
Another cool thing about me is I am trans. I started my transition at UMW, and during the time I learned about cool theatre history, I was finally wrapping my head around my own gender, and seeing my gender performed live in front of me. I sadly did not see any trans artists performing in front of me, and it felt lonely for a bit. I searched on academic sites and my own personal social media, and I started to surround myself with trans performing artists.
I am creating and featuring the work of people I adore in the most professional way. In this video essay, with a working title of Funky Men, I tell the story of trans performing artists, how they got to the position they are in, and what their work means to them.
I hope you all enjoy the more technical posts later on, as I am in the rough draft section of my project now.