'One Damn Man': Transsexual pen pals pen play

[Shana A]

'One Damn Man': Transsexual pen pals pen play

Andrea Abney
Wednesday, July 23, 2008

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/07/23/NSET11QVGK.DTL

It all started with a fan letter.

Gina Grahame e-mailed Aleshia Brevard in 2003 after reading her book, "The Woman I Was Not Born to Be," about Brevard's life as a transsexual. Grahame identified with Brevard's book, both because she knew the places Brevard described in "Woman" and because Grahame is also a transsexual.

Eighteen months and 1,500 e-mails after the women started corresponding, they decided to use their relationship as the basis for a play, which resulted in "Inside/Out." The two will perform a cutting from that play on Sunday at the San Francisco Theater Festival.