A play with an uplifting message about LGBT youth finding personal
identity received a positive reaction from the audience at its only
performance last week.
Confide in Me was performed one night only, September 6, at the
Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts. The play is about the struggles
of LGBT youth and how those often get overlooked. Starring in the play
were Sienna Williams, Elsie Phillips, Victoria Lavin, and Ali Brown, all
emerging community actors from Nicky’s Youth Theater and LGBTQ
activists.
Confide in Me was presented as a play that hoped to inspire audiences to
find personal identity, trust, and sympathy with those who share an
untold story.
Nichole Martinez, playwright, director and light operator, worked all
summer on the project. She was very happy to see it come together on
the stage, and see the audience’s reaction.
“The play shows the difficulty with family as well as the inner struggle
and the violence that can occur with the general public,” Martinez, 20,
said. “This show is about perseverance through those struggles, and
finding inner peace and the ability to choose happiness for yourself over
the comfort of the people who can not accept you.”
In the play, Mary-Anne (Williams) wants to come to terms with her
gender identity, but she has a mother who will not accept her.
Meanwhile Julie (Phillips) is fighting for her identity and the acceptance
of the people in her life. Julie and Mary-Anne must make a hard choice
between making the town happy or becoming who they really want to
be.
Martinez, who identifies as a gender-fluid lesbian, wanted to feature the
transgender community because she feels that it is under-represented.
“I included a transgender character in my play because I believe they
are the least represented in our communities,” Martinez said. “They are
discriminated against and I wanted to present a show that called
attention to the discrimination and hardships people of the LGBTQ
community have in general through my transgender character, Mary-
Anne/Martin.”
The audience’s reaction overall was very positive.
“I was really nervous that people wouldn’t understand my play or react to it the way I intended them to,” Martinez said. “But it
was a great surprise to have them laugh at the parts I intended to be comic relief, or become uncomfortable, and even think
deeply about the story I presented them. And I was really happy to find they appeared to understand, or at least respect, the story
being told. And that all really reflected during the Q&A.”
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