![]() makes ‘Heathers’ the show a little bit more believable and complicated and intimate, and in a lot of ways that it wasn’t before,” Jang said.įigueroa wrote that depictions of queer people are often “stereotypical and rely on their queer identity as their only personality trait.” Because J.D. “I genuinely think having a gender-bent J.D. together, and that conflict is heightened through the added dimension of a queer relationship with a female J.D., Jang said. The feelings of angst and being misunderstood draw characters Veronica and J.D. Speaking to the changes, Jang said, “It felt as if the script was meant to be that way.” Le explained that the production was a way to build community and connect with more people, despite the challenges of working virtually and with a more unfamiliar script. “Heathers” was the first musical that Khong and Le directed. “I came away feeling really satisfied having made art with one of my best friends,” Le said. The directors said including people from different backgrounds with unique experiences helps bring more depth to the production. Ram’s Head’s “Heathers” was more inclusive than the average theater production, according to Khong and Le, with a cast featuring many people of color and the central plot exploring a queer relationship between the two lead characters. “Hopefully, we don’t have to gender-bend shows in the future, and… shows will already have these characters,” she wrote to The Daily. Kyla Figueroa ’24, a Daily staffer and the Dramaturg for Ram’s Head’s production of “Heathers,” wrote that she also hoped shows would be created with more complex depictions of queer people and individuals of marginalized identities. “Stories can be very limited in terms of who they’re for and what they address,” Jang said, adding that theater often fails to represent people of diverse backgrounds and sexualities. #HEATHERS MUSICAL SCRIPT LICENSE#The directors said the licensing of “Heathers” shows other theater companies that it is possible to reimagine a script to increase representation in a production.Įchoing the directors, Jang said that “having the scripting license just removes one more barrier” to producing “Heathers” and other plays as gender-bent productions. With licensing, the script can be used by other theater companies that want to produce the show with a female-presenting J.D. And when they reached out to the writers of “Heathers,” Laurence O’Keefe and Kevin Murphy, they fully supported the idea and worked with students to script the first official gender-bent version. Once Saletan expressed interest in playing the role, however, the directors embraced the idea. Khong and Le had not originally planned on casting the leading role of J.D. The gender-bent production was critically acclaimed by Stanford students and community members. The fully virtual production was directed by Diana Khong ’22 and Gwen Phagnasay Le ’22 and starred Junah Jang ’24 as Veronica and Emily Saletan ’24 as a female J.D. has been played by non-male actors in the past, Stanford was the first to work with the original creators of the musical to produce an official script. The script, written specifically for Stanford, is the first gender-bent “Heathers” to be officially available for licensing. Including gender-bent characters in productions is important to the future of theater, Jang said.Ram’s Head’s gender-bent version of “Heathers” musical will soon be available for licensing by theater companies outside the Stanford community. ![]() Jang expressed optimism about the potential for more queer reimaginings as a result of the licensing, both of “Heathers” and other shows. As a result, the play felt more realistic, Khong said. While they emphasized that Veronica and J.D.’s relationship is unhealthy and manipulative in many aspects, Khong said that the changes to the script made the relationship more understandable. Other members of the production agreed with Figueroa and Jang - with the change in J.D.’s gender, J.D.’s character dynamic and story increased in complexity. was not initially written as a queer character, gender-bending “allowed us to retain the traits of the character and also provide the messages that we wanted on relationships and being and feeling like an outsider.” ![]() ![]() ![]()
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