Museum of Resistance and Resilience

On Femme

"Femme" was more of a traditional theater show, set on a static stage in front of an audience, but the formation of its structure was rather unique. Its characters were not simply plucked from what a single writer believes queer womxn in various socioeconomic and ethnic groups would look, think, act, and talk, instead they were formed by merging the experiences of 30 non-binary and queer womxn, allowing the structure of the narrative to be raw and realistically representative of actual experiences. As Abigail emphasized, the beauty of a theater show is that one must have been in the room where it happened to fully experience the sensory details of the show, but even after it fades into a memory, people will carry that experience into their lives, through their actions, their discussions, and perhaps even changes in how they view themselves in the world. Further, theater shows are not the same as films, as the actor’s performances differ from each show, so different audiences will have different experiences, and there often is not another chance to rewatch it, so audiences will need to grasp onto every detail and commit it to memory before it’s all over. Abigail expressed her amazement at how people still come up to her today and tell her about how Femme opened their eyes to experiences of real people similar to theirs and motivated them to find their own community, signifying just how resilient theater continues to be despite its fleeting nature.

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