Over its lifetime, American Musical Theater with its bright lights and rapturous songs has offered itself both as a playground of transformation and an outlet of escape to limiting power structures. Yet fixed to the mainstream as popular entertainment, musical theater has historically enforced structures oppressive to the very marginalized individuals it offers a refuge. For queer, trans, and gender-nonconforming musical theater artists, this means navigating a space claiming welcomeness while simultaneously hindering access. In recent conversations around equity and inclusion, musical theater has been outed for its clashing reputation and reality. And as the exclusion of marginalized groups has become less publicly tolerable, musical theater risks its already wavering lifeline. Inclusion must come, or else it's curtains for America's second-favorite pastime. With the demand to evolve, musical theater has made steps to include queer identities it typically prefers waiting in the wings. Yet, any steps taken without a clear understanding of musical theater's attachment to gender are of little use. Understanding gender as a construct, its cultural impact on music, connection to economic power, and subsequent industry practices, are the first steps to addressing systematic exclusion. Following this groundwork, contemporary approaches to musical theater can be proposed with a sense of what needs to be changed and why.

Problematics in Gender Analysis

Before I continue, I'd like to address some difficulties regarding explorations of gender. Assessments of masculinity or femininity often feel unsubstantiated. Partly because ideas around gender are more often understood or implied rather than written down. But largely because these ideas will often vary or contradict altogether. In fact, there often seem to be exceptions to the gender binary everywhere. How can one be thought of as 'X' when some view it as 'Y'? Or, how can something be 'X' in one situation and 'Y' in another? Reasons the gender binary is accepted with considerable exceptions to its rules are tied to its subdivided definition.  Subdivision, or the process of dividing assessments into subcategories, allows gender the flexibility to float past these numerous acceptions. [1] For example, dogs are widely considered more masculine than cats, yet certain breeds are viewed as more masculine than others; poodles and pit bulls are not gendered the same way.  "Divisions of gender make the gender binary appear to be timeless, even as cultures are constantly changing. Subdivision, then, makes the gender binary endlessly flexible, able to accommodate whatever challenges and changes it encounters."[2] This process assists gender in making it a “complex cultural system rather than a single, rigid division of the world into masculine and feminine.”[3] So as assessments of what is typically thought masculine or feminine come up, it's important to note that word: typical. Not always, not everywhere, not for everyone. So, when thinking about artists through the lens of gender it's helpful to remember most voices exist on a spectrum. Rarely does any voice fit perfectly inside definitions of masculinity or femininity, as total satisfaction to those descriptors is impossible.[4] In fact, one may discover that a combination of both masculine and feminine qualities may make more sense in expressing a certain gender. 

Gender as a Social Construct

Gender, like other hierarchical systems, often acts as a navigator informing what, how, and by whom something should be expressed. Operating under a complex concatenation of behaviors, gender governs all aspects of communication ranging from adopted speech, dress styles, preferred communicative modes, personal associations, social roles, attitudes, self-concept, and social values.[5] These ideals, none of which depend on biological differences, are present throughout our entire lives, even before they begin[6]. Adherence to binary ideas of speech, attributes, and activities creates a pervasive hierarchy of gender elevating those who follow the rules and punishing those who do not. Professors of Sociology Lisa Wade and Myra Marx Ferree explain, "We follow gender rules for a wide range of reasons, including habit, pleasure, and, importantly the reactions we expect to receive from others"[7] Beginning with the ability to separate male and female voices at 6 months, concepts of binary gender are learned early in development as ranges of pitch are connected to either men or women by a child's first year.[8] Psychologists Carol Martin and Diane Ruble write, "By the age of five, children develop an impressive constellation of stereotypes about gender that they apply to themselves and others. They use these stereotypes to form impressions of others, to help guide their behavior, to direct their attention, and organize their memories."[9] Maintained through habit, adult relationships to gender continue to be motivated not only by reward but also by the knowledge that refusal to do so will result in social unintelligibility. This means that response to these rewards and consequences are negotiated daily, making gender a consistent and active process[10].

So what does cultural intelligibility stand for in terms of gender? For most of America today and certainly during the development of musical theater, gender-based cultural intelligibility designated persons as either someone male-bodied who should be masculine or female-bodied who should be feminine. This standard not only designates rules to be followed but also sorts individuals into a power structure that gender creates. Wade and Ferry write, "Most of us still live in societies that symbolically equate the exercise of power with masculinity…If you want to communicate that a person, idea, or institution is weak or strong, we often do so with gendered language"[11] To witness how masculinity has continued to be understood as power, simply observe any of the critically influential cultural pillars active in our lives today such as religion, art, entertainment, government, family, or work. Almost every cultural institution currently operates or maintains significant connections to patriarchal structures. So within this “modified patriarchy” we find ourselves in a world that not only operates under detailed gender expectations but one that “imbues men, masculine people, and masculinized activities with more status, value, and power.”[12]

 

“Music has the power independently of the concepts, to prepare the audience in an immediate way, imaginatively, for the reception of simplified texts which can only be absorbed through the experience of reason music.”[13]

-Augusto Boal, Theater of The Oppressed

Music as a Social Construct

While there have been studies questioning the inherency of gender, a sweeping amount of scholarship agrees that no medium holds any qualities intrinsic to sex. In a recent study of gendered meanings through music, it was concluded that "Any gendered impressions experienced by a listener are imposed onto the incoming musical stimuli subjectively by that listener, contributed from a network of previously established gender schemata."[14] This study further clarified that widely understood meanings tied to musical patterns have become culturally established over long periods through agreed significance. In other words, emotions and ideas are attached to music through socialized conventions, creating a narrative. Without these established social conventions, music would have no power in narrative structures, and musicals would face significant limits to dramatic integration. So in relying on social conventions for meaning, musical theater has also relied on gender. This is not an exclusive element of musical theater by any means. Classical music pedagogy is fundamentally ingrained with binary philosophies. Musicologist Ruth Solie writes, "In each case [gender is used as a discriptor] the masculine refers to musical characteristics deemed strong, active, and independent, while the feminine alludes to characteristics that are weak, passive, and dependent: qualities associated with man and woman in contemporary ideology."[15] This androcentric and binary view of gender emphasizes the notion that heterosexual socialization as either male or female is of the utmost importance when valuing artistic expression. With this in mind, Solie states, "music can become a vehicle for the representation of ideologies of masculinity or femininity, or sexuality, that have been constructed in society."[16] As a vehicle of the gender binary, traditional musical pedagogy firmly excludes those who fall outside of this binary in a manner more operational than accidental. Skilled musicians are to be masters of musical techniques. If such techniques built with a vehicle of the gender binary, how are queer artists expected to succeed? Simply put, they are not.

 

The Business of the Binary

To fully grasp musical theater's dependent relationship to gender, idealized benefits of a binary culture must be examined, the largest of which being money. Binary expressions of gender have acted as both social and economic currency to those who participate, allowing socialized constructs to heavily influence supply and demand. This results in a tangible monetary relationship between gender and its participants. Meaning, if the majority believes that gender is binary then the majority is likely to invest more time, attention, and money into art that reflects this. In the fall of 2020, the Actors Equity Association released a diversity and inclusion report covering contracts and earnings of actors and stage managers from 2016-2019. It was concluded that of the 22,281 principal musical contracts offered nationally, only .51 percent went to trans individuals, with a respective .25 percent going to nonbinary individuals or those who self describe their gender. Of the 749 Broadway or touring principal musical contracts, 0% went to nonbinary or self-described individuals, along with no record of contracts received by trans actors[17]. Trans actress Shakina Nayfack clarifies in an interview with LGBTQ blog them that the number of trans actors to perform broadway stage has increased from 0 to 5 in 2019, yet still, there is considerable work to be done. "Broadway has always led the charge when it came to representing these social issues on stage," says Nayfack. "We were putting interracial romance on stage before it was allowed in the film. We were putting queers on stage before we were seeing them on film and TV. Notably, we're behind and playing catch up in terms of trans representation."[18] Recently reported through American Theater Magazine, "the [Actors Equity 2020] study also reemphasizes the gender pay gap, with men still earning more than everyone else, and non-binary or gender-nonconforming members typically earning less than their cisgender peers." these numbers not even beginning to cover disparity in nonequity contracts.[19] Lack of representation and compensation is painfully obvious with recent studies. Beyond Actors Equity, many other theatrical groups are now recording diversity stats. But what many would rather not acknowledge is that these obstacles however damaging to queer careers are used to protect investments. Consider it this way, as queer expressions of gender are often seen as counterculture, they are also seen by many to be counter-profit. Meaning for many artistic directors and producers, prioritization of money is going to directly oppose efforts to include gender-diverse storylines and actors. Forbes magazine's Lee Seymour describes theaters struggle between profit and inclusion,

“Several producers and ad execs - who asked not to be named for this piece - told me... "green is the only color that matters."  This is actually a boon for some minorities. Broadway is such a risky investment that producers can't afford to turn away wealthy partners… this lack of priority allows biases to remain unchallenged. Given the relative paucity of minority stories, why would an investor be drawn to them?”[20]

 

When monetary value dictates how gender is performed in musical theater, the inclusion of these identities is administered based on profitability through careful strategy. For this reason, gender queerness is forced to submit through the economic lens as either a monetary threat or advantage. Recently popularized in discussion, gender queerness has risen in monetary value providing small openings for identities that audiences may normally reject. On a playbill, this may seem like progress, however, masquerading beneath this new attitude of inclusion is the same profit-focused hierarchy. As said by queer activist Audre Lorde, "The master's tools will never dismantle the master's house." [21] Those seeking to build equity in the musical theater industry must recognize and identify solutions that appear to be genuine steps towards development but cosmetic and void of commitment. To truly make space for gender-diverse identities, this opportunist relationship between artist and money must be dismantled first.

 

Rules of Performance: Range

“The voice is a statement of yourself- it is the "I am”

-Cicely Berry, Your Voice and How to Use it Successfully

After the success of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Oklahoma, musical narratives slowly began the transition from romantic comedies into romantic dramas. With the narrative-focused book musical gaining popularity, it went without saying that any pairing at this point was expected, if not demanded to be a cisgender heterosexual couple. “Musicals and comedies always favored a conservative view of gender roles, a fact that acquired greater relevance during this [period].” Musical and Gender scholar Patricia Caldas writes,  “The portrayal of the “American family” was at the core of the American Dream, and it stood as a symbol of democracy and freedom in the nation.”[22] Even within this orientation of plot, musical narratives of that time tended to elevate characters closest to the binary. Leading ladies near the release of Oklahoma, were almost always sopranos cast opposite baritones, adjacent to a second couple, typically following a comedic subplot consisting of a Mezzo-Soprano opposite Tenor. Focal characters of Oklahoma: Laurie and Curly, unsurprisingly fit this standard alongside secondary characters Ado Annie and Will Parker. Respectively, Laurey and Curly receive a dramatic storyline in which the musical is focused, while Ado Annie and Will Parker's relationship develops within a comedic subplot. This structure follows musical characterization for decades, present in other Rodgers and Hammerstein shows such as Carousel, or Cinderella which features a soprano ingenue foiled against her lower voiced ugly stepsisters. Characters intended to come across as 'serious' or dramatic during this time were required to fit gender ideals, while characters that strayed past the binary, even just a little, became agents of comedy. From gendered assessments of voice initiated in childhood, the same denotation is often applied to voice quality in music, placing sopranos at the height of femininity, and baritones at the peak of masculinity. Such assumptive conclusions are derived from a wide collection of sources ranging from daily observations, personal aesthetics, to patterns and tropes observed in musical performances.

This can be observed through traditional SATB sorting. Any deviation from these basic vocal outlines tends to result in gendered descriptions such as "male soprano" as if the ranges themselves hold values of gender. As seen in Table 3-1[23], contralto and countertenor range overlap almost entirely. Yet gendered descriptions still separate the nearly identical two ranges. The very values of pitch, therefore have been, and are currently gendered within the subtext of binary expectation. This approach to the range, limiting as it may be, is not completed in expectations but further executed through what is tolerated. Ascription of value to voices that fall into strict depictions of gender transforms expectations of range into tangible barriers, gatekeeping who is allowed to perform musical theater professionally. Older musicals often implore classical depictions of voice and gender to be followed. These works, when revived, may change a multitude of elements, yet the range is seldom to be altered.  Regarding musical theater audition practices, Backstage clarifies this rarely verbalized expectation. “If it’s musical theater and for an audition, exercise extreme caution [altering keys]. If the song is well-known... or one that famously shows off a specific range don’t”[24]. Outside of song key, other voice qualities are free to shift, while total vocal agency remains attached to limitations of range. In a binary view of the voice, specific portions of the range are valued based on sex, the value of these portions informing musical audiences how to absorb storytelling.

This immediate and subconscious form of gendering voices sets itself apart because of its unique ability to be described quantitatively. The measure of pitch creates opportunities to categorize voices in a manner that assumes vocal gendering to be an objective practice rather than subjective assertions. Voice scholars, Liz Jackson Hearns and Brian Kremer clarify, "Because pitch is a concrete, definable, and an easily measurable aspect of the voice, it can be a source of immediate feedback for some singers, for better or worse. Singers may compare their current voice range to others and place unnecessary pressure on themselves to conform or align with the voice range that matches their gender."[25] This pressure to conform or "pass" can be felt in varying degrees. Though people encounter different needs for their voice situationally, gendered expectations for the vocal range are much less specific in everyday speech than they are for music. The heightened nature of musical theater often causes heightened depictions of gender, and because of the rigidity in attitudes of range, this standard of vocally passing as cisgender in musicals becomes nearly impossible to achieve. The expectation of trans singers to pass in musical roles written for cisgender artists not only sets vocal standards that an even smaller fraction will be able to achieve but strips these singer agency invalidating a multitude of experiences. For these reasons, a binary interpretation of range is a considerable blockage to gender accessibility in musical theater. As other gendered expressions in voice (resonance, inflection, and articulation) are within a performer's control, the range of a song is quite often not, as the practice of changing musical keys remains to be used sparingly. Understood advantages to keeping songs in the keys as written are largely economical. Giving audiences a product that matches what they’ve previously heard is the risk-reducing business model. And avoiding expenses tied to the customization of scores presents itself as a smart choice as well. But flexibility in customization and memorability through unique experiences are also considerable economic benefits of flexible character ranges. The difference is that the latter gives less control to those at the top of current musical hierarchies, as uniformity is compromised. To maintain vocal uniformity, creative intent is also often used as an explanation for such choices, yet it is undeniable that this practice actively excludes performers that do not vocally pass within strictly gendered classifications of the voice. When creative intent acts as an oppressor of underserved identities, does it deserve the power bestowed?

Contemporary Techniques in Alterations of Range

Fortunately, range is not as fixated as many would believe. And though Broadway’sattitude toward range may be inflexible, capabilities in the voice are anything but. As vocal expectations for Broadway have intensified over the past few decades, desires to alter vocal ranges have also followed. More information is known about how to create sustainable transformations of the voice that meet the artist's needs which for trans and nonbinary singers is a game-changer. While hormone replacement therapy and gender-confirming vocal surgeries have also become popularized, not every singer may have the desire or financial access to undergo such a process. The expectation of artists to use these invasive techniques supports and validates gendered hierarchies instead of fighting them. And though vocal range can be altered by external influences, it is imperative to recognize the economic cost of such procedures. Chicago-based studio The Voice Lab is an organization taking this work head-on, providing affordable and non-invasive vocal techniques. Founder Liz Jackson Hearns states in their users guide to transgender voice, "The goal is to help you find a voice that is natural and authentic [allowing] you to move through the world with confidence and ease… No one part of your vice work will be a solution or a quick fix in itself; instead, you will learn to coordinate all the facets of your voice and communication patterns to create a tapestry that reflects your personality and gives you the tools to be heard in the way you want."[26] To achieve these goals Hearns utilizes anatomical language to describe intended gendered qualities of pitch, registration, resonance, and articulation. This connects the subjective nature of gendering voices, with scientific explanations giving more control to the singer. Rich in potential benefits this technique is useful to any musical theater performer. Connecting anatomical language to perception allows the artist to think of character choices and personal style in methodology rather than the abstract. Achieving an intended goal in perception will feel less like a shot in the dark.  In practices outside of literature, the Voice Lab hosts a team of teachers with a wide variety of identities and specialties. Students can take sample lessons for free and apply for financial assistance so that they can study without economic barriers. Outside of lessons, the Voice Lab also hosts an array of free events for students to put techniques into practice such as open mic nights, drop-in community practice, AMA groups, showcases, and workshops. This structure of pedagogy is radically student-focused and community-based as it focuses on not only providing accessible techniques for gender affirmative voice but also providing spaces devoid of expectation or profit. The voice lab similarly connects its instructors encouraging open collaboration, so that each student and teacher's unique set of strengths needs are being met. Rather than expecting the artist to alter themselves to earn space, space is altered to elevate the artist to their greatest potential.

Professional Techniques in Dismantling Theatrical Hierarchies

“Thus we come to the conclusion that justice is not equality: justice is proportionality.”[27]

-Augusto Boal, Theater of the Oppressed.

 

Beyond education, the rehearsal room is the next frontier for progressive musical techniques. Of the many acting-based approaches to professional theater, Theater of the Oppressed as well as the Hendrix method set themselves apart as socially rooted techniques. “The main purpose of TO is to create change. If we are to change anything, we need to view reality as malleable and ourselves as agents of change.”[28] Transforming participants into equal positions of malleability requires the purposeful and aggressive dismantling of theatrical hierarchies, a central way through the limitation of verbal communication. While hierarchies assert themselves in many ways, language tends to reveal a variety of socio-economic privileges. Stripping verbal communication equalizes the social power some performers may have over others. For these reasons, a large variety of TO exercises are intended to be done silently, as well as independent from writing. Educator Gopal Midha writes in a teacher's guide to TO "One of the key elements of the power structures which lead to oppression, I felt, was the ability to read and write. Hence, fighting oppression with a tool which required proficiency in reading and writing, to me, was still buying into the oppression." [29] for this reason, a large section of TO happens through silent image work TO organizers Pavla Uppal and Wolfgang Vachon describe the importance of the technique as a whole, "What's important for [is to] explain is that this isn't a guessing game...more than explaining the literal or trying to figure out what literally is going on. It's about a connectedness that transcends literal.... It's about human expression; feeling, seeing, accepting, and listening to yourself and others" [30]

 

Though these concepts may appear incompatible with musical theater, practices that do not center language and explore universal approaches to music can easily be integrated. During the initial development of a musical, performers have the most influence on what will go on stage. The process of creating new work allows actors to have significant agency in plot and character choices. Leaning into the collaborative nature of a new musical is a great way to integrate socially progressive concepts and practices. Agency is also further encouraged if performers devise a plot together. In this case, TO's image work offers a wonderful framework to brainstorm themes and events that a musical might center around. Further collaboration can be integrated into musical rehearsal by allowing actors to take on leadership roles, a center philosophy to Hendricks Method. "Within the Hendricks continuum, devising by nature is political, demands authorship from participants, and cultivate a collaborative, communal space, sans a written script."[31] Utilizing each performer's strengths, artists may collaborate and lead one another to create and perform as a community. This approach also brings a dynamic nature to material that traditional rehearsal practices do not offer. "Hendricks believes that writing should be embodied and remained embodied, for when one writes, the script becomes dead; hence actors are always working to "bring the script to life".[32] This Afrocentric approach has been used by Freddie Hendricks in his work with the Youth Ensemble of Atlanta to create original musicals for decades. "Since its inception, YEA has been supported and endorsed by major celebrity figures, such as Jane Fonda, Woody Harrelson, Bill Nunn, and Kenny Leon, and has showcased its work in South Africa, China, Holland, and Belgium."[33]

Contemporary techniques such as gender-affirming voice, the Hendricks Method, and Theater of the Oppressed, may for the moment be outliers of the industry. But as musical theater is forced to either evolve or wither away, non-traditional techniques such as these may become central to the industry's survival. Theater cannot survive without the participation of marginalized communities, and the support of each individual included in these communities is the only path forward for a professional industry. We must do better for others if we are to do better for ourselves. For the systemic erasure of queer identities to be remedied, musical theater hierarchies must be examined and addressed in the same manner in which they are perpetuated. Hopes to amend the social disparity in musical theater through small alterations are not only naive but counterproductive to actual change and must be purged.  Because as encouraging as these steps towards equity may be, a system structured around exclusion cannot merely be amended into the opposite. A machine will always operate as designed until it is taken apart piece by piece. Practices that support unequal hierarchies cannot effectively aid in deconstruction. Rather, for genuine progress to be possible, new perspectives must be accompanied by new techniques intentionally built for radical inclusion. These pedagogies must be brought to the forefront of discussion and integrated into both the educational and professional spheres of the industry to fully realize the ways a future in which musical theater may operate without the guidance of gender binary.

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Boal, Augusto. Theater of the Oppressed. London: Pluto Press, 2007.

Citron, Marcia J. "Gender and the Field of Musicology." (1993): 66-75.

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McColl, Mary. Actors Equity Association Diversity Report, 2016-2019 in Review. New York City, NY: Actors Equity Association, 2020. Accessed July 3, 2021. https://www.actorsequity.org/news/PR/DandIReport2020/.

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Seymour, Lee. “Why Broadway Is So White, Part 1: Real Estate, Nepotism, And David Mamet.” Forbes. Forbes Magazine, April 25, 2016. https://www.forbes.com/sites/leeseymour/2016/04/07/why-broadway-is-so-white-part-1-real-estate-nepotism-and-david-mamet/?sh=4d76f28422bb&fbclid=IwAR1X2-Te1l3XaABTihPYQ8Ib73-M5c9Q6iYowXKvEyaZMH0Y5qXMisf7UaI.

Seymour, Lee. “Why Broadway Is So White, Part 2 - A Change Is Gonna Come (Maybe).” Forbes. Forbes Magazine, November 27, 2018. https://www.forbes.com/sites/leeseymour/2016/04/20/why-broadway-is-so-white-part-2-a-change-is-gonna-come-maybe/?sh=2f66fcc32bbf&fbclid=IwAR3_kn8haWzWZVkgm_QgwGBKb1Sr6PNO14idVA8h0gvWPfWxIYc0huz7FUs.

Solie, R. A. (2011). Musicology and Difference: Gender and sexuality in music scholarship. Milton Keynes UK: Lightning Source UK.

Sosin, Kate, Elyssa Goodman, Aamina Khan, and Naveen Kumar. “Why Trans Representation in the Theater Industry Lags Behind Film and TV.” them. Accessed June 28, 2021. https://www.them.us/story/trans-voices-cabaret-broadway-representation.

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Uppal, Pavla and Vachon, Wolfgang (2018) "Language of Liberation? A Dialogue on Image Theatre Practice," Pedagogy and Theatre of the Oppressed Journal: Vol. 3 , Article 1. Available at: https://scholarworks.uni.edu/ptoj/vol3/iss1/1

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White, Micah. “Meaning of ‘The Master's Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master's House." - Audre Lorde.” Activist School. Accessed July 5, 2021. https://www.activistgraduateschool.org/on-the-masters-tools.

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Citations

[1] Wade, Ferree. Gender: (New York; London: W.W. Norton et Company, 2019), 27

[2]  Wade, Ferree. Gender: (New York; London: W.W. Norton et Company, 2019), 27

[3] Ibid., 27

[4] Ibid., 125

[5] Sergeant, Desmond C., and Evangelos Himonides. “Gender and Music Composition: A Study of Music, and the Gendering of Meanings,”(Frontiers in Physiology)

[6] Florence Pasche Guignard, “A Gendered Bun in the Oven. The Gender-Reveal Party as a New Ritualization during Pregnancy,” Studies in Religion/Sciences Religieuses 44, no. 4: pp. 479-500

[7] Wade, Ferree. Gender: (New York; London: W.W. Norton et Company, 2019), 68

[8] Carol Lynn Martin and Diane Ruble, “Children's Search for Gender Cues,” Current Directions in Psychological Science 13, no. 2 (April 2004): pp. 67-70

[9] Ibid., pp. 67

[10]  Wade, L., & Ferree, M. M. (2019). Gender. New York; London: W.W. Norton et Company.66

[11]   Wade, L., & Ferree, M. M. (2019). Gender. New York; London: W.W. Norton et Company. 117-119

[12] Ibid., 120

[13] Boal, Augusto. Theater of the Oppressed. London: Pluto Press, 2007.

[14] Sergeant & Himonides, “Gender and Music Composition” March 8, 2016,

[15] Solie, R. A. (2011). Musicology and Difference: Gender and sexuality in music scholarship. Milton Keynes UK: Lightning Source UK.

[16] Solie, R. A. (2011). Musicology and Difference: Gender and sexuality in music scholarship. Milton Keynes UK: Lightning Source UK.

[17] McColl, Mary. Actors Equity Association Diversity Report, 2016-2019 in Review. New York City, NY: Actors Equity Association, 2020.

[18] Sosin, Kate, Elyssa Goodman, Aamina Khan, and Naveen Kumar. “Why Trans Representation in the Theater Industry Lags Behind Film and TV.” them. Accessed June 28, 2021.

[19] Editors, American Theatre. “Second Actors' Equity Diversity Report Shows 'Incremental' Shifts.” AMERICAN THEATRE, November 20, 2020.

[20] Seymour, Lee. “Why Broadway Is So White, Part 1: Real Estate, Nepotism, And David Mamet.” Forbes. Forbes Magazine, April 25, 2016.

[21] White, Micah. “Meaning of ‘The Master's Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master's House." - Audre Lorde.” Activist School. Accessed July 5, 2021. https://www.activistgraduateschool.org/on-the-masters-tools.

 

[22] Caldas, Patricia Alvarez. "What’s the Use of Wondering if He’s Good or Bad?: Carousel and the Presentation of Domestic Violence in Musicals." Universidad De Santiago De Compostela 30 (2012).

[23] Randel, D. M. (1986). The new Harvard dictionary of music. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.

[24] Stewart, Amy Marie. “How + When To Change the Key of an Audition Song.” Backstage. Backstage Experts, April 7, 2021. https://www.backstage.com/magazine/article/change-key-audition-song-856/.

[25] Liz Jackson Hearns and Brian Kremer, The Singing Teacher's Guide to Transgender Voices (San Diego, CA: Plural Publishing, Inc., 2018), 105

[26] Hearns, Liz Jackson, and Patrick Maddigan. One Weird Trick. Kendallville, IN: CreateSpace Publishing, 2018.

[27] Boal, Augusto. Theater of the Oppressed. London: Pluto Press, 2007.

[28] Uppal, Pavla and Vachon, Wolfgang (2018) "Language of Liberation? A Dialogue on Image Theatre Practice," Pedagogy and Theatre of the Oppressed Journal: Vol. 3 , Article 1.

[29] Midha, Gopal, "Theatre of the Oppressed A Manual for Educators" (2010). Master's Capstone Projects. 11.

[30] Uppal, Pavla and Vachon, Wolfgang (2018) "Language of Liberation? A Dialogue on Image Theatre Practice," Pedagogy and Theatre of the Oppressed Journal: Vol. 3 , Article 1.

[31] Luckett, Sharrell D., and Tia M. Shaffer. Black Acting Methods: Critical Approaches. London ; New York: Routledge, 2017.

[32] Ibid.

[33] Ibid