‘Trans Identity’ will be a part of a Shakespeare Play in Minnesota Festival

At the Minnesota Fringe Festival, a college student interpreted William Shakespeare’s play, “Twelfth Night,” through a “trans identity” perspective. No, this is not a joke:

At the Minnesota Fringe Festival—a nonprofit “with a mission to connect adventurous artists with adventurous audiences”—a group of students from the University of Minnesota is reinterpreting the play through the “lens” of “trans identity,” according to The Minnesota Daily.

“[The character of Viola] is very clearly trans to me,” [actor Henry Ellen] Sansone said. “I decided I wanted to explore [the play] through that lens.”

Sansone, who identifies as transgender, claims that “It’s almost always someone who’s cisgender playing that role…So it felt urgent, because that’s not a very visible lens in Shakespeare and the theater.”

Related Topics