EDIT: I’ve rewritten the final few paragraphs, my thoughts on all this, and apologize for any confusion.
Bond posted a while back about a court case where a British court was asked to rule if a Jewish school was being racially discriminatory when it rejected a student who did not have a Jewish mother:
The case in question concerns a 12-year-old boy, referred to court documents simply as “M,” whose application to London’s Jews’ Free School was rejected on the ground that his mother’s conversion to Judaism was not overseen by Orthodox rabbis. The case has forced a reexamination of whether Judaism is a religion, a race, or an ethnicity.
The court has ruled that the school was practicing racial discrimination. From The Guardian:
M’s father took the school to court claiming racial discrimination. In June, the court of appeal ruled in his favour. It said the school’s policy amounted to racial discrimination because it prioritised applications from children with Jewish mothers.
And, ultimately, the supreme court ruled (5 to 4) that the school had “directly discrimintated against M on grounds of his ethnic origins.”
Continue reading 'Who decides what is Jewish?'»
An interesting article at the NYT:
Then he led off the discussion of the homework assignment. It consisted of an article from the national Jewish newspaper, The Forward, about a married couple who participate avidly in both synagogue and swinging. “Aren’t these people just being honest?” Rabbi Lookstein asked. Five or six hands immediately shot up.
So began another day in Jewish Sexual Ethics, the course better known around Ramaz, even to its teacher, as “Sex With the Rabbi.” For the last 23 years, since Rabbi Lookstein devised the class, he has taught it to every 10th grader to pass through Ramaz, a Modern Orthodox institution combining rigorous secular and religious curriculums.
I don’t have anything to add, just thought it was an interesting article. And nice to see an article on a more conservative Jewish institution acknowledging that sex exists and shouldn’t be taboo.
I know that’s kind of all I’ve been blathering about the past week or so, but I really can’t believe it. The show went really well – I’d budgeted about 60 people coming over all three nights, and Sunday alone (closing night) we had 69 people. They were packed in, but we fit ‘em. (The box office manager told me, “We never see this big of an audience for an unknown solo performance. Maybe for well-established ensemble companies, but not for a one-woman show.” Which just goes to show how badass my friends and family are!)
All three shows were filmed, and I plan to have video up by the end of the year. (Fingers crossed.)
Continue reading 'My show is done!'»
Continuing the great press Trans Form has received, it was reviewed recently at Centerstage:
For theatergoers unfamiliar with trans issues, Rebecca Kling’s “Trans Form” acts as a solid primer. A straightforward, heartfelt effort, this one-woman show affords Kling the opportunity to examine her passage from conflicted teen boy to secure trans woman. Peppered with lightly humorous lines, and the occasional laugh-out-loud moment, “Trans Form” has many strong points. Kling knows her stuff; her mode is impeccable, and her use of space imaginative. Trained at Northwestern, clearly she understands the fundamentals of one-person shows and adeptly utilizes their conventions. In fact, as “Trans Form’s” director, she even pushes the boundaries of those standards. For example, at one point, relating her coming-out conversation with an acquaintance, Kling segues into a PowerPoint presentation in which her imagined audience asks questions, each more ignorant than the last. Only after she loses her temper and returns to sipping a mimed beverage do we realize she’s still in a café with her friend, the entire lecture a metaphor for her coming-out experience, innovative and breezily effective.
You can read the rest of the review here.
The review also contains some really constructive feedback, and it actually seems – to me as an artist – like a really useful review. It’s positive, recommends the show, but also has solid suggestions on how to improve the piece.
Continue reading 'Trans Form reviewed at Center Stage'»
I sat down with Sarah Terez Rosenblum a few weeks ago for an interview that was just posted at the Windy City Times website, a Chicago-area LGBT newspaper.
Eloquent and animated, performer Rebecca Kling clearly enjoys discussing her work. “Trans Form combines spoken word and multimedia,” she says, sipping tea at Starbucks, “it’s the second show I’ve written outside of school.” Chatting about Trans Form’s inspiration, as well as theater as a vehicle for social change, Rebecca’s passion for theater grows increasingly evident; it’s creation surely integral to her sense of self.Windy City Times: What was the impetus for your new show?
Rebecca Kling: Trans Form came out of the work I did at the Charged Bodies Mentorship Program, which itself came out of a weeklong workshop at Links Hall where I sort of stumbled on the idea of transitioning as this mythic process of defying gods and defying fate and defying convention. When I was fortunate enough to get the Critical Fierceness Grant through Chances Dances in Chicago this past year to expand the piece, I realized I wanted to delve into the mundane or the personal or the everyday, keeping components of the piece I worked on last year, but also expanding upon it and trying to process where I’m coming from, where I’m going and what the hell I’m doing.
Continue reading 'Interview with Windy City Times'»
From this week’s Time Out Chicago:
Last year, trans performance artist Rebecca Kling told us it was a struggle figuring out how to present herself on stage. You wouldn’t think so if you caught her assured cameo at this summer’s Homo Show in Wicker Park. With the help of a Chances Dances Critical Fierceness Grant, Trans Form, her first full solo show, happens Friday 11–Sunday 13 at Links Hall. Using video, dance and candid confession, Kling explores her life as a transgender woman in Chicago. With her raw honesty and graceful body movements, we can only say of Kling, what a difference a year makes.
(And no, I’m not posting this at 3AM after getting home from tech. I don’t know what you’re talking about.)
Getting excited for the opening this Friday!
From Newcity:
RECOMMENDED
Rebecca Kling’s solo performance employs storytelling, video and theatrical movement to relate her experiences as a transgender woman… Trans Form peels back the trans label and its mystique to probe the complications of human identity…. With good nature and gentle humor the five-minute monologue [about changing her name] not only riffs on the frustrations of living in a bureaucratic system, but also gives one pause to consider the blurred line between private life and public identity. It plays out like a Kafka short story that ends in triumph. (Sharon Hoyer)
Continue reading 'Trans Form in the press!'»
The first night of tech for Trans Form was last night, and I’m kind of a mess.
(For those of you who aren’t theatre people, tech refers to technical rehearsals, where lights/sound/etc are set. It comes before dress rehearsals and/or previews, the final rehearsals before a show opens.)
The show is going fine, although I’m planning to head out of work early tonight and finish up some sound and video work. And yet, I’m really scared about it opening on Friday. Not simply stressing out, but scared. And, after thinking about what parts of the show terrify me, I realized I’m not just dealing with stage fright (although there’s some of that) but with some deeper internalized transphobia.
Continue reading 'Internalized transphobia'»
dreams, emotion, memory, theatre, trans, transitioning
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emotion, fear, memory, shaving, stress, theatre, transitioning, transphobia
If you’re in the Chicago area, come see my one-woman show, Trans Form, this weekend!
Rooted in the work created during her participation in Links Hall’s 2008 Charged Bodies Mentorship Program, Rebecca Kling presents Trans Form, an evening of solo performance exploring her life as a transgender woman in chicago. This multimedia piece – composed of storytelling, video, movement, playful skips and jumps, enlightening self-discovery, accusatory glances, awkward pauses, and more – is perfect for anybody who thinks they have gender all figured out, and for the rest of us who don’t.
Tickets are $15, or $10 with the code ‘masked.’ Hope to see you there!
( Spoilers abound in this post. Consider yourself warned. That said, I haven’t even finished the first season, so please don’t provide any spoilers beyond episode 15 or 16 of the first season in the comments.)
I just got into the first season of Ugly Betty. The show is – very broadly – about Betty as she tries to make it in the magazine publishing industry. I started watching because I’d heard good things, and because I heard it had a trans character.
Honestly, I enjoyed the show so much that I straight up forgot about the trans character, so her introduction a little more than half way through the first season came as a bit of a surprise. It didn’t hurt that the show very openly parodies (or maybe not) ridiculous soap-opera-ey storyline shifts, so revealing a presumed-dead character was really in hiding to come back as a woman is pretty in line with the tone of the rest of the show.
What did surprise me (or, at least, has surprised me so far) is how respectfully the show handles the trans character, Alexis, even within the wholely silly and over-the-top world of the show.
Continue reading 'Ugly Betty mini-review'»
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