Transgender Performers on How Art and Identity Inform Each Other

[Shana A]

Transgender Performers on How Art and Identity Inform Each Other
By Simi Horwitz
December 9, 2011

http://www.backstage.com/bso/news-and-features-features/transgender-performers-on-how-art-and-identity-1005638752.story

The statuesque and striking Bianca Leigh admits that exposing one of her breasts in her one-person musical "Busted" was a vulnerable moment. But it was not gratuitous, confessional, or therapeutic, she says, despite her being a transgender woman.

Indeed, Leigh never planned to write a piece about the transgender experience, but she felt that audiences were ready, and so was she. "With humor, I showed how the abuse of power can affect any disenfranchised person," she says. "Busted" recounts what happened when she was arrested for alleged solicitation.