Non-binary Broadway actors weigh in on gendered Tony Awards categories : NPR

Alex Newell has been nominated for a Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical.

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Emilio Madrid/Shucked

Alex Newell has been nominated for a Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical.

Emilio Madrid/Shucked

Most theatre, film and television awards have gender-specific performance categories, but in recent years some theatrical ceremonies have removed gender distinctions.

Not the Tony Awards, Broadway’s highest honors.

But in June, for the first time, there’s a chance that a few non-binary artists will bring home some statues.

“We don’t sex other people’s professions,” said Alex Newell, who plays a female character, Lulu, in the new musical. Scaled. “You say, I’m going to my doctor, I’m going to my dentist, and I need to hire a plumber.”

Newell, who describes himself as a non-binary and gender-nonconforming actor, is nominated for Best Featured Actor in a Musical, the category in which he chose to be recognized. Why actor and not actress? “The word itself is not gendered,” they said. “It’s my job. It’s my calling. I’m an actor.”

The issue of gendered acting categories came to the fore in February, when Justin David Sullivan, who identifies as non-binary trans, made his Broadway debut as May in the musical & Juliet, but declined to be considered for a Tony.

“I’m a non-binary human and I’m playing a non-binary lead in a Broadway musical, which we really don’t see a lot,” Sullivan said. “So I think for them to ask if I would prefer to be seen more as, you know, male or female, I just felt like I couldn’t legitimately make that call.”

Justin David Sullivan declined to be considered for a Tony for & Juliet because they didn’t want to have to choose a gender category.

Matthew Murphy/and Juliet

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Justin David Sullivan declined to be considered for a Tony for & Juliet because they didn’t want to have to choose a gender category.

Matthew Murphy/and Juliet

Sullivan made a public statement saying, “I hope awards shows across the industry expand their scope to honor and reward people of all gender identities,” which created a lot of discussion. Sullivan said they weren’t prepared for this.

“I’m just, you know, a human at the end of the day and when something like that comes out people can take your words and twist them however they want,” they said. But Sullivan said the Broadway community and other non-binary performers have shown them “an ocean of support, love and care.”

Many theater awards across the country have chosen to make performance awards gender-neutral, including Washington’s Helen Hayes Awards, Chicago’s Jeff Awards, and New York’s Drama Desk, which awards both Broadway theater and Off-Broadway.

David Barbour, co-chairman of the Drama Desk Awards, said for years they had gender-neutral performance categories, until they realized more men than women were taking the honors. At that time, they moved on to gendered categories – but this year they came back.

“It really became apparent to us that there were a number of performances by non-binary artists that were most likely going to be in the mix when the nominations came out,” Barbour said. “And it’s not our business to tell actors who they are. We’re not here to define them.”

However, the Tony Awards, who declined to comment on this story, do not yet seem to agree. It doesn’t bother everyone the same way.

“The change is gradual,” said J. Harrison Ghee, who stars in Some like it hot. “It’s not necessarily going to happen immediately for everyone.”

J. Harrison Ghee as Jerry/Daphne in Some like it hot. They are nominated for a Tony for best actor in a musical.

Matthew Murphy / Some Like It Hot

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J. Harrison Ghee as Jerry/Daphne in Some like it hot. They are nominated for a Tony for best actor in a musical.

Matthew Murphy / Some Like It Hot

Ghee, who is up for a Tony for best actor in a musical based on the classic film, plays a male bassist named Jerry, who dresses up as a woman named Daphne in order to join an all-female band to hide from the crowd. That’s when they find out… that they really like it.

“It’s fun to have the opportunity to show the humanity of Jerry/Daphne,” Ghee said. “The fullness of an experience. And just removing the labels, the limits, the filters that we always put on it.”

Justin David Sullivan said it was a sign things were starting to change. “We’re starting to see a shift in the type of stories being told and making sure that, you know, these characters exist, because just like in real life, we as people exist.”