‘Jagged Little Pill’ Producers and Actor Address Controversy, Key Changes Around Gender Non-Conforming Character - Hollywood Reporter

Ahead of Jagged Little Pill’s Broadway re-opening on Oct.

21, its producers have apologized for mishandling one character’s gender identity, outlining several steps the production is taking to offer a clearer and more respectful representation of its gender non-conforming character.

The issue around Jo’s gender and whether they identified broadly as non-binary, as another more specific gender identity or at all, was raised as the show made its way from a Boston to Broadway stage.

The character was played by Lauren Patten, a cisgender woman, but Jagged Little Pill also directly referenced that Jo at the very least wasn’t a cisgender woman or man, with the character using they/them pronouns and having their identity invalidated by various people around them, among other narrative points.

Things became complicated after the show moved to Broadway in 2019, and audiences watched Jagged Little Pill with those previous discussions of gender removed.

The statement acknowledges all of this, saying that Jagged Little Pill’s producers “set out to portray a character on a gender expansive journey without a known outcome” but that during the creative process, and shift from Boston to Broadway, mistakes were made around how the team handled the character’s evolution in “a process designed to clarify and streamline.”.

That starts with explicitly stating that Jo’s is “a story of a gender-nonconforming teen who is on an open-ended journey with regard to their queerness and gender identity.” It then confirms that a new dramaturgical team featuring non-binary, transgender, and BIPOC representation was brought in to “revisit” the script, and help the show to “commit to clarity and integrity in the telling of Jo’s story.”.

They also addressed the issue of casting, promising that the production has adopted practices that “intentionally broaden” hiring for “all roles to artists of all gender identities.” That includes ensuring all future casting is not only explicit about Jo’s gender journey but will “prioritize auditioning actors for the role who are on gender journeys or understand that experience personally – including artists who are non-binary, gender fluid, gender-expansive — or otherwise fall under the trans community umbrella.”.

Tiwary, David and Price also confirmed several other off-screen efforts, including partnerships with The Trevor Project and Trans Lifeline, as well as anti-bias training related to transphobia and anti-racism that will be offered to existing company members to help support a more inclusive, safe and supportive environment for Jagged Little Pill‘s new non-binary, trans, queer, and BIPOC hires.

In it, she discusses the controversy around Jo and the language she and other members of the Jagged Little Pill production team used when talking about the gender non-conforming character after the show made its way to Broadway.

Speaking with Shakina Nayfack, trans writer, actress and activist, Patten said that they agreed to share the video to increase transparency around the conversations that were being had about Jo to be accountable for harm resulting from the erasure of Jo’s gender journey as its linked to a broader conversation on Broadway about transparency and the production changes that have occurred in regards to representation, particularly over the last year.

Patten also noted that the production had trans advisors from the beginning, but that it isn’t the same thing as having trans and non-binary voices in the room from the day-to-day, and that cis privilege among those working on the character prevented them from seeing potential issues