Heyyyyyyyy so I'm in an upcoming theatre performance, and yesterday someone asked me if I was a chimney sweep (background men's role) and I panicked and said no... Now I'm stuck as one of the female characters... Any advice on talking to my director about maybe changing that? (I'm ftm btw)
Is it a main character, or one of the background characters? If you’re playing a main or secondary character I’d talk to your director and ask if you could be a background character like a chimney sweep because you have stage fright/anxiety about being in a main role. If you’re a background character I would suggest simply asking if you could have a male role instead. You don’t have to elaborate if you don’t want or need to, the good thing about theatre is that most people don’t really care what gender the person playing the role is (unless they’re an asshole).
So if you feel comfortable I’d definitely recommend talking to your director about switching roles. If they ask why, just explain that you’d feel more comfortable playing a men’s role. You don’t need to out yourself, most people accept that some ‘women’ and ‘girls’ are tomboys.
Good luck!
