A Critical Autobiography: Examining the Impact of a Theatre-Making Process on a Theatre Practitioner’s Identity Development

Abstract

The purpose of this article was to self-reflect on my process of writing, acting, and conversing with audiences about my full-length play, The Contract, and to examine how this experience affected my personal attitude towards being gay. I am a playwright, actor and educator, with over twenty years of professional and educational theatre experience. I describe myself as Black, Christian and gay. Moreover, I wrote a play that explores the struggles of being both gay and Christian in the Black Church. Using critical autobiography as a research methodology, along with Paulo Freire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed as a theoretical framework, I explored the following question: While engaged in the theatre-making process for my play, The Contract, how was my identity as a gay man affected? As a result, I found the theatre to be a sacred space, where I could combat personal fear and internalized homophobia. Furthermore, the theatre-making process was instrumental in helping me come to terms with my sexuality, come out to others, and explain the dichotomy of being both gay and Christian.