K. Woodzick

  • Engaged Arts and Humanities Scholar 2019-20
  • THEATRE & DANCE

Woodzick is a PhD student in Theatre and Performance Studies. They hold an MFA in Contemporary Performance from Naropa University. Their work focuses on empowering members of the LGBTQIA+ community to create their own narratives. In 2018, they founded the Non-Binary Monologues Project, which features monologues written by and for non-binary, transgender and gender non-conforming artists. Woodzick is using this cohort and program as an opportunity to continue to explore and extend this work.

Students in the Engaged Arts and Humanities Graduate Student Scholars program participate in the development of a community-engaged scholarship "partner" project. Below, please read about Woodzick's project and their approach to this work. 

In the Fall of 2017, I founded an online resource for transgender and non-binary actors called “The Non-Binary Monologues Project”. This project will be in service to that database and will comission eleven Colorado playwrights to write new pieces that will culminate in two public performances featuring local trans and non-binary talent. 

The inaugural playwriting cohort is a mix of emerging and established local playwrights. In the spring, the writers will each submit the first draft of their monologue. At that point, I will pair them with a local trans or non-binary performer to help them dramaturg the piece and evetualy perform it. In Fall 2019, all of the writers and actors will meet to rehearse and be in conversation with each other. 

This project is designed to engage the community in supporting trans and non-binary talent. Whether it’s writing a new piece or being an audience member, the hope for this project is that it will continue to inspire current LGBTQIA+ allies and others to action.

The discipline of theater and performance studies is uniquely positioned to affect the greatest amount of change in the shortest amount of time. Enabling audiences to see trans and non-binary performers read words specifically written for them is a revolutionary theatrical act that I firmly believe can inspire people towards love and tolerance of people who are different from them. 

My wheelhouse is definitely practice as research. I am passionate about creating a piece of theatre that has the capacity to cultivate empathy in the course of about 90 minutes, whereas a journal article is there if people know how and where to look for it. 

I love bringing people together as a community and honoring that as a scholarly practice. 

As a non-binary actor, I found it exponentionaly more difficult to navigate audition and rehearsal rooms after coming out. I sincerely believe that it is my life’s work to make the theatre industry as a whole, and training programs specifically, more inclusive of gender diversity. We need to have trans and non-binary bodies on our stages because theatre is about exploring the whole range of humanity. Therefore, it is crucial that we include trans and non-binary artists on all levels of the production process.