LEANNA KEYES
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PERPETUAL AUTUMN

from the 2012 performance
This multimedia solo performance piece explores how figures from my past have imprinted themselves on various parts of my body, and how all medical tests are simple, nothing-to-worry-about routine tests, until they aren't.

Excerpt:

"I had this idea that my gender dysphoria could be cured by love; that if I could just fall in love with a woman and be a man, all my feelings of being female would go away. And I did fall in love. The feelings stayed. She was the first person I came out to, in a day of happy coincidences. We went to the mall; on a whim, she asked me to try on some 'girl clothes.' Later that night, wrapped around her and crying with fear, I told her that I was transgender. Most couples don’t survive that transition. Her response was, 'well, in that case, you should know that I’m bisexual, so that really works for me!'

I would say that Em gave me this heart, but that doesn’t even begin to cover it."




PRODUCTION HISTORY

2012: Devised with guidance from Helen Paris.
2012: Performed as part of "Performance Making: Process."

CHARACTERS

LEANNA - A trans woman who is a composite of many people.
EMILY - A far-flung partner who receives an unexpected call.
the leaves