Arts Desk
The Final Days of Gaurav Gopalan
Posted by Trey Graham on Sep. 21, 2011 at 4:25 pm
http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/artsdesk/theater/2011/09/21/the-final-days-of-guarav-gopalan/And so it was that on the evening of Aug. 29, at the premiere of WSC Avant Bard's Happy Days, Gaurav Gopalan surprised and delighted many of his colleagues by presenting himself as Gigi. The name was a hat-tip in the direction of his oldest friends, who'd long used his initials as a fond nickname. He may have deceived a few people that night, playfully, at least for a little: Christopher Henley remembers him chic, in sunglasses, talking to acquaintances who didn't seem to recognize Gaurav in Gigi, not giving away the game.
It seemed to be an announcement, of a sort. But Gopalan wasn't unveiling what he thought of as a transgender identity. His friends say he was clear on that.
"It was something he was exploring," Haney says. In a way that might have been connected with his spirituality, "he saw himself as male and female—everyone possesses male and female, he believed. They're both important. I think it was a small part, the newest part" of his sense of self.
