Becoming a Man Act II

Dr. Alex Keuroghlian (any pronouns) is a clinical psychiatrist, educator, and researcher. He is primary course director for the fourth-year elective clerkship “Care for Patients with Diverse Sexual Orientations and Gender Identities,” and the national continuing education conference, “Advancing Excellence in Transgender Health.” His clinical practice and research focus on sexual and gender minority health. He directs two federally funded centers for sexual and gender minority populations, The National LGBT Health Education Center and the Evidence-informed Interventions Center for Coordinating Technical Assistance. Dr. Keuroghlian is an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at HMS, the Public & Community Psychiatry Curriculum Director for the Massachusetts General Hospital/McLean Psychiatry Residency Program, and Director of the Division of Education and Training Programs at The Fenway Institute. Dr. Keuroghlian serves as a Faculty Advisor for the LAHMS student group.

Athena Vaughn (she/her) has been a leading figure in the LGTBQ community for over fifteen years. Driven by her faith and her lived experience as a black, transwoman, Athena is committed to fighting for the rights and dignity of Transgender and Gender Nonbinary people everywhere. Athena began her work in social justice at Boston Glass and AIDS Action. Currently, she is the Trans Health Navigator at Fenway Health Institute, advocating for greater healthcare access for Transgender individuals. She also has worked as the Assistant Director at Transgender Emergency Fund and is a Co-Founder and Executive Director at Trans Resistance MA, a nonprofit dedicated to fighting for the rights of transgender communities in Massachusetts. Athena is passionate about creating safe spaces for other members of the LGBTQ+ community, often doing so by organizing local ballrooms for trans and queer individuals to express their full selves. She is also an ordained minister at the Community Tabernacle of Deliverance in Lynn. Athena thanks her loving grandmother for reconnecting her to her faith, and for guiding, supporting, and pushing her to live on her own terms.

The Reverend Doctor Brandon Thomas Crowley (he/him) is an African-American pastor, preacher, author, and scholar in religion, theology, and queer theory. Since 2009, he has served as the Senior Pastor of the Historic Myrtle Baptist Church in Newton, MA, one of America’s oldest Black congregations founded by formerly enslaved persons at the end of Reconstruction and one of the nation’s few open and affirming historically Black churches. In addition to his pastoral role, Dr. Crowley is a Lecturer in Ministry Studies at Harvard Divinity School in Cambridge, MA. He has taught courses at Boston University, the Episcopal Theological Seminary of the Southwest, the New York Theological Seminary, and the Meadville Lombard Theological Seminary in Chicago, IL. Reverend Crowley earned a PhD in Church and Society and a Master of Sacred Theology with a certificate in social justice from Boston University’s School of Theology. He also earned a Master of Divinity from Harvard Divinity School and a Bachelor of Arts in Religion with a moral cosmopolitan pastoral leadership certificate from Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia.

Cheryl Katon (she/her) serves as the Vice President of Resource Development and Donor Engagement for Fenway Health. Fenway Health is known worldwide for its role in HIV care, treatment, and research. As an LGBTQIA+ centered Federally Qualified Health Center, it is also the largest provider for gender-affirming care in New England. The Fenway Institute is part of Fenway Health and provides leading research and education for LGBTQIA+ health concerns. In this role she is responsible for launching Fenway’s major gifts and comprehensive campaign as well as providing leadership to operational events, institutional giving, and fundraising appeals. She is a proven leader who has employed strategic vision, creativity, and innovation throughout her nearly thirty-year career in nonprofit management and as a board member for several nonprofit organizations.

Dallas Ducar (she/her), a visionary healthcare leader, serves as the Chief Executive Officer of Transhealth, a pioneering organization committed to transforming healthcare. Dallas has helped advise local, regional, and national elected leaders in best practices and policies for gender-affirming healthcare, including advocating for protections for providers, and continues to push the needle of justice forward daily. Dallas finds meaning and passion in her life by spending time hiking with her dogs, exploring the outdoors, and spending time with her loving family and friends.

Dan Rice (he/they) is originally from Birmingham, Alabama where he was a Trans Youth Ambassador for the Alabama Chapter of the Human Rights Campaign, they spoke in legislative hearings and to legislators directly to oppose anti-trans legislation. He recently made his Off-Broadway debut, originating the role of Travis in SCOUTS, and graduated from Baldwin Wallace University’s Music Theatre Program. Dan also runs transgender equity training through their organization TransEq and has published multiple articles about his experience as a trans person in the performing arts.

Dante Gonzalez (he/they) is a theater artist, writer, and performer currently in their final semester at Boston University. He has been working with Fresh Ink to develop his new play Orpheus in the Overworld as a part of their playwright residency and is currently designing costumes for Sunday in the Park with George at Boston University. In their academic work with the Kilachand Honors College, Dante is working on a qualitative research paper about the language of intimacy directors. They’re excited to keep bringing color, queerness, and drama to the stage and screen.

(they/them) A.R.T.: Debut. Off-Broadway: Comedy of Errors, Public Theater Mobile Unit; As You Like It, La Jolla Playhouse; 53% Of, 2nd Stage; In the Southern Breeze, Rattlestick Theater; The Watering Hole, Signature Theatre; In the Penal Colony, NYTW Next Door. Education: MFA, Yale School of Drama. Faculty of the Playwrights Horizons Theater School at NYU. www.efinckel.com.

Errick Jersey (he/him) is part of A.R.T.’s Stage Operation department. For his Act II, he offers his perspective as a transman on the surprising joys—and dangers—of passing as a cisman in the entertainment world. He has been a deck crew member at the Loeb for thirteen shows, has programmed automation for four shows, and can’t remember how many shows he worked at OBERON. He describes his job as an entertainment rigger: “I build the stuff in the air that other departments hang heavy stuff on.” He thinks his job is the most fun in the building.

Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, Co-Chair of The Fenway Institute, and Program Lead for the Harvard Medical School-wide HMS-Fenway LGBTQIA+ Health Fellowship Program, Dr. Jennifer Potter (she/her) has extensive clinical, medical education, research, and mentoring experience. She has designed and implemented numerous curricula for health professionals focused on sexual- and gender-minority health, women’s health, cancer survivorship, and trauma-informed care. She co-edited three seminal textbooks on LGBTQ+ health (The Fenway Guide to LGBT Health; Trauma, Resilience and Health Promotion in LGBT Patients: What Every Healthcare Provider Should Know; Transgender and Gender Diverse Health Care: The Fenway Guide) and co-authored an American Association of Medical Colleges’ monograph entitled Implementing Curricular and Institutional Climate Changes to Improve Health Care for Individuals Who are LGBT, Gender Nonconforming, or Born with DSD: A Resource for Medical Educators.

Jenny Siegel (she/her/hers), MD, is the Medical Director of the Transgender Health Program at Massachusetts General Hospital, where she also serves as Associate Program Director for Health Equity Education for the Internal Medicine Residency Program, as well as site lead for the HMS-Fenway LGBTQIA+ Health Fellowship. She is a general internist and an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. She received her medical degree from Harvard Medical School and completed her residency in primary care internal medicine at the University of California, San Francisco.

Jesse Freidin (he/him) is a queer photographer and author. His award-winning series Are You OK? addresses the dangerous wave of anti-trans legislation sweeping the country in a passionate attempt to erase stigma and elevate the voices of those most affected. Jesse’s work has been featured in The New York Times, NPR, Vogue, and more. He is the winner of the 2023 Critical Mass TOP 50 Award and the author of three books: When Dogs Heal: Powerful Stories of People Living with HIV and the Dogs That Saved Them; Finding Shelter: Portraits of Love, Healing and Survival; and Are You OK?.

Jo Michael Rezes (they/them) is a nonbinary theatermaker, AEA actor, and transmedia artist based in Greater Boston dedicated to the development of new, queer works which feature transgender collaborators and fabulously grotesque aesthetics. Acting credits: The Rocky Horror Show, Entropy Theatre; Nosferatu, The Vampyr, Sparkhaven Theatre; The Inheritance (Elliot Norton Award, Outstanding Ensemble), SpeakEasy Stage; Things I Know to Be True (Berkshire Theater Critics Award Nominee, Outstanding Supporting Actor; BroadwayWorld Award, Honorable Mention), Great Barrington Public Theater. Directing: Trans [Plays] of Remembrance festival, HowlRound.TV; Cloud 9 (AD; Elliot Norton Award, Outstanding Direction), The Nora; Melancholy Play, Vassar College; The Interrobangers, Tufts University; The Rocky Horror Show, Central Square Theater; Queer Voices Festival, Boston Theater Company. Jo instructs gender and performance courses across the country (Yale Dramatic Association, Somerville Arts for Youth, UMass Law, The Theater Offensive)! Their TEDx Talk, “A Playful Exploration of Gender Performance,” is available online. Jo is developing a monograph called Fractals: Nonbinary Acting Methods and facilitates workshops on the subject.

Julie Thompson (she/her), PA-C, is the Medical Director of the Trans Health Program at Fenway Health. Earlier this year she was also named the Interim Associate Medical Director at Fenway. She is a primary care clinician leader specializing in LGBTQIA+ health, high-resolution anoscopy, and HIV care. Julie is on the faculty advisory board at the National LGBTQIA+ Health Education Center and is core faculty on Trans ECHO and TransLine, providing training and consultative services for healthcare providers across the country. She also currently serves on the Board of Directors for the United States Professional Association of Transgender Health (USPATH).

Justice Ameer (xe/xem/xyr) is a poet, facilitator, and political educator based in Providence, RI. Xe was an Artist-in-Residence at Williams College in spring 2020. Xe is a Pink Door fellow and faculty member. Ameer is a co-creator of the theatrical production ANTHEM at American Repertory Theater’s OBERON. Xyr work can be found in Poetry magazine, Split This Rock, The Nation, and anthologies The BreakBeat Poets Vol. 2: Black Girl Magic and Between Paradise & Earth: Eve Poems.

Justice Roe Williams (he/him) is a highly experienced intersectionality consultant with a sharp focus on dismantling patriarchal masculinity as it is defined by bell hooks. He has been a facilitator for over twenty years and in that time has worked with colleges, universities, non-profits, businesses, gyms and movement spaces to move “beyond inclusion,” creating environments that are socially equitable for all. As a black man of transgender experience, he interweaves his personal narrative while helping individuals to think critically about how intersectionality is a part of their personal experience and the importance of making social justice a daily ritual within all of our lives. His work has been featured in Men’s Fitness, African Voices, NPR, Refinery29, Good Housekeeping, PinkNews, Boston Neighborhood Network News, and more.

Lee Schere is an activist and educator living and working in New York City, where he’s the Director of Teaching & Learning for K-16 Initiatives at the City University of New York. His work expands teaching capacity among high school teachers and university professors at these two levels of public education in New York through curriculum development and professional learning. His freely available curriculum, “Debating U.S. History,” brings inquiry and critical pedagogy to the US history high school survey class. As a queer social justice activist and transman, Lee has joined a variety of organizations, affinity groups, and everything in between, some specifically LGBTQ+ and others more or less marginal progressive organizations. More recently he has volunteered with the organization Jews for Racial and Economic Justice and as a board member for the podcast and organization Making Gay History.

(they/he) A.R.T.: Debut. Off-Broadway: Storm, Still, The Sheen Center; The House of Telescopes (upcoming), Pipeline Theatre. Regional: Amm(i)gone, The Theater Offensive, Kelly Strayhorn Theater; the dance floor, the hospital room, and the kitchen table, New Orleans Contemporary Arts Center, Kelly Strayhorn Theater; Alleged Lesbian Activities, The Theater Offensive. Awards: Drama League Fellow 2018, Drama League Resident 2024, National Theatre Project grantee. Education: MFA Directing, Carnegie Mellon; Assistant Professor, Lehigh. www.lyambgabel.com

Meagan von Rohr (she/they) is the Director of the Office of BGLTQ Student Life at Harvard College. Meagan comes to her work in queer advocacy from a background in anthropology. She works tirelessly to support the community at Harvard, both students and colleagues. They draw inspiration and strength from queer histories as told by our elders and from our communities. In her free time, Meagan can usually be found falling off of rock-climbing walls and hiking in local conservation land. She lives in the Boston area with her wife and cat.

Collaborating with treatment teams and community organizations, Micha Martin (he/him) holds a license as an Independent Clinical Social Worker in the state of Massachusetts, and actively works towards supporting client access to medically necessary care. Micha’s professional services encompass counseling, consultation, and assessment at Boston Medical Center, where he assists in training sessions focusing on affirming care, and the facilitation of medical and behavioral health for gender-diverse folk.

Michael J. Bobbitt (he/him) is a theater director, choreographer, and playwright who has dedicated his professional career to arts leadership. He joined the Mass Cultural Council as Executive Director in February 2021 and is the highest-ranking cultural official in the Massachusetts state government. Upon joining the Agency, he was invited to serve on the Board of Directors for the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies’ (NASAA). As Executive Director Michael has led Mass Cultural Council through the development of its first-ever Racial Equity Plan; worked with staff, Council Members, and cultural sector advocates to secure and distribute a historic $60.1M in state pandemic relief funding; and overseen the drafting and adoption of the Agency’s FY24 – FY26 strategic plan.

Oliver Slayton (they/them) is a current undergraduate student at Harvard University studying Integrative Biology, Global Health and Health Policy, and American Sign Language. Oliver grew up in Brookline, MA, and has been involved in queer and trans activism in the Boston community for years. They do clinical research on gender-affirming surgery at Boston Children’s Hospital and are an intern at Harvard College’s Office of BGLTQ Student Life. They were the Deputy Director of The Harvard Trans+ Conference 2023 and are currently starting a new project called Queer&.

P. Carl is a Senior Distinguished Artist in Residence, Department of Performing Arts, at Emerson College, Boston and the author of the memoir, Becoming a Man: The Story of a Transition (Simon & Schuster, 2020). He was the Spring 2020 Anschutz Fellow at Princeton University, awarded a 2017 Art of Change Fellowship from the Ford Foundation, the Berlin Prize fellowship from the American Academy, and the Andrew W. Mellon Creative Research Residency at the University of Washington.

Quyen Tran (she/her) is a regular fixture in the Boston LGBTQ+ community. She is the Education and Outreach Coordinator for TransTape, which sees her traveling the country providing workshops in safe application and removal of this gender-affirming adhesive and leading outdoor meetups to normalize chestbinding. She is a volunteer speaker with SpeakOut Boston. Her drag king alter ego, Jayden Jamison, is the instructor behind the very successful Kingdom drag king workshop that has transformed the New England drag landscape. Her one-man show, Transformation, chronicles her life journey starting as a Vietnamese refugee to living authentically in the present day with a mission of helping others do the same. Themes of the show include racism, intersectionality, homophobia, and parental death.

Qween Jean founded Black Trans Liberation, an organization that aims to provide access and employment resources for the TGNC community. She organizes community events, protests, and weekly mutual aid drives. In 2022 Qween wrote Revolution Is Love. In 2023 she joined the Board of TCG and received an Obie Award for Excellence in Costume Design. This year Qween was a finalist for The David Prize, which awards $200,000 to transform the city of New York. She has an MFA degree from NYU Tisch.

Rebecca Minor (she/her/they), LICSW, is a queer, Jewish clinician, consultant, and educator specializing in the intersection of trauma, gender, and sexuality. As a Gender Specialist, Rebecca partners with trans and gender-nonconforming youth through their journey of becoming, and is a guide to their parents in affirming it. Rebecca is the founder of Prism Therapy Collective, where her approach is always trauma-informed and resilience-oriented. In addition to her clinical work, Rebecca is part-time faculty at Boston University School of Social Work and has provided cultural responsiveness training and consultation to organizations, schools, and businesses for the past decade. Rebecca is also the author of the forthcoming book Raising Trans Youth, set to be released in fall 2025.

Dr. Ruben Hopwood (he/him), MDiv, PhD, LP, is a licensed psychologist with 18+ years’ experience working in trans and gender-diverse communities and providing training for medical and mental health professionals in gender-affirming care. Part of the LGBTQ+ community for over 40 years, he holds graduate degrees in psychology and theology. He is the founding director of Hopwood Counseling & Consulting, LLC, is a Visiting Researcher at The Danielsen Institute at Boston University, and a WPATH GEI Certified Mentor. Dr. Hopwood is a national speaker, consultant, and author on healthcare of gender-diverse people, aging, and integrating spirituality into psychotherapy.

Steph deNormand (they/them/theirs), MA, is the Manager of the Trans Health Program at Fenway Health, and a chapter author for Transgender and Gender Diverse Health Care: The Fenway Guide. Steph’s focus throughout their education and academic work has been on queer and trans theory, and its intersections with feminist pedagogy and medical ethics. They have been working with trans and gender-diverse communities their entire professional career, and continue to mix community work and academia through writing, conferences, and community-driven events. In their position at Fenway Health, Steph has had the privilege of working directly with hundreds of trans and gender-diverse community members in navigating healthcare systems, while simultaneously continuously engaging across the country in the creation and management of educational and support structures for care teams working in the field; all with the overarching goal of improving the health and wellbeing of trans and gender-diverse people nationally.

Taj M. Smith (he/him) is a coach, writer, speaker, and transgender educator. His work explores the spaces where spirituality, justice, and identity overlap. He is a Black transgender man who is deeply curious about the ways faith and identity interact to produce hopeful futures. He has a creative passion for music and literature, particularly sci-fi and fantasy. Taj’s written work appears in Sojourners, HuffPost, and the Harvard Divinity Bulletin. His own transition story was published in Austin Hartke’s Transforming: The Bible and the Lives of Transgender Christians. He holds a BA in Politics from UC Santa Cruz and an MDiv from Harvard Divinity School. In 2023, Taj founded Rooted Respite, a virtual burnout support community serving activists, DEI practitioners, faith-based changemakers, and others committed to creating a more equitable world.