Antoni

My name's Antoni. I'm a 23-year-old trans man, and I've been a performer for 21 years, and it has really, really shaped how I have perceived myself as a trans person.

When growing up, I would be given all of the masc roles in like ballet or in like a Eistedfodd pieces. And I'd be like, why am I being given the boy bits? Even though I was like kind of excited to be the boy bits. Like I was given a boy wig and I was like, oh, I like my hair short. I didn't ever put the pieces together.

During dance and stuff, I'd constantly strive to do all the ‘boy’ things, like the ‘boy jumps’ and the ‘boy turns’, because I thought that they were really impressive. Not because I thought that they fit in my heart and soul better. It's fine. We'll come to that at a later point.

And in theatre, I was always given femme presenting roles, like in the ensemble or as a featured dancer. And it never really quite fit. I never felt comfy. I looked good doing it because I knew technically what looked good on my body. But I never felt right. I never felt natural.

So I'm really thankful that I've been given masc presenting opportunities. I played William Shakespeare in a cabaret recently, and that felt very comfortable in my body. But then it also made me explore my sexuality in a different way. And I realised at the time I was like, oh. It made me change a lot of my labels and it felt really good to change my labels. So I'm really thankful that I got given those opportunities.

We love Brisbane Theatre. Brisbane Theatre is going to continue getting better. I'm really thankful for that.