Ares and Aphrodite script
Thought people might enjoy seeing this…it’s, basically, the final version of the script I used for the solo performance from a couple weeks ago. Video is (hopefully) forthcoming.
GENERAL LIGHTING - CHILDHOOD GAMES
Run on as an airplane, get shot down, tumble down, look up at audience – coming on with that excited, child-energy
When I was young – I must have been 6 or 7 – I remember playing ‘make believe’ with a friend, running around in the park behind my house.
I remember that, at some point in the make believe, I was captured by the bad guys -
- and transformed into a girl. My friend had to rescue me! But ‘rescuing’ me didn’t mean ‘transforming me back into a boy,’ just ‘freeing me from the bad guys.’ I didn’t really want to be transformed back into a boy. And I remember it being important (for some pre-pubescent, gender-affirming reason) for me to be naked on the bed in my room, my penis tucked between my legs in a hairless V.
I remember looking up at the top bunk and thinking, “This is how I’d rather look, what I’d rather see between my legs.”
I told him not to tell his mom. I told him not to tell his mom. I told him not to tell! But he told anyway. And his mom told my mom. And we were told that that was not a good way to play and that being naked with each other was not OK.
But the part that was actually important – not the nudity but the gender – was never mentioned. I don’t even know if he told his mom about that part, or if she told my mom. But I feel like yelling at my mom, “The point wasn’t that I wanted to be naked! The point was that I didn’t want to be a boy!”
LIGHT CHANGE – MYTH PART ONE
Shift to storytelling mode
Heaving sigh to turn back to audience, see hopscotch court, hopscotch away while undoing pigtails, grab new shirt, turn back as storyteller
Long ago, when gods and goddesses ruled from Olympus and occasionally came down to walk among mortals, all mothers knew that to give birth to a boy you needed to pray to Ares -
- god of war, of strength -
and to give birth to a girl you needed to pray to Aphrodite -
- goddess of love, of beauty.
But what happened when Ares and Aphrodite disagreed about the sex of an unborn child? Gods and goddesses were known to quarrel, and disagreements over a child’s sex were not as uncommon as you might think.
Such it was with one child who was chosen by Aphrodite to be a girl, to grow into a woman. But Ares was upset with Aphrodite for some perceived slight, and when Aphrodite left the unborn child Ares came and worked his magic. He could not change the unborn child – the unborn girl’s – soul, for Aphrodite had already made that female. But Ares could transform the unborn girl’s body, making by brute force male what was to be female.
And so the child was born, the soul of a girl – ready to be a girl – but within the body of a boy.
And what sort of life would she lead? Only time will tell…
LIGHT CHANGE – COMING OUT CAFE
Hey! It’s so good to see you.
Yeah, I’m so glad we could finally find a time to catch up. How have you been?
I’ve been doing really well, thanks. Actually, well, I sort of never know how to do this. I do want to hear how you’re doing, but part of the reason I wanted to talk to you is because I wanted to come out to you. See, I identify as trans, which means a lot of different things to different people, but for me means that I identify as a woman, not as a man. And I’m doing what’s called transitioning, which means I’m moving from presenting myself an interacting with the world as a man to doing so as a woman.
No, it’s OK. That’s usually the first question people ask. I’ve been on hormones for a while, and I’m fortunate that they’re actually covered by my insurance.
And that’s usually the second question… I mean, some trans women do that, as do some trans men. Though my understanding is trans women are more likely to be able to retain the ability to orgasm afterwards…But no, that sort of decision is still really far away for me.
Well, perhaps this will help explain things. Rachel, could we get lecture lights?
LIGHT CHANGE – GOING TO LECTURE MODE
C2 – SLIDE SHOW START
Lets get started.
C3 – HRT
Hormone replacement therapy (or HRT) for transgender and transsexual people replaces the hormones naturally ocuring in their bodies with those of the other sex.
C4 – HRT Image
Its purpose is to cause the development of secondary sex characteristics of the desired gender. For trans women this includes
C5 – Bullet points for MTF
The breast development and the redistribution of body fat
Reduction of muscle mass
Reduction of body hair
Softening of skin
And so on
‘And So On’ list, fade back to pills
Aside: It’s a little overwhelming.
Hormone replacement therapy cannot undo the changes produced by the first naturally occurring puberty of transgender people, including bone structure and genital development. Hormone replacement therapy is not magic and there are no guarantees as to the results for any one person. Likewise, hormone therapy and transitioning are not guaranteed to produce the ‘ideal picture of femininity’ -
C6 – HRT is not…
- but, you know what? Natural puberty in so-called ‘normal’ women isn’t guaranteed to produce the ideal picture of femininty either.
C7 – Puberty is not…
Now, are there any questions? Rachel, could we get the house lights up for the question-and-answer section?
LIGHT CHANGE – DARK EXCEPT FOR ME
C8 – Any questions
Perfect. Yes, in the back.
(Sigh) Well, just as not all ‘natural’ women grow up liking dolls and dresses, not all trans women do either. Next question.
(Some sort of reaction to the question) Again, just as not all ‘natural’ women like having sex with men, not all trans women do either. Likewise, not all trans men want to have sex with women. And transitioning, for myself and for everyone I’ve talked to and read about, was abut the trans person, not who they would be able to sleep with in a socially acceptable manner after the transition.
Final question. Yes?
(Another reaction to the question) I’m not sure what you mean by a ‘real woman,’ but I would never doubt someone else’s journey or dismiss their identity because I didn’t understand it. So please don’t doubt or dismiss my journey or my identity or the work I’ve had to do
LIGHTS – DIAGONAL FOR PILLS
Just because you don’t understand it or because I don’t fit your definition of what it means to be a ‘real woman.’
LIGHTS – IT’S EXHAUSTING
When I started transitioning I knew it would be hard work. At least, I’d been told it would be hard work… Hard physical work, like the painful and horribly expensive hair removal, and hard emotional work, like seeing relationships with friends and loved ones change, and not always for the better.
What I didn’t really didn’t think about – and dont’ know I’d have believed if someone had told me – was all the little was it would wear me down.
Things like children and their lack of discretion. Like having one of my students ask why I’m wearing earrings, because “aren’t they for girls?” A friend later mentioned I should have said, “No, earrings are for ears, silly!” Or an audience member who came up to me after a show and asked, “Are you a boy, or a girl?” Or a student in the hall who whispered, “Is he a boy, or a girl?” Or a student in a classroom who, when I came in to give something to the teacher, gossiped, “Was that a boy or a girl?”
Things like strangers or people I just met making assumptions about me or feeling OK asking really personal questions because they know I’m trans. Like a friend of a friend, whose brother was trans, so he felt completely comfortable asking me probing questions about my transition even though we’d just met. And I didnt’ feel strong enough in my discomfort to tell him it was none of his business.
Things like friends and family and loved ones having issue with the pace of the transition. Have you told so and so? What do you mean you haven’t told so and so? I can’t believe you’re thinking of telling so and so without talking to me first. It’s always too fast or to slow. Too intense or not intense enough. Too much thought or not enough planning. Never the right pace for them, the right speed for them.
Sometimes, it’s exhausting.
It’s exhausting putting one foot in front of the other. It’s exhausting having to be an and educator on behalf of myself. It’s exhausting having to keep my balance.
Sometimes, it’s exhausting.
LIGHTS – MYTH PART TWO
Long ago, when gods and goddesses ruled from Olympus and occasionally came down to walk among mortals, all mothers knew that to give birth to a boy you needed to pray to Ares -
- god of war, of strength -
and to give birth to a girl you needed to pray to Aphrodite -
- goddess of love, of beauty.
But what happened when Ares and Aphrodite disagreed about the sex of an unborn child? Gods and goddesses were known to quarrel, and disagreements over a child’s sex were not as uncommon as you might think.
Such it was with one child who was chosen by Aphrodite to be a girl, to grow into a woman. But Ares was upset with Aphrodite for some perceived slight, and when Aphrodite left the unborn child Ares came and worked his magic. He could not change the unborn child – the unborn girl’s – soul, for Aphrodite had already made that female. But Ares could transform the unborn girl’s body, making by brute force male what was to be female.
And so the child was born, the soul of a girl – ready to be a girl – but within the body of a boy.
And what sort of life would she lead?
He – or she – grew up knowing something was off, something was not quite right. But who could imagine a boy not being a boy? Or a girl not being a girl? So the child grew up with the pain of not fitting within his (or her) own body, and suffered mostly in silence.
At last, he decided to go to Olympus, the palace of the gods, and demand an audience with Ares. She would make Ares right what had been wronged, return her body to its rightful form as female.
So the child climbed up and up and up [repitition], until at last he came to Olympus. And the gods were so awed by her bravery, that they granted her an audience with smoldering and bitter Ares.
LIGHTS? – PUPPET SHOW
This is your fault.
You did this to me.
This is your fault!
You did this to me!
Aren’t you going to say anything?
I didn’t ask to be like this. I didn’t ask to be like this. Do you know what they call people like me? Freaks. Perverts. She-males. He-shes. Because of you, I fear that every glance is a knowing one. Because of you, I fear that every laugh is directed at me. Because of you, I fear that every pair of eyes will pierce me to my core and expose my innermost secrets.
Because of you!
Don’t walk away! Come back here!
LIGHTS? – ENERGY CHANGE
You know what? Fuck Ares.
Fuck the gods.
I don’t need a goddess who has been dust for 2,000 years to tell me how to be a woman, or a god who has been dust for 2,000 years tell me that I can’t.
I will walk my own path. I will find my own voice. I will map my own journey.
And I will write the ending to my own story.
LIGHTS OUT ON EXIT
coming out, emotion, fiction, scripts, theatre, transitioning
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aphrodite, ares, coming out, emotions, myth, performance, script, theatre, transitioning
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