Head Over Heels at Salesianum School Theatre
Queer History and Its Importance
Queer representation is becoming more and more prevalent in today’s media, and likewise important. When I heard that Salesianum School Theatre (SST) was putting on a production of Head Over Heels for their 2022-23 season, I knew I had to be a part of it.
When I auditioned for the role of Pythio, the nonbinary Oracle of Delphi warning Arcadia of chaos and mass extinction, I was aware of some of the strings attached to the role. Being a female-presenting person playing an incredibly queer role in an all-boys Catholic high school production would obviously come with its challenges.
At some point, however, the stakes rose higher than I had ever wanted to imagine. In the middle of our production, a bill was signed in Tennessee restricting drag in public places or in the presence of minors. Suddenly—if I were in Tennessee—I would be breaking the law. But let’s start from the beginning of the rehearsal process with some character background and queer education.
Head Over Heels is essentially queer utopia; the entire show revolves around queer representation and self-discovery, and most importantly, acceptance. The whole show was double-cast—that is, a different performer played each role during the first weekend vs. the second weekend of the show.
I shared my role, Pythio, with a friend who attends Salesianum School. Given we have completely different gender identities and experiences in real life, playing the same role could have been very difficult in terms of character development. This is where dramaturgy comes in. SST has a fantastic dramaturgy program, which we were both able to use as a resource to fully understand our character and relate to their experiences. From their work and my own, I’d like to share with you some history.
Identifying outside of the gender binary is nothing new. In fact, records of these “other” identities is recorded in some of the world’s earliest civilizations. Mesopotamian myths featured many references to individuals who were neither male nor female. Alongside these individuals were Hijras in the Indian subcontinent, and the two-spirit identity within Native American communities. Within these societies, these “other” identities held valuable roles such as religious leaders and healers; most importantly, they were people. They were seen, treated, and respected as all other people.
Along with the history of nonbinary gender identities, we researched the history and art of drag. In our production, Pythio was played in drag. This was in part because of how different I looked from the other actor playing Pythio, but also to highlight the strength and regality of Pythio as a character.
With frequent RuPaul’s Drag Race references in my character’s lines, I knew drag would be fitting—and so came more history and dramaturgy work. Aside from watching countless hours of Drag Race for inspiration behind my makeup designs and gestures, I turned to one of my favorite books: Legendary Children: The First Decade of RuPaul’s Drag Race and the Last Century of Queer Life.
We discussed everything from the Stonewall Riots to Club Kids, Paris is Burning to 5ninthavenueproject. It was incredibly important to not only learn the history and culture behind these aspects of queer life, but to understand it. I know that as a white, queer, female-presenting person, my experiences will never compare to the hardships of the queer people of color who came before me. They paved the way to make the world a more accepting environment for the people of my generation. However, this work is being undone by recent legislation, such as the drag ban in Tennessee.
Performing shows like Head Over Heels is more important than ever in today’s political climate. It is our job as artists to educate audiences on issues of hate and inequality that make our society ever more hostile to oppressed communities, a construct we have created to ostracize people who differ from us in ways ultimately unimportant. We have turned basic human rights surrounding people of differing race, gender, and sexual orientation into issues of politics. I am incredibly grateful to Salesianum School Theatre for allowing me to be a part of the art-making process to combat these issues and make our community a more accepting environment for everyone. ▼
Olivia Segeda (she/they) is a senior of Padua Academy (class of ’23) and incoming freshman Drama major at Hofstra University.