THE COST OF BEING A TRANS ACTOR, AS TOLD BY SERENA MAGILIW AND ZOË DE OCAMPO

In its earliest iteration, The Trans Actor, a project wrestling with the lived experiences of trans performers in Philippine film and theater, was a documentary film, training the camera on its creators, Serena Magiliw and Zoë de Ocampo, but the two lacked the deep pockets needed for the project's fruition.

- By Lé BalTAR

"I started doing interviews with Zoë, so lumalabas-labas kami from time to time, tapos pera ko (ang) gamit," says Magiliw over Zoom. Though the duo got the backing of a production house, it unfortunately didn't pan out, forcing them to pause and mull over the project.

This month, The Trans Actor finds a second life as a workshop-performance under Trans Midya, a grant project centered on trans craft and visibility in media supported by the "Shift the Narrative Fellowship" of the Urgent Action Fund for Women's Rights, Asia & Pacific. The show is set to run this June 28-29 at Myra Beltran's Dance Forum in Quezon City.

Magiliw and de Ocampo first met in 2023 at the rehearsals for Marjay Manalastas's Virgin Labfest hit Ang Tuyom. After working on her personal project SARI/SARÍ, another workshop-performance series exploring queer-trans embodiment in film and theater, Magiliw at the time was keen on birthing another project focused on the trans experience in media. "Interested ako (about that) after meeting Zoë," continues Magiliw, "at pwede ko siyang i-share with a transmasculine experience para sa mas spectrum na pagtingin, so in-invite ko siya."

After securing a seed grant from the Goethe-Institut Philippinen, they staged the experimental docutheater performance "I'm allowed to be a fully formed person" in last August. Then came "Trans Midya," whose first leg in March featured a series of workshops and performances about trans care, trans amory, trans excellence, and trans power, helmed by the likes of Stef Aranas, Pette Shabu, and Lakan Umali, who were all part of Young STAR's 2024 Pride cover, alongside Magiliw and de Ocampo.

Magiliw says the vision for Trans Midya and all the projects it shelters comes from an intention to reclaim the trans narrative from the gaze of individuals who do not have any meaningful access to the trans experience.