What is this project?

Seahorse is a one-act play written by JC Pankratz (they/them). It was awarded Synecdoche Works Theatre’s fellowship for Works in Heightened Language in 2021. In March of 2022, after hearing my conversations with trans theatre artists on Gender Euphoria, the Podcast, the artistic director at Synecdoche Works asked me to interview JC for the website, and she attached a couple of short excerpts of the script. When a play is powerful enough to make you cry, sitting in your car in a parking garage in downtown Cleveland… you know it’s a story that needs to be told.

With the support of CWRU’s Humanities in Leadership Learning Series, the Baker Nord Center for the Humanities, and Synecdoche Works, I have the absolute privilege of directing the first live production of Seahorse by JC Pankratz, as part of the 2023 Cleveland Humanities Festival. I am approaching the production and the events surrounding it with these questions in mind: 

• How might this production serve as an opportunity to be in conversation and in collaboration with artists, scholars, and activists across the university and the local community?
• How can I apply practices from anti-racist theatre, feminist performance collectives, emergent strategy, and consent-based intimacy direction to facilitate a highly collaborative and meaningfully inclusive production process?
• How can my directorial approach employ disability aesthetics to create a piece of theatre in which accessibility is integral to the performance and production design?

I would like the production to serve as an opportunity for collaboration between CWRU student artists and professional LGBTQ performers from the greater Cleveland area. I aim to provide mentorship and present learning opportunities students may not see in a traditional theatre program. I see this project as an opportunity to model some of the ways that new work is developed in the theatre, especially for those of us emerging artists whose identities are rarely reflected on mainstream stages.  

When and Where is the show?

The performances will take place at Maelstrom Collaborative Arts (5403 Detroit Ave.) on Friday, April 7 and Saturday, April 8 at 7:00.

What’s the story?

Synopsis: Reuben is a trans man continuing his attempts to conceive a child after the death of his husband. In processing his grief and hope, Reuben turns his insemination endeavors into moments of self-recognition by donning different costumes and personas for each try. (Juliet, Zeus, and St. Francis all make appearances.) Instead of a funerary parade, this play seeks the purpose of life for the living, for the dead, and for the not-yet-arrived. Surrounding Reuben is an ensemble of actors who provide live audio description of the onstage action. Inspired by disability aesthetics, the production approaches accessibility not as simply accommodation but as a rich opportunity for creative exploration: What layers of meaning come out when the audio description becomes a character (or three) in and of itself? How might different voices describing the action add nuance to the story and deepen our exploration of queer-trans embodiment and narrative?

My goals for student-artists involved in the project:

Students will have the chance to engage in the process of producing a brand-new play (this is the first in-person production).

 They will get to be in direct conversation with the playwright and participate in a writing workshop with them when they visit in April.

They will have an opportunity to learn from, collaborate with, and be mentored by professional artists involved in the Greater Cleveland arts community.

They will have the chance to explore performance and design aesthetics for intimate spaces that prioritize the experiences of queer, trans, and disabled artists and audiences.