The Resistance of my Skin
The Resistance of My Skin, a new show by Shannon TL Kearnes, being produced by Uprising Theatre Company at the Crane Theater is an intimate and honest look at the beginning of a relationship, as two individuals navigate how to have a healthy and supportive sexual relationship. The two individuals in this case are Ayden, a transgender man, and Jess a fat woman. They are not who you typically see portrayed on stage, which is why it was so much more refreshing to see this couple portrayed on stage. The world is not filled with thin, cis, or straight people and it is important to reflect the whole world in theater so I applaud Uprising theatre company for doing so.
The show is short, shown in one act and within it wonderfully navigates many issues around the transgender community and body positivity with such great eloquence. At times it seemed as though the dialogue was just a little too perfect. A little too good at communicating one’s feelings and insecurities. This could be because doing so allowed the play to get across so much more information to the audience, or it could be that these two individuals have to communicate about their bodies so much that they are practiced and polished in their communication.
One of the great things that Uprising Theater does, on top of doing a fantastic job of choosing important work to be produced, is incorporate community partners both before and after the show, as well as lead post-show discussions. In this case the community partners were Transforming Families, The Sexual Violence Center and Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America. Each of these partners were very well chosen and matched the shows themes. The post show discussion was also helpful in parsing out all of the topics that had been brought up in the show. Topics about violence against transgender people, how sex is different for transgender people and the pressure around ideal body size. These are delicate topics and I feel as though the post show discussion was able to handle them with just as much care as the show was.
The Resistance of My Skin is important theater. Theater that raises voices that are unfortunately often not included in many larger theaters. It is playing at the Crane Theater until February 24th, click here to learn more about how to get tickets.