A Sydney theatre director has set aside budget to audition trans men around Australia for a new play.
Sydney's Belvoir St Theatre will cast a young transgender actor in its 2017 production of Taylor Mac's Hir, a play about a nuclear family grappling with gender roles.
In the play abusive, domineering father, Arnold, has a stroke, leading his wife, Paige, to take over as head of the family. She starts force-feeding her husband oestrogen in his cocktail of stroke medications, and dressing him in drag.
Their eldest son Isaac arrives home after three years in combat in Afghanistan to discover his Dad almost motionless, and his younger sibling, now know as Max, transitioning gender.
The play's name, Hir (pronounced "Here") refers to Max's preferred gender-neutral pronoun.
"I love that [playwright Taylor Mac] has taken this kitchen sink drama and turned the volume up so much. It’s so absurd, and absolutely mad, and yet so real at the same time," director Anthea Williams told BuzzFeed News.
Williams will hold auditions for the role of Max around Australia in January.
Lucky Price, a casting consultant and transgender man working on Hir, told BuzzFeed News it was essential to cast a young transgender person as Max because visibility is a powerful tool.
"It’s so basic. Can I see myself represented in media?" he said. "Do I exist? It’s about visibility. We historically have a terrible problem with creating visibility for a lot of minorities in this country. We’re starting to get better at it, and a good place to start is by actually casting the right people.
"If one kid has the opportunity to see even a small part of them reflected back, to create some sense of belonging, that’s everything."
In recent years there has been increasing focus on films that hire male celebrity actors to play transgender women. Eddie Redmayne in The Danish Girl and Jared Leto in Dallas Buyers Club are two widely-criticised examples.
Williams believes the casting of high profile actors who are not transgender in trans roles has a simple explanation: money.
"I think the reason you cast Eddie Redmayne is because Eddie Redmayne is going to sell tickets," she said. "That’s what that’s about. That’s exactly why when you have an opportunity to cast a trans actor, you should. Because you should be trying to build up a diverse community of actors who can sell tickets."
Along with Price and the actor who plays Max, Hir's assistant designer will also be a transgender or genderqueer person.
"It's to make sure we don’t have this 17-year-old, this young person who’s possibly in the middle of transitioning, as the only person in the room with that experience," Williams said.
The role of Paige will be played by Helen Thomson and Arnold will be played by Greg Stone, who is the father of young transgender advocate Georgie Stone.
Georgie, 16, has campaigned for years to make it easier for transgender teenagers to access hormone treatment. Earlier this year, she was awarded Victorian GLBTI Person of the Year at the GLOBE Community Awards.
Williams said Stone had just been offered a role at another theatre company when she called to offer the part of Arnold. He chose Hir.
“This was the play that terrified him, so he realised he had to do it," she said.
Actors interested in auditioning for Max should contact reception@belvoir.com.au.