In rural, small-town Texas, a devout Christian mother must choose between convention and compassion when her teenager comes out. The play “The Pink Unicorn” is a one-woman show performed by actor Keena Redding, who portrays the mother of the teen, Trisha. Out Front Theater Company partnered with ART Station in Stone Mountain for this production, on whose stage it takes place April 28 – May 1. Redding joined “City Lights” host Lois Reitzes via Zoom along with Out Front Theatre director Paul Conroy to talk more about “The Pink Unicorn.”
Interview highlights:
Keena Redding introduces her main character, Trisha:
“Trisha Lee lives in Sparkton, Texas, and she is very Christian,” said Redding. “When she finds out that her daughter is non-binary, or her daughter comes out to her as non-binary, it’s truly her very human journey of acceptance, and then moving from acceptance into, ‘How can we make the world safer for non-binary people?’
She continued, “It’s just a truly human journey because we do see her go through all of the stages of trying to embrace this… trying to understand what her daughter’s talking about because she doesn’t understand a lot of the verbiage. So we watch her go through these stages, and then finally understanding that she’s going to love her daughter no matter what.”
How Redding’s portrayal bridges the generational divide:
“I am a firm believer in the wisdom of youth and how the youth can show us things that we never thought if we’re willing to listen to what they say and embrace what they say,” said Redding. “I know a lot of things my daughter would say to me, like, ‘That’s crazy. What?’ But then I was like, ‘Okay, let me think about it…’ and gave myself some time to really hear and digest what she was saying. And I often found when I embraced those youthful ideas, I became more youthful myself because I was learning and changing and growing. And I feel that that’s what we’re here to do anyway, in this beautiful thing we call life.”
Playwright Elise Forier Edie’s semi-autobiographical setting:
“I think it’s very purposeful that the playwright set this… in Texas, where there are Southern sensibilities about being polite and about following certain norms from generation to generation,” said Conroy. “I think that this piece is so timely, especially right now because of what we’re seeing happening in states like Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Alabama, as far as trans children and just what their parents are struggling with. And so I think that there’s just a lot of fear and struggle on Trisha’s part of, ‘I have this pure love for my child, but it’s something that I just completely do not understand.’” “The Pink Unicorn” is on stage at ART Station in Stone Mountain, produced in partnership with Out Front Theatre, April 28 – May 1. Tickets and more information are available at https://artstation.org/productions/the-pink-unicorn/
