Following a successful series of workshops, masterclasses, and performances for International Trans Day of Visibility on the craft of media to equip the trans being, Trans Midya’s latest offering The Trans Actor explores the economic, political, and cultural realities of trans performers in the Philippine film and theater industries.

The Trans Actor is a workshop-performance confronting the unique nature of auditions and performance-making for trans artists. Featuring the lived experiences of Serena Magiliw and Zoë de Ocampo, it attempts to document a spectrum of the performers’ identities in hopes of creating a more humane present and promising future of genuine trans representation in Filipino media. 

Trans Midya itself focuses on craft and visibility to equip the trans being of personhood, as a grant project under the “Shift the Narrative Fellowship” of the Urgent Action Fund for Women’s Rights, Asia & Pacific  (UAF, A&P).

The fellowship supports artists in Asia and the Pacific to initiate or sustain projects that critique, recast, and raise awareness on existing narratives that are harmful or invisibilized within their communities, groups, or countries. Intersectionality of themes with gender and rights are the common thread weaving across the works of all fellows.

The Trans Actor follows in the footsteps of Serena Magiliw and Zoë de Ocampo's 2024  docutheater performance, “I'm allowed to be a fully formed person” – this time supported by Tambay Times, a collective of mostly queer, trans, and non-binary creatives. They're joined by Carlo Paulo Pacolor as Mentor, Maia Dapul as Producer, Carly Avila as Creative Assistant, Neal Roxas as Creative Designer, Gio Potes as Technical Director, and James Patrick Renn Jumawan for Documentation.

Trans Midya’s The Trans Actor will close out Pride Month with limited runs on June 28 (Sat) and 29 (Sun), 3PM and 7PM, at Myra Beltran’s Dance Forum in Quezon City. 

Purchase tickets for just ₱350 here: bit.ly/the-trans-actor

Follow along on this project’s performance-making process by checking out Trans Midya’s social media pages.