Ar/Tv trans: building rights from theatre

They created the cooperative in 2010, and the success of their production of Federico García Lorca's "The House of Bernarda Alba" took them on tour for five seasons. The first week of December they organize a theater festival in the town of 25 de Mayo, and by 2017 they want to become a production company…

November 24, 2016

They created the cooperative in 2010, and the success of their staging of Federico García Lorca's "The House of Bernarda Alba" took them on tour for five seasons. The first week of December they are organizing a theater festival in the town of 25 de Mayo, and by 2017 they aim to become a content production company. Ar/tv trans is an artistic space that seeks to create from personal experiences. According to the National Registry of Persons, there have been 7,500 legal gender changes in Argentina since the enactment of the Gender Identity Law, approved in May 2012. This legislation settled a long-standing demand with the right to a name that corresponds to one's self-perceived gender, whether male or female (the possibility of other identities, such as transvestite or gender neutral, is still pending). But the cultural shift needed for other rights to be realized is not keeping pace with the laws: access to formal employment is one of the essential requirements for moving from legal equality to real equality. While "trans quota" bills are spreading across the country to promote state-run employment, cooperative initiatives like Ar/Tv trans are succeeding through sheer willpower. "The cooperative started six years ago out of the need to find our own space, create work, and make theater from a personal perspective, taking stories that could resonate with our experiences from a different, inclusive angle," Emma Serna, president of Ar/Tv trans, told Presentes . "Asserting your gender identity is difficult anywhere in the world, even if you have everything in your favor. It's a decision that starts within yourself, in your very being; it's not something to take lightly. Often, people label you as having to prostitute yourself because you're trans: starting from this common misconception, our intention is to create other opportunities." The cooperative is made up of 14 people, mostly trans, but not exclusively. They performed plays like Federico García Lorca's "The House of Bernarda Alba" for five consecutive seasons, achieving success that led to performances in several provinces and even Uruguay. "After the time it took us to complete all the paperwork to become a legal cooperative, a key moment was when we started taking courses with professionals, training sessions, and intensive workshops," Serna explained. She added that for 2017 they plan to open a fashion and production division, a literary division, a service division, and a theater workshop division: "The next goal is for the traditional theater and acting market to begin considering Ar/Tv trans as a registered trademark, as a content producer, a place to turn to. We are working towards that." During the first week of December, Ar/Tv trans will host a festival in the Buenos Aires town of 25 de Mayo, where, in addition to presenting the play "La irredenta" by Beatriz Mosquera, there will be a panel discussion on trans identities led by RITTA (Network of Intersex, Transgender and Transsexual People of Argentina) and a haute couture fashion show featuring designs by the Estilo Diversa Cooperative.

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