INTERVIEW: National Theater of Scotland’s ‘Adam’ has U.S. premiere at NYU Skirball
Photo: Adam Kashmiry and Rehanna MacDonald star in Adam, a production of the National Theater of Scotland. Photo courtesy of Eoin Carey / Provided by Helene Davis PR with permission.
Adam, the new production from the National Theater of Scotland, features Adam Kashmiry, Rehanna MacDonald and a virtual choir of trans and non-binary singers from around the world. The show tells the story of a young trans man and his journey to reconciliation with himself and his family and friends. Performances run Feb. 14-16 at NYU Skirball in New York City.
Adam is just one of the many events NYU is hosting in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising, demonstrations by the gay community that took place on the streets surrounding NYU’s campus.
For Kashmiry, Adam is a deeply personal tale. The actor was born in 1992 in Egypt and faced discrimination and harassment. He gave himself the name of Adam at the age of 14, but only in secret. Eventually drinking and drugs entered his story, and at the age of 19, he left his home and became homeless.
Recently Hollywood Soapbox exchanged emails with Kashmiry about the new show, which was conceived and directed by Cora Bissett, and written by Frances Poet. Questions and answers have been slightly edited for style.
What was the development process like for Adam? How long did it take to create?
The development process took about two years in total. The development process was certainly interesting. After telling my story to Frances, we then took the script to another level while rehearsing. We changed and worked through so many things to adapt the production and portray the lives of the trans community as much as possible.
Are all the stories, emotions and feelings on stage based on your own experiences?
Not all the story of Adam is 100 percent based on my experience. You can say the seeds of the story are inspired by my life experience, but the actual events of the play might be a little different to my life, which is something that I and the creative team all agreed on and wanted. It was good to include other trans people’s experiences as well, to represent a bigger community in a sense.
The show has a unique staging and features a virtual international choir. How did this idea develop?
Cora Bissett came up with this brilliant idea actually; she really wanted to [give] justice to the community and give the show as many voices as she could. A project manager came on board to reach out to trans people internationally to invite them to be part of the show. They formed the The Adam World Choir who have now also contributed to a book of international transgender stories from across the world, I AM.
Emily James designed the set after hearing Cora’s vision. She created the set and staging to represent Adam’s brain in a sense. This totally makes sense when you see the show!
How difficult was it growing up in a world that didn’t always support the transgender and LGBT communities?
Very difficult indeed. Being transgender is hard enough as it is. Imagine adding the burden of family, friends, work and random people on the street to that as well. It can be extremely exhausting to just do simple things. That’s why the suicide rate for young transgender people is so high! We don’t have the things people take for granted every single moment, like the right body parts, the right shape, the right hands and face and so on. If your clothes are tight or itchy, you would take them off, but we can’t take our skin off just as easy. So imagine wearing something horrible for every single moment for decades.
What do you hope audience members learn from Adam?
I think I am always hoping for some compassion and empathy towards the trans community. It is so easy to judge us and believe everything the media says about us when you don’t really know what our lives are like, but if you can go away after you see our show, and have it possibly change the way you look at the trans community, then that would [be] phenomenal!
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Adam, a production of the National Theater of Scotland, plays Feb. 14-16 at NYU Skirball in Manhattan. Click here for for more information and tickets.
