Becoming a Man in 127 EASY Steps

"Like some sexually ambiguous Scheherazade, ... Schofield comes across more as a loveable neighborhood kid bursting with energy and insight than an agenda-waving political zealot. Bottom line: [Becoming a Man in 127 EASY Steps is] one of the year’s most essential theater experiences." - Wendell Brock, Atlanta Journal-Constitution

In "Becoming a Man in 127 EASY Steps," Scott Turner Schofield employs multimedia storytelling, silk fabric acrobatics, and audience participation to reveal just a few of the 127 stories that compose the life of a guy who just happens to have been born a girl.

Irreverent and dynamic, graceful and playful, this one-person show engages the deep questions and the locker room jokes about what it means to become a man. Moving beyond the transgender narrative that focuses on the experience of transition, Schofield's stories explore the drama and hilarity of living a new life in the "opposite" gender.

"I changed my sex. Now what?"

The aerial dance component of the show brings a dynamism that pushes the boundaries of traditional storytelling solo performance. Suspended at center stage by 20' length of blood red fabric, Schofield dances, climbs, hides, and seeks in a delicate choreography of brute strength and beautiful flexibility. The show's Choose Your Own Adventure format invites viewers to decide--live--which stories they will hear during each performance. Of course, you can't have all 127 stories in one night, and you never know what a performance artist might reveal....

Maybe it's the (necessary and fun) nudity, maybe it's the intimacy of the storytelling, or maybe it's the collaborative, improvisational style that keeps audiences returning to experience untold stories and the fresh interplay created every single night. Since its Seattle debut in October 2007, "Becoming a Man in 127 EASY Steps" has sold out every engagement, in venues of 50 to 300, from Miami to Anchorage and unexpected markets in between.

Technical Requirements

Company

2 Company Members (Artist and Technical Director)
1 board operator required

Space
Professional performance space, preferably configurable to a three-quarter thrust
1.5 day load-in
16' minimum ceiling at grid
Weight-bearing beam at center stage

Lighting
Video projection capabilities

Contact Technical Director for light specifics

Other

1 mattress - queen size minimum, NO air mattresses, 8" thickness minimum. 

6-8 seat and back sofa cushions (from base and back of sofa)

4-6 throw pillows

1 cardboard box per 2 shows

For further technical inquiries including lighting and sound specifics, please contact Matt Lawrence, vladmatt [at] yahoo [dot] com

Two Truths and a Lie

Two Truths and a Lie

a memoir written & performed
by Scott Turner Schofield

Price: U.S.$15.00

ISBN-10: 0-9785973-2-X

ISBN-13: 978-0-9785973-2-0

Homofactus Press
homofactuspress.com

Two Truths and a Lie is a memoir passing as three solo plays written and performed by Scott Turner Schofield. From inside his young life on the Homecoming Court and Debutante Ball circuit (in a dress), armed with only a decoder ring and a gifted tongue, Schofield comes out with truly unbelievable stories of a body in search of an identity. By turns slapstick and slap-to-the-face, this drama invites audiences and readers to explore gender, sex, sexuality, and self in their own first person.

2009 American Library Association Rainbow List

2008 Lambda Literary Award Finalist in Drama and Transgender Categories

"I am completely mad for Scott Turner Schofield. He is a thrilling, compelling, and downright charming writer and performance artist. And handsome. Did I mention handsome? And smart. Buy this book. Read it." - Kate Bornstein, author of Hello, Cruel World

"A provocative and compelling storyteller, Turner helps us to look at gender in a new way, face our prejudices, and have fun while doing it." - Amy Ray, Indigo Girls

"Scott Turner Schofield's storytelling is so honest, his approach so unique, his style so unselfconscious and disarming, that his shows will have you wrapped around his pinkie in no time. I've seen this Southern gent win over the most jaded of New York theater audiences with one wry smile and a perfectly placed raised eyebrow. He's the real thing - and nothing less than a national treasure." - T Cooper, bestselling author of Lipshitz Six, or Two Angry Blondes and Some of the Parts

"A bright, sharp and an important new performer in this country." - Tim Miller, Performance Artist

"A generous, tender, and brilliant walk through one man's becoming, Two Truths and a Lie is full of the kind of sweet and bold words that don't come along very often. All of us who've wished we could freeze time and savor the language of Turner's performance work may now rejoice." - S. Bear Bergman, author of Butch Is a Noun and The Nearest Exit May Be Behind You

Technical Requirements for Reading

This is not a stodgy reading. An armchair with a small table by the side is preferred over a lectern. 

Lighting

General wash with ability to dim for projections

1 Projector with cable of sufficient length to hook up to Apple laptop on stage.

1 Projector screen or blank wall

Sound

In-house amplification with cable of sufficient length to hook up to Apple laptop on stage.

1 microphone

Debutante Balls show & tech

Three Gala Balls, Two Southern Towns, One Leopard Print Dress.

Do YOU have the balls to be a Debutante?

"Debutante Balls" is a theatrical stand-up comedy dance through the fascinating culture of the Southern Debutante Ball. Schofield's wicked sense of self-aware humor and poetic sensibility guide us gently (or is that genteel-ly?) through the many ways he "came out" into Southern Society (as a lesbian, radical feminist, and finally, as a transgender man), poking fun at gender roles and sniffing the vapors of nostalgia gone-with-the-wind in these modern times. Applauded by Judith (Jack) Halberstam and the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity alike, this is a generous, insightful, not-to-be-missed solo show.

"Blanche DuBois would have died." - Time Out New YorkFruitie Audience Choice Award for Off-Broadway Performance

Technical Requirements

Personnel: * 3 technical staff to run light and sound:
1 – on follow spot
1 – on light board
1 – on sound

Lighting: * 1 Follow spotlight. (May be substituted for white special on face at Center Stage, but this is not ideal)
* General lighting plot with distinct pools left, right, and center.
* 1 leko upstage center, pointed downstage center, into dress.
* 1 mirror ball (if available)

Sound: * CD player OR laptop connection.

Other: * Two gallons of sweetened iced tea each night
* See-through, restaurant-style pitchers for pouring
* Small Dixie Cups (they must be Dixie brand, please no cartoon characters) equal to # of tickets sold.
* 2 Ushers to pour on cue.
* 8'x4' platform, no more than 8” high, painted bright white
(this is ideal, but not a dealbreaker)

Page to Stage Workshop

In addition to consistently sold-out performances, Scott Turner Schofield’s residencies include lectures, and workshops with youth and administrators in college, municipal, and corporate settings. This combination of advocacy and art has significantly changed non-discrimination policies nationwide. 

Page to Stage Making Performance for Social Change

For: Artists of any definition or skill level. 

Duration: 1.5-3hrs.

Participants are introduced to the many ways that performance is used to make social change, and are then challenged to create their own. Ideas are performed and/or discussed, with attention paid to clarity of content and message, audience, and venue. Participants leave with a performance kernel and tactics for completing and spreading their art.

Trans 101 Workshop

In addition to consistently sold-out performances, Scott Turner Schofield’s residencies include lectures, and workshops with youth and administrators in college, municipal, and corporate settings. This combination of advocacy and art has significantly changed non-discrimination policies nationwide. 

Trans 101 Queer Theory in Practice

For: Community groups & classes. 

Duration: 45mins-2hrs.

Participants are introduced to definitions of gender, and the sticky parts of our labels, through interactive lecture and personal Q&A. Heritage, class, physical ability, sexuality and more are discussed as complimentary and complicating factors to aid participants in deciding how to be good allies, and build community.

Strange Bedfellows

In addition to consistently sold-out performances, Scott Turner Schofield’s residencies include lectures, and workshops with youth and administrators in college, municipal, and corporate settings. This combination of advocacy and art has significantly changed non-discrimination policies nationwide. 

Strange Bedfellows

Fraternities, Sororities, and LGBTQ Students on Campus

Participants learn definitions of gender and sexuality as they relate to the commonalities between these historically separate groups. In an interactive discussion, participants identify ways to be inclusive, create guidelines for good allyship, and make commitments for meaningful interaction among clubs. Also offered only to Greek System participants, addressing inter-group dynamics and policies related to sexuality and gender identity.

Transgender Inclusion Workshop

In addition to consistently sold-out performances, Scott Turner Schofield’s residencies include lectures, and workshops with youth and administrators in college, municipal, and corporate settings. This combination of advocacy and art has significantly changed non-discrimination policies nationwide. 

Transgender Inclusion

Practice Makes Perfect

For: Allies in all professions—particularly public safety, health, and administration—seeking to create safe spaces for transpeople in their community(ies). 

Duration: 2 hrs

Participants confront obstacles that limit inclusion in their specific community(ies). A brainstorm session follows, sharing ideas, practices, and skills to overcome them with the goal of creating a concrete plan of action.

Trans-Community Forum

In addition to consistently sold-out performances, Scott Turner Schofield’s residencies include lectures, and workshops with youth and administrators in college, municipal, and corporate settings. This combination of advocacy and art has significantly changed non-discrimination policies nationwide. 

Trans-Community Forum

For: People who are, care about, or want to learn more about TG folks.

Duration: 2.5 hrs

*Requires a panel of 5 individuals of diverse experiences / identities

The Trans-Community Forum privileges storytelling over rhetoric, everyday issues over political and philosophical questions of identity. Participants are invited to tell short stories about their lives as transgender people, friends, family, lovers, allies, onlookers and bystanders to transgender communities.

Gender Self Esteem Workshop

In addition to consistently sold-out performances, Scott Turner Schofield’s residencies include lectures, and workshops with youth and administrators in college, municipal, and corporate settings. This combination of advocacy and art has significantly changed non-discrimination policies nationwide. 

Gender Self Esteem: Loving Non-Conformity for All Bodies and Identities

For: Transgender individuals of any identity or experience.

Duration: 2 hours - 2 days

Participants will identify their positive traits as they relate to their lives as gender non-conforming or transgender people. They will link these traits to the places in their lives where their strength is most needed, and create a plan for linking their truths to their individual powers in an everyday context.

About Scott Turner Schofield

Scott Turner Schofield is a man who was a woman, a lesbian turned straight guy who is usually taken for a gay teenager. A former debutante and homecoming queen coming out in the Deep South, the work and the life on which it is based contain hilarious contradictions bordered with the possibility of terrifying consequences. Key to the work is a keen awareness of culture and self that maintains an accessible perspective even within the most particular of circumstances.



As Kt Kilborn, Schofield interned for lesbian performance artists Holly Hughes and Carmelita Tropicana, who directly influenced her early work. She then spent two years working for Amy Ray (of the Indigo Girls) at Daemon Records, where she learned a blend of art and activism that served as her model for making a community impact as a touring performer.



Kilborn's social, medical, and legal transition to Scott Turner Schofield began in 2004, when he simultaneously became a full-time performance artist. Schofield tours year-round, working on college campuses as often as at theatrical institutions. In addition to consistently sold-out performances, his residencies include lectures, workshops with youth (including fraternities and sororities) and administrators in college, municipal, and corporate settings. This combination of advocacy and art has significantly changed non-discrimination policies nationwide.



Schofield is the recipient of several awards for his performance work, among them a "Fruitie" for Off-Broadway Performance; a 2007 Princess Grace Foundation Fellowship in Acting; and a Creation Fund Commission from the National Performance Network for "Becoming a Man...," supported by The (Alpert Award Winning) Pat Graney Company (Seattle), DiverseWorks (Houston) and 7 Stages (Atlanta). 



Two Truths and a Lie is a collection of three autobiographical solo performances which have toured nationally to critical acclaim: "Underground Transit" (2001), "Debutante Balls" (2004) and "Becoming a Man in 127 EASY Steps" (2007). The book features a foreword by noted feminist scholar Judith (Jack) Halberstam. It was a finalist for 2 Lambda Literary Awards in 2008, and was included on the American Library Association's Rainbow List in 2009.



In addition to touring his solo work, Schofield acts and writes for theater and film.



Interview requests can be made at booktransperformance@gmail.com. 

Honors & Awards
2012 - Change Agent Award from Emory University
 office LGBT Life
2009 - Two Truths and a Lie Finalist in Drama and Transgender Categories for Lambda Literary Awards

2009 - Two Truths and a Lie included on American Library Association's Rainbow List

2008 - Named "Best Trans Activist" by Southern Voice Readers

2008 - Named "Best Local Author" by Atlanta's Creative Loafing Readers

2008 - First FTM Grand Marshal of the Atlanta Pride Parade

2008 - "Fruitie" Award for Off Broadway Performance at the Fresh Fruit Festival 

2007 - Princess Grace Foundation Gant Gaither Fellowship in Acting

2007 - Triple-Commission from the National Performance Network Creation Fund

2006 - Named a "Young Trans Hero" by The Advocate 

2004 - Tanne Foundation Award for Commitment to Artistic Excellence

2002 - Name "Atlanta's Best Local Artist" by Southern Voice Readers