Bishop Arts Theatre Center presents the premiere of ‘Jet Fuel.’ (Photo by Daniel Hinton)
Playwright Amy Evans puts intersex and identity at the center of the new play ‘Jet Fuel’
RICH LOPEZ | Staff writer
Rich@dallasvoice.com
Before seeing Amy Evans’ world premiere of her new play by Bishop Arts Theatre Center, it’s important to know where it comes from. Because Evans did not write Jet Fuel about distance runner Caster Semenya. But she was inspired by the athlete and the controversy that followed her from her 2009 World Championship victory.
“I was really angered by her story. She was at such a vulnerable age when her privacy was intruded on,” Evans said. “She was, what, 18 when this sensitive and private info about her body went out into the world. That person was suddenly abused in my mind.”
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Jet Fuel
Written by: Amy Evans
Directed by: Tiana Kaye Blair
Cast:
Ali Crabtree
Victoria England
Claire Fountain
Tanasha Friar
Monica Jones
Tayla Underwood
Shanthany Wilkerson
Associate Producer: Albert Lewis Wash II
Stage Manager/Light Board Operator: Carter Wallace
Lighting Design: Caroline Hodge
Scenic Design: Rodney Dobbs
Sound Design: Claudia Martinez
Costume Design: Suzi Cranford
Projection Coordination: Natalie Rose Mabry & Camron Ware
Dialect Coach: David Jarzen
Sound & Projection Operation: Brian Do
Runs Sept. 12-22
BishopArtsTheatre.org.
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After Semenya’s 2009 Olympic victory, a sex verification test was ordered on the South African athlete after questions were raised about her identity and her improvement in race times. The test results had leaked, sparking mixed responses across the sport and world, with all eyes on her. Rules came into play that would test athletes and enforce hormone suppressants. Semenya refused.
The truth is, Caster Semenya is intersexed, and her body creates testosterone levels — referred to as “jet fuel” in the sport of running — equivalent to most males.
But the bigger truth is, Semenya is a woman.
“How do you come back from that? Especially in this arena where the talents and gifts that get you notoriety also make you vulnerable,” Evans said of Semenya’s situation.
Jet Fuel will have its world premiere when it opens on Sept. 12 at BATC. For the story though, Evans wanted to approach it differently. This isn’t a biographical drama about Semenya.
“I didn’t want to reproduce the trauma. We know what happened, and, in the show, nothing is explicitly stated. Because I didn’t need to trot out all the awful things that were done,” Evans said. “That’s not the point anymore.”
Instead, Evans says, this show is how Semenya, the character, navigates this ordeal and comes back to reclaim her own power.
“I do want to preface all this by saying Semenya is like a superstar now in South Africa and is living the life and has a wife and a baby now,” Evans went on.
“I am also conscious that Caster doesn’t use the term ‘intersex,’ so I don’t want to label her as such if she doesn’t do that.”
In writing the play, Evans had much learning to do, and her research included the documentary Too Fast to be a Woman on YouTube, race recaps and athlete interviews as well as Hida Viloria’s memoir, Born Both.
What she found the most enlightening was the idea of gender and identity being labeled as being on a spectrum.
“A biologist I was watching said there is no such thing. A spectrum assumes a binary which ultimately has an endpoint,” Evans explained. “He said, ‘If there is a binary, then show me the end of male identity and show me the end of female identity. There’s no such thing.’
“Something about that clicked for me. Plus, Mother Nature has no sense of gender identity. Things just happen as they happen.”
Sports would become Evans’ ideal metaphor because, in sports, so much is invested in that binary, with categories for men and women so embedded. And it’s not just about a gender binary, but also ableism. Evans said she is currently watching the Paralympics, and she sees how the sports world can’t exclude those with disabilities or handicaps just because someone says those athletes have to be excluded.
She said she also came to see how ideologies were manipulated in the case of Caster Semenya to benefit the haters.
“I found it interesting to explore feminist thought being twisted around and how women competitors were claiming that perspective against another woman,” she said. “Caster is one of many women who have been through some shit.”
Evans doesn’t give anything away about what happens in her play, but she does make a guarantee with Jet Fuel: “It can be a challenging play for a lot of reasons. The tricky thing is writing this to be real and empathetic but to also carefully decide who’s getting the platform and the final word,” she said.
Visit BishopArtsTheatre.org for tickets.