With a title like What's the T?, it would be safe to assume that About Face Theatre's biennial Youth Theatre show would focus on the fourth letter representing the transgender community within that inclusive catch-all acronym LGBTQ. But as playwright Sara Kerastas pointed out, there's so much more to the show.
"What's really interesting about this particular project is that it has evolved a lot from our original idea," said Kerastas during a telephone interview.
The process began last summer when About Face Theatre held intensive workshops to create a youth-theater piece from the ground up to explore trans-identity issues. It was time, Kerastas said, since previous About Face Youth Theatre shows like Queertopia and Fast Forward respectively focused on youth violence and sex education.
So About Face Theatre made an effort to get a lot of organizations from the transgender community to work with Kerastas and the young actors to find a way to dramatize a show that would be performed the following summer not only as part of About Face Theatre's regular season, but also so it could be adapted later for outreach performances in area schools.
However, midway through the summer process, there came all sorts of tension within the community regarding LGBT youth hanging around Chicago's Boystown neighborhood and the accusations that they were the cause of increased levels of violence and crime.
"That really was the climax of all of this community tension with the CAPS meeting and the stabbings," Kerastas said.
Since so many of the LGBT workshop youth felt directly affected by the issues at hand, Kerastas and About Face decided to bring these issues into play for the creation of the show.
"We didn't let go of our original theme, but we funneled it through this lens to use youth art to address what was going on in our own community," Kerastas said. "It's definitely a multi-perspective play with youth and adult characters coming from very different viewpoints and it's really a fast-paced snapshot of a lot of different characters inhabiting the very same space."
Most prominently featured are two trans-identified characters that have an interesting dialogue and relationship online. First there's the trans-woman Ms. Ma, who is an upbeat Internet personality famed for creating online videos about creating safe spaces for trans-identified people. Then there's a young trans-man named Shaman, who has just been kicked out of high school and creates an online rebuttal to Ms. Ma.
"Really, a part of the play is this narrative between Ms. Ma and Shaman that takes place entirely through making online videos for one another," Kerastas said. "So there's also this theme of how the Internet and new forms of media can be a catalyst for community as well."
Also unique about this About Face Theatre production is that director Eric Hoff ("Hit the Wall") and designer Tom Slazinski have developed What's the T? to play in two different venues: the Red Tape Theatre space in St. Peter's Episcopal Church in Boystown, and at the National Museum of Mexican Art in Chicago's Pilsen neighborhood.
"Slazinski has really put a great deal of thought into the space of the play, so seeing this play is going to be a really exciting and immersive experience where the audience is going to be really much part of it," said Kerastas, noting how the seating arrangements will play up different levels of status, privilege and proximity as reflected in the play. "Just having the play in two different spaces with two different surrounding communities will be an adventure for us."
As for About Face Youth Theatre performers Jade Ryian, 20, and Julian Alvarado, 17, they're both enjoying being part of the collaborative process and bringing up issues tied to race, class, gender and sexuality.
"My character is very stereotyped," said Alvarado about his Boystown hairdresser character Mic. "His complexion is white, but he is of Hispanic background and he's given a bit more privilege by the way he looks. But he does what he can to try and prevent conflict."
As for Ryian, she plays a butch Latina teenager named Jude who is confused about her attractions toward her best friend.
"For me, it's mainly a support thing as an ally where I figured I could use my talent to showcase issues that are actually happening," Ryian said, happy to participate in the whole play-development process. "And just to be there for my friends and people I care about and put on a great piece of art."
About Face Youth Theatre's world premiere of What's the T? plays at two different locations from July 13 to Aug. 4. The production first plays the Red Tape Theatre at St. Peter's Episcopal Church, 621 W. Belmont Ave., with previews beginning July 13 and an official press opening July 20. Performances are 7:30 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, and Sundays at 3 p.m. through July 29. What's the T? then moves to the National Museum of Mexican Art, 1852 W. 19th St., for performances at 7 p.m. Aug. 3, and at 3 and 7 p.m. Aug. 4. Tickets are $15 for adults, $5 for students and $25 for Youth Theatre supporters. Visit www.aboutfacetheatre.com or call 866-811-4111 for tickets.