Scott Turner Schofield: the Artist Scott Turner Schofield is a man who was a woman, a lesbian turned straight guy who most people think is a gay teenager. He is also a performance artist living and working nationwide from inside the Deep South. Not surprisingly, his work centers on contradictions and comedy. Aside from producing the fabulous work of national gender-focused artists in Atlanta (T Cooper, S. Bear Bergman, Athens Boys Choir, TEAM GINA), Schofield has been touring two original solo performances Underground Transit and Debutante Balls to colleges, festivals, and theaters nationwide since 2001. These autobiographical works challenge fundamental gender assumptions with everyday stories of searching and isolation, the joy of finding oneself, and the prizes of living your own authenticity. They have been applauded by press, academics, activists and artists alike for meeting queer and mainstream audiences alike with humor and compassion. (Except for that one time when he was censored by a venue in Charlotte, NC, who said a transman taking off his shirt is obscene because "he hasn't always been a man". Still, that First Amendment skirmish ended in a great community discussion, and the audiences agreed, naked vulnerability is powerful education, not obscenity.) Underground Transit takes audiences underground with an almost-Homecoming Queen turned gender renegade. This edgy yet accessible spoken word roll through one Southerner's budding trans identity set against the cityscape of the New York City subway features rock 'n'roll with a touch of drag, and incredible poetry that draws you in for the ride. Debutante Balls is a theatrical stand-up comedy dance through the fascinating culture of the Southern Debutante Ball. Schofield's wicked sense of self-aware humor and poetic sensibility guide audiences gently (or is that genteel-ly?) through the many ways he "came out" into Southern Society (as a lesbian, radical feminist, and finally, as a transgender man), poking fun at gender roles and sniffing the vapors of nostalgia gone-with-the-wind in these modern times. These shows have seen over 50 full productions since 2001, at such venues as: 7 Stages, Atlanta GA; the 2003 National Transgender Theater Festival, New York City, NY; the Alternate ROOTS Annual Meeting; the Chicago Single File Festival, 2004; FUSE Festival : the Celebration of Queer Culture in NYC, HERE Arts Center, New York, NY; Jump-Start Performance Company, San Antonio TX; The National Performance Network Annual Meeting; The National Queer Arts Festival FRESH MEAT series 2005, San Francisco CA; The Pat Graney Company, Seattle WA; the Philadelphia Fringe Festival; New York City's Fresh Fruit Festival; the Yale Cabaret; and the Seen+Heard Festival 2004, Atlanta GA. They are a wild success on the university circuit, where, in addition to performing, Schofield has lectured and facilitated workshops on the lived realities of gender identity at over 30 institutions. In 2007, Schofield became the first openly trans artist to be commissioned by the National Performance Network for his solo show Becoming a Man in 127 EASY Steps. This piece is the last installment of an autobiographical performance trilogy, a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure solo work combining aerial acrobatics and multimedia storytelling for an unrepeatable evening of gender exploration. Literally: in just the way human beings unconsciously choose how we see gender based on our own cultural cues, audiences for this show choose Schofield's narrative path from female-to-male, choosing what stories they will hear, step-by-step. Since 2006, Schofield has received 3 Community Fund Grants from the National Performance Network to raise community awareness of gender and sexuality through art in Seattle, San Antonio, and Miami, FL. He is the youngest-ever recipient of a Tanne Foundation Award for commitment to Artistic Excellence, and in 2007 was awarded a Princess Grace Foundation Fellowship in Acting. Schofield enjoys these accolades as well: Young Trans Hero, 2006 - The Advocate "A bright, sharp and an important new performer in this country." - Tim Miller, Performance Artist "A rising light in queer theater...[Schofield] reaches out to the Average Joe with a mix of humor, honesty, and vulnerability." - UTNE Reader "Schofield managed to accomplish what only the most gifted of teachers can do: he educated, inspired, entertained and deeply moved the students." - Lynne Huffer, Emory University "A transgender, feminist performance artist with a national buzz going... funny, revealing, whip-smart and poetic." - The Atlanta Journal-Constitution "His warmth and openness allowed for a high level of communication and a close examination of concepts of gender, gender performance, queer theory, performance art, and what it means to be transgender." - Anne Guzzo, University of Wyoming at Laramie "True underground theater - literally and figuratively." - BITCH Magazine Artist Statement: Queer or straight, we all fall between and enforce the bars of social control at one point or another. I make fun of this fact, so that it can be made fun, in my writing and performance. I combine my words and voice with the music that moves me, stitched with the social politics we must all negotiate and a hearty dose of humor to keep it honest. I perform for those who find themselves, in spite of themselves, in the bodies and voices onstage.
		Underground Transit: a show :: a website :: a way of moving http://undergroundtransit.com/turnerpage.html http://undergroundtransit.com http://www.7stages.org
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