Jo

Hi, I'm Jo. My pronouns are she/her. I've been doing theatre for 20 years this year actually which is a very long time. I don't look that old, I know.

But my transition started at a time when I was finally getting roles after a very long time of not. And so it was actually probably, it sounds a bit, I guess, glib, but it was one of the scariest things to me was knowing that the more that I got into my transition, the harder it was going to be for me to be able to access theatre roles that are affirming for me, because I had traditionally played masc roles.

For a little while that was okay and I just played masc roles and then came off stage and it was me. But then I got to a point where it was causing too much dysphoria. I feel really lucky that I've had some opportunities to perform in things like cabarets where I've been able to I guess portray authentic characters to me.

And I have also recently gotten into the creative side of theatre. And I will be directing my first solo direction show later this year, which is very exciting! It is a queer story that's always spoken to me. And I think it's even more important now, or just as important now as it was back in the early 2000s when I first discovered it.

I have no regrets about transitioning. I'm so happy to be living as me. But it does make the theatre world interesting when things change.