Written by Paul Lucas
Directed by Jo Bonney
Drawn from dozens of interviews conducted around the world, Trans Scripts uses the real words of women to shed light on the rich and diverse experiences within the transgender community. The show’s seven characters range in age and life experience, from an African-American and Latina trans woman in her late 20s who transitioned at 17, to a British gynecologist in her 70s who transitioned to a woman at 68 and Jo Bonney (Father Comes Home From the Wars (Parts 1, 2 & 3)) directs a cast of seven in the US premiere of this moving, humorous, and timely work that received a Fringe First Award for new writing at the 2015 Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
A series of complementary work, the I.D. Festival, will be presented at OBERON in January 13 – February 4, 2017. Buy tickets to Trans Scripts as well as a show from the I.D. Festival and get a discount on both tickets. Click here to see the full listing of events.
Read more
Inspired by the show to learn more about, or get involved in addressing the themes raised by the play? Visit (and contribute to) this guide to local resources and organizations.
Click here to read the show’s program.
For more materials about the production, topics, and themes of the play, see the Trans Scripts Toolkit.
Notable dates
ASL Dates
Feb. 1, 7:30PM – Feb. 4, 2PM
Audio Described Dates
Feb. 2, 7:30PM – Feb. 5, 2PM
Open Captioned
Feb. 2, 7:30PM – Feb. 5, 2PM
Age Appropriateness
Recommended for grades 10 and up.
This new play is based on interviews with transgender women. Their stories include strong language, sexual themes, and descriptions of violence.
Discussions
ACT II
Audience members are invited to remain in the theater for Act II, a moderated conversation series. For more information, including schedule and guest bios, click here.
Explore
Press
Credits
Creative team
Written by
Paul Lucas
Written by
Paul Lucas
Paul Lucas is a writer and producer based in New York City. His producing credits include The Be(a)st of Taylor Mac (Herald Angel Award), What I Heard About Iraq (Fringe First Award) at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe; Woody Sez at Edinburgh and the West End; Dai (Lucille Lortel Award); and numerous productions off-Broadway, on National Tour, in the West End, and around the world. Trans Scripts is his first play.
Directed by
Jo Bonney
Directed by
Jo Bonney
A.R.T.: Suzan-Lori Parks' Father Comes Home From The Wars (Parts 1, 2 & 3); Eric Bogosian's Sex, Drugs, Rock & Roll; Pounding Nails in the Floor with my Forehead. Premieres of plays by: Alan Ball, Eric Bogosian, Culture Clash, Eve Ensler, Jessica Goldberg, Danny Hoch, Neil LaBute, Warren Leight, Martyna Majok, Lynn Nottage, Dael Orlandersmith, Suzan-Lori Parks, Darci Picoult, John Pollono, Will Power, David Rabe, Jose Rivera, Seth Zvi Rosenfeld, Christopher Shinn, Diana Son, Universes, Naomi Wallace, Michael Weller. Productions of plays by: Caryl Churchill, Nilo Cruz, Anna Deavere Smith, Charles Fuller, Lisa Loomer, John Osborne, Carey Perloff, Lanford Wilson. Productions directed at: PS 122; The Public Theater; NYTW; Second Stage; Goodman Theatre; La Jolla Playhouse; MCC; Geffen Playhouse; Williamstown Theater Festival; McCarter Theatre; Playwrights Horizons; Arena Stage; Mark Taper Forum; Signature; Long Wharf; The New Group; Classic Stage Company; Humana Festival; The Royal Court, London; Almeida, London; Edinburgh Festival; The Market Theatre, Johannesburg SA; The Baxter, Cape Town SA, Cine 13, Paris. Recipient of Lucille Lortel Best Musical and Lucille Lortel Best Revival. Drama Desk nomination for Direction of By the Way, Meet Vera Stark. AUDELCO Award for Direction of Father Comes Home From The Wars (Parts 1, 2 & 3), Obie Award for Sustained Excellence of Direction, Lilly Award. Editor of Extreme Exposure: An Anthology of Solo Performance Texts from the Twentieth Century (TCG).
Scenic Design
Myung Hee Cho
Scenic Design
Myung Hee Cho
A.R.T.: In the Body of the World. Opera: The Trojan Women, National Theater of Korea; The Thieving Magpie, Glimmerglass Opera; The Marriage of Figaro, Washington National Opera; The Magic Flute, Canadian Opera Company. Off-Broadway: Emotional Creature, Linney Theatre (Berkeley Repertory Theatre). Regional: Stuck Elevator, American Conservatory Theater; Black Odyssey, Denver Center; Miss Julie, Geffen Playhouse; Yellow Face, Mark Taper Forum and Public Theater; The Piano Teacher, South Coast Repertory. International: The Good Person of Szechuan, Landestheater, Austria; Awaking, Singapore Theatre Festival. Recipient of Princess Grace Awards and Professor of Design, UCLA.
Costume Design
Daniel Tyler Mathews
Costume Design
Daniel Tyler Mathews
A.R.T.: Trans Scripts, Part I: The Women. Daniel Tyler Mathews is a gender non-binary costume designer and performance artist. Design: Mary's Wedding; The Wiz; Charbrier's L'étoile; Arcadia; King Lear; Stuff Happens; Fences; Maybe Burke's Love Letters to Nobody, New York Trans Theatre Festival; Eric Tucker's Pericles, American Players Theatre (upcoming); design consulting, various NYC drag performers. TV: "Shades of Blue," "Orange is the New Black," "The Good Wife," "Brain Dead," Errol Morris' "Wormword," Netflix. They are a 2015 Princess Grace Theatre Award recipient. MFA: Carnegie Mellon.
Lighting Design
Lap Chi Chu
Lighting Design
Lap Chi Chu
A.R.T.: Trans Scripts, Part I: The Women, Father Comes Home From the Wars (Parts 1, 2 & 3). Off-Broadway: The Wolves, Playwrights Realm; Public Theater; NYTW; Signature; Second Stage. Regional: Mark Taper Forum; Geffen Playhouse; South Coast Rep; OSF; La Jolla Playhouse; The Old Globe; The Goodman Theatre; Shakespeare Theatre; Huntington Theatre Company; McCarter Theatre. Awards: L.A. Drama Critics Circle Angstrom Award for Career Achievement in Lighting Design, multiple Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Awards, a Drammy for best lighting.
Composer & Sound Design
John Gromada
Composer & Sound Design
John Gromada
A.R.T.: WARHOLCAPOTE; The Night of the Iguana; Trans Scripts, Part I: The Women; Tea at Five; Hartford Stage’s The Glass Menagerie. Broadway (Composer and/or Sound Designer): More than 35 productions including The Elephant Man, The Trip to Bountiful (Tony Award nomination), The Best Man (Drama Desk Award), Clybourne Park, Seminar, Man and Boy, Road to Mecca, The Columnist, Next Fall, A Bronx Tale, Prelude to a Kiss, Proof, Sight Unseen, Rabbit Hole, Twelve Angry Men, A Few Good Men. Other New York: Old Hats; Incident at Vichy; Dada Woof Papa Hot; Ripcord; My Name Is Asher Lev; Measure for Measure, Public Theater; The Orphans’ Home Cycle (Drama Desk and Henry Hewes Awards); The Screwtape Letters; Shipwrecked!... (Lucille Lortel Award); The Skriker (Drama Desk Award); Machinal (Obie Award). His regional theater credits number more than 300 productions at major regional theaters. His television credits include a score for the Emmy Award-nominated film version of The Trip to Bountiful. johngromada.com
Wig Design
Rachel Padula Shufelt
Production Stage Manager
Katie Ailinger
Production Stage Manager
Katie Ailinger
A.R.T.: Trans Scripts, Part I: The Women, The Plough and the Stars, In the Body of the World, Nice Fish, The Tempest, The Lily’s Revenge, The Donkey Show, Woody Sez, Futurity: A Musical By The Lisps, Ajax. Off-Broadway: Nice Fish, St. Ann’s Warehouse; Nixon’s Nixon, Fresh Play Festival, MCC Theater; Trial by Water, I Land, Ma-Yi Theatre. Boston area: Choice, The Second Girl, Cry of the Reed, Streamers, Huntington Theatre Company; Other Desert Cities, RED, The Divine Sister, The Great American Trailer Park Musical, SpeakEasy Stage Company; God’s Ear, Pericles, Henry VIII, Actors’ Shakespeare Project. Additional credits include Center Theatre Group, Theatre @ Boston Court, Milwaukee Rep, Trinity Rep, and WGBH’s annual concert A Christmas Celtic Sojourn. BFA: University of Southern California (Stage Management). Proud member of Actors’ Equity Association.
Cast
Josephine
Marlo Bernier
Josephine
Marlo Bernier
A.R.T.: Trans Scripts, Part I: The Women. Other theater: Angels in America (Roy Cohn, 1998 Best Actor, City Paper Baltimore), Love! Valour! Compassion! (John/James), God’s Country (Berg), Patient A (Lee), Largo Desolato (Leopold), Kindertransport (Ratchatcher et al.), AXIS Theatre Baltimore; 9 Rooms Worth/Dead Parents (Jack/Sonny), Lapis Blue-Blood Red (Cosimo), Baltimore Theatre Project. TV: “Cold Case,” “Las Vegas,” “Alias,” “Homicide,” “Myrna” (Myrna). Film (writer/director/producer): The Last Time We Were (Silver Remi WorldFest/Houston award as writer/producer), STEALTH, Finding John Smith, LEAP.
Zakia
Matthew Hancock
Zakia
Matthew Hancock
A.R.T.: Trans Scripts, Part I: The Women. Recent theater: Greg Kalleres’ Honky (Frederick Douglass/Kid 1), Rogue Machine Theatre; Ike Holter’s Hit The Wall (Carson), Los Angeles LGBT Center; Lauren Gunderson’s I and You (Anthony), Fountain Theatre; Tarell Alvin McCraney’s The Brothers Size (Oshoosi), Fountain Theatre; Marcus Gardley’s the road weeps, the well runs dry, Los Angeles Theatre Center. TV: “I’m Dying Up Here” (recurring role), Showtime; “Insecure,” HBO; “All My Children” (William). Film: Martyr (California Women’s Film Festival Best Actor Nominee). Training: BFA, Adelphi University, New York Conservatory of the Dramatic Arts, School of Film and Television. Awards: Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award, LA Stage Raw Award, LA Stage Alliance Ovation nominee, Broadway World Los Angeles nominee, and NAACP Theatre Award nominee.
Sandra
Eden Lane
Sandra
Eden Lane
A.R.T.: Trans Scripts, Part I: The Women. Eden Lane is America’s first transgender television reporter. Her award-winning work as host/producer/reporter focuses on community affairs, politics, and the arts. She has been featured on PBS affiliates, “CNN Tonight,” ET, Huffington Post, and other outlets. This production marks Eden Lane’s return to the theater. During her absence, she became a homemaker and stay at home mother, and she built a successful career in television journalism.
Tatiana
Bianca Leigh
Tatiana
Bianca Leigh
A.R.T.: Trans Scripts, Part I: The Women. Theater: The Lily’s Revenge (Time/Wind), HERE Arts Center; Tales of the City (Franny Halcyon), NY and San Francisco workshops; Trans Scripts (Tatiana), 2015 Edinburgh Festival Fringe; BUSTED (creator/performer), Laurie Beechman Theatre. TV: “Law & Order: SVU” (Dr. Rachel Sandow). Film: Transamerica (Mary Ellen), Hurricane Bianca (Karma). She was profiled this year in Crain’s for her work with students at NYU Medical School, and was the commencement speaker at Rutgers University’s Lavender Graduation in 2014. She recently participated, alongside MJ Rodriguez, in the Samuel French panel discussion “On Stage and Off: The State of Transgender Artists.”
Luna
Mj Rodriguez
Luna
Mj Rodriguez
A.R.T.: ExtraOrdinary; Burn All Night; Trans Scripts, Part I: The Women. Off-Broadway: Rent (Angel), New World Stages; Runaways, Encores! Off-Center; Street Children, New Ohio Theater; Dreamgirls; The Pajama Game; Once on This Island. TV: “Pose” (Blanca), FX; “Nurse Jackie;” “Luke Cage,” Netflix. Film: Saturday Church! (Tribeca Film Festival nomination, Best Actress).
Eden
Rebecca Root
Eden
Rebecca Root
A.R.T.: Trans Scripts, Part I: The Women. Theater: Trans Scripts (Eden), 2015 Edinburgh Festival Fringe. West End: Hamlet, Gielgud Theatre. Off-West End: Tartuffe, Pentameters; The Shaughraun, Upstairs at the Gatehouse; Fragments of a Dream, Riverside Studios; Ubu Roi, Baron's Court. TV: “Boy Meets Girl” (Judy, Royal Television Society nomination), “Hank Zipzer,” “Doctors,” “Hollyoaks,” “Casualty,” “Midsomer Murders,” “Keeping Up Appearances,” “The Detectives.” Film: The Danish Girl. Radio: 1977, BBC Radio 4. She is patron of the charities All About Trans and Diversity Role Models.
Dr. Violet
Jack Wetherall
Dr. Violet
Jack Wetherall
A.R.T.: Trans Scripts, Part I: The Women. Broadway: The Elephant Man (title role). Off-Broadway: Tamara (originated role of Mario); Henry VI plays (Warwick), Theatre for a New Audience; the Talking Band (many roles). Regional: roles include Prospero, Pericles, Macbeth, Richard II, Orsino, Mercutio, Berowne, Cyrano, Shotover, Jack Absolute, Orestes, Lopakhin, Valmont, Oscar Wilde, Edward (in Retreat from Moscow), Lyman (in Other Desert Cities); theaters include Guthrie Theater, Shakespeare Theatre Company, A.C.T., Long Wharf, Yale Rep, Folger Theatre, Hartford Stage, Goodman Theatre, Old Globe, Williamstown Theatre Festival. International: Stratford Festival (Canada): roles include Henry V, Orlando and Konstantin (opposite Dame Maggie Smith, director Robin Phillips). TV: "Queer as Folk" (Vic). He leads The Shakespeare Lab in New York City. jackwetherall.com
Additional staff
Assistant Stage Manager
Jenny Kennedy
Assistant Stage Manager
Jenny Kennedy
A.R.T.: Debut. Broadway: The King & I, Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, Red. Off-Broadway: The Wedge Horse, Fault Line Theatre; A Minister’s Wife, When I Come To Die, Lincoln Center Theater; Mr. & Mrs. Fitch, Second Stage Theatre; The Play Company. New York: Retro Productions, The Civilians, BC/EFA, Baryshnikov Arts Center. Regional: Nine seasons with Chautauqua Theater Company; Kavinoky Theatre; Jewish Repertory Theatre.
Voice and Dialect
Erika Bailey
A.R.T.: Gatsby; Becoming a Man; Life of Pi; 1776; WILD: A Musical Becoming; Jack and the Beanstalk; Gloria: A Life; Moby-Dick; We Live in Cairo; Endlings; Othello; ExtraOrdinary; The Black Clown; Jagged Little Pill; WARHOLCAPOTE; Burn All Night; The Night of the Iguana; Trans Scripts, Part I: The Women; Fingersmith; In the Body of the World; Waitress; O.P.C. Broadway: Mary Stuart. Regional: Vanity Fair, Central Square Theater; New Electric Ballroom, Gloucester Stage Company; Arms and the Man, Guthrie Theatre; The Foreigner, Cabaret, To Kill a Mockingbird, Kansas City Repertory Theatre. As Head of Voice and Speech at A.R.T., Erika also teaches in the Theater, Dance & Media concentration at Harvard as well as coaching public speaking skills across the university. Education: MA, Voice Studies, the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama; MFA, Acting, Brandeis University.
Voice and Dialect
Julie Foh
A.R.T.: Cardenio. A.R.T. Institute for Advanced Theater Training: Ajax in Iraq. Off-Broadway: The Tallest Tree in the Forest, Tectonic Theater Project at BAM; Murder for Two, The Tutors, Modern Terrorism, Second Stage. New York: The Babylon Line, The Danish Widow, NY Stage & Film; Wasps, Miss Lilly Gets Boned, Studio 42; Nightlands, New Georges; We in Silence Hear a Whisper, Red Fern Theatre Company. Regional: An Ideal Husband, Eurydice, American Players Theatre. MFA: A.R.T. Institute for Advanced Theater Training.
Assistant Director
Madison Johnson
Assistant Sound Design
Matt Otto
Original Script Development and Dramaturgy
Morgan Jenness
Original Script Development and Dramaturgy
Morgan Jenness
Morgan Jenness is the recipient of a 2015 Doris Duke Impact Award and a 2003 Obie Award Special Citation for Longtime Support of Playwrights. She has spent almost three decades working as a dramaturg and creative consultant for theaters (including the Public Theater, LATC and NYTW) and developmental workshops, university theater programs, funding organizations, ensembles, and individual artists across the country.
A.R.T. Institute Production Dramaturg