Transgender artist Rebecca McGlynn talks about the background to their show, Asexuality! at the Edinburgh Fringe.
My penis sings a song about pornography; it's very fun
Let’s start with your telling me something of your background, where you’re from and how you started in the business.
I grew up in Connecticut, a stone's throw from New York City. I inherited a love of movies from my dad, and a love of Broadway musicals from my mom. I started writing plays in school when I was 15, and never really stopped. I wrote and produced my first musical, Norton! The Astonishingly True Story of America's Forgotten Emperor, in college when I was 21.
In the summers between college, I worked as a photojournalist and video editor for a local TV news station. I learned a lot about the technical side of filmmaking (supplementing my education) and was even nominated for an Emmy for one of the stories I shot.
When I was 25, I moved to Los Angeles to pursue other opportunities in film and television, and have worked regularly in the business in many different capacities; everything from production assistant to sound mixer, cinematographer and editor. I now make my living working freelance in production full-time.
I was thrilled to learn that Los Angeles has a thriving theatre scene. My second musical, My Big Fat Blonde Musical, I wrote as a solo show with my then-partner, based on her experience trying to make it as a plus-size actress in Hollywood. She performed it at the Hollywood Fringe Festival in 2016, where we won several awards including Top of the Fringe! We later adapted it into a digital series, which you can watch on Youtube!
What’s your EdFringe show about? The inspiration. The message. What you want people to take away.
Right around the time the #MeToo movement exploded, I was starting to see (in some places) that male victims of sexual assault were being excluded from the conversation. While I had been aware that toxic masculinity was harmful to women, #MeToo shed light on how deep that harm was, and also that women were not the only victims of it. So in 2017, I started writing my own autobiographical show, Asexuality! The Solo Musical, about my experience identifying as an asexual man.
It wasn't until the very beginning of the Covid-19 lockdown in 2020 that I also started to realize how much I was struggling with my gender identity, and I came out as a trans woman shortly thereafter. While it is something I address in the show, and it's an identity I have fully embraced, I really wanted to focus on the struggles of the effect of toxic masculinity on male-socialized people.
The message of the show is that you can be whoever you want to be, and you can embrace whatever labels work for you. But it's also about rejecting labels if they stop serving you, that everything can change, and that you don't have to have all the answers. It's about the specific struggles of ace and trans people, but it's also about the experiences we all have in common.
Asexuality! is also an opportunity for me to share all of my talents, combining my love of theatre, film, and music. I had such a blast writing and producing the songs for the show, and also filming the multimedia elements. My three inner voices only ever appear on screen, so I got to flex my editing and cinematography muscles as well as interact with them live on stage, sometimes even singing four-part harmonies with myself!
Also it's a comedy. My penis sings a song about pornography. It's very fun.
Do you have a particular type of venue you like to perform in back home?
I've always had a soft spot for intimate black box theater spaces. Solo shows work especially well in these spaces, as there is an abundance of play space on stage, but still an opportunity to connect intimately with a small audience.
Have you performed outside of the USA before?
Not yet! I'm very excited to make my international debut!
What made you want to perform at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe?
It's always been a dream of mine to perform at the Edinburgh Fringe. I love the energy of other fringe festivals that I’ve performed in and attended. There is nothing better than the excitement of talented artists trying out new work, especially if it’s the kind of strange, bizarre, outside-the-box theatre that fringe festivals have been known for. I love meeting other writers and performers. Learning about what excites them excites me.
What are you hoping to gain from your time here?
One of my goals is to tour colleges in the United States with my show. It’s paramount that positive queer stories be spread, especially in right-wing places. Conservative American state legislatures have been working to pass bills that eradicate trans people, and the story I tell in Asexuality! is one that I hope will normalize the queer experience, especially to young people in conservative areas who are questioning themselves, but have nowhere safe to turn to with questions they may have.
So I’m hoping to be a force for good with my show, and that will involve getting the right attention: from the press, from other artists, and from audiences! I want to show people my experience; one that I haven’t seen represented before. Because I know that if I had been able to see a show like Asexuality! when I was younger, I would have had a much easier time figuring out who I am.
Aside from that, I want to connect with other artists—especially queer writers and performers—make friends, and see cool theatre!
Are you performing here or anywhere else outside of the USA on this trip?
This is my only run before I head back to Los Angeles!
