Name as you’d like it to appear: Patryk/Oxie Moron
Gender as you’d like it to appear: whatever
City you live in and/or improvise in most: Cracow (Poland)
Personal website or another project that you’d like to link to:
https://www.instagram.com/oxie
Impro(v) Bio: I’m improvising since 2010 and teaching improv since
2015. I joined improv community, when i was gymnasium student (14 yo
or something like that), so improv raised me. I’m performing mostly as
a drag queen Oxie Moron. I’m playing improvised concerts as Oxie. My
second project is duo Cymbały, where we are playing most abstract
things on the world. But most important for me is teaching improv to
new people (only adults).
How does being trans/NB influence your impro(v)?
I’m not sure, if it influence in any way. In Poland there’s no much
queer community in improv. I’m improvising mostly with straight people
and they have mostly no idea, what being NB is about. I didn’t have a
lot of experience with bigger groups. One time i had an idea of an
improv show with completely gender neutral language. We tried to do it
almost a year, but polish accured to be hard to make completely gender
neutral.
Do you play trans/NB characters often?
No and now i’m thinking, why, because i didn’t had need to play it
yet. Usually i’m not focusing on my character’s gender. Only choose
some pronounce and go with it. Usually i’m not focusing on my gender
either. I’m dreaming about a world, where talking about gender isn’t
necessary at all.
How do you feel about cisgender actors playing trans/NB characters in impro(v)?
It didn’t happened for me yet. Poland is not very tolerant as a
country and typically people don’t know, what is it about. I’m
planning to start a group with queer people and improvising queer
shows, but… there’s not so many people to choose sadly.
Besides announcing it, how might you know/show a character is trans/NB?
I think, the whole idea of a show can clear it. Maybe at the start
tell people, that every played character will not be binary.
Of course you can just play a character and find for them typical
trans or NB problems. Maybe doubting about own gender, fear to flirt
with someone cause you have no idea, if they accept you, etc. I don’t
like announcing at all (coming outs, etc). I understand, we need it
yet in the world, cause a lot of people doesn’t see trans/NB people.
How do you feel about playing different genders generally, in terms of
naming gender and of expressing it?
I have no problems with that, but i had. When i taught, i told to
students, that it will be better to stay in your own gender, because
it’s difficult to play the other one (that time i was thinking strictly
binary). Later i apologised them and sad: just do it and look for it.
Maybe you’ll find something interesting in that character. Now i’m
encouraging people to play different genders, cause i understand it
more like a spectrum and we all are somewhere there.
Does your local impro(v) community know/understand your gender? If so,
how has that been in terms of acceptance/understanding?
I have no problems with acceptance in my community. I’m not sure, if
they “know” or “understand”. I know, that mostly people are saying,
that i’m gay (i never said that, but because of how i’m acting, it
shows to them as obvious thing). I think, they thinking about me as
“gay” is easier to get. I’m not discussing my gender a lot, cause i
still don’t know myself, what it is. But i’m not affraid of discussing
about it. They just never asked. Sometimes they are confused, when we
are talking about my drag. They are asking “So you are she or he? And
how should i talk to you?”. Pronounce, etc. is a very new thing in
Poland. We still don’t have good resolution in our language for this
problem, so if people are asking about it, usually they are unsure and
a bit afraid, that they would hurt me. One time i hosted international
improv festival JO! in Toruń. I hosted it as a drag queen so i used
this opportunity and talked a bit about drag, pronounce, etc. After
festival i got a lot of good critics. People wanted to hear about it
and were interested, what i gonna tell next.
What are some things that teachers/directors/other performers can do
to make sure trans/NB improvisers feel safe and welcome?
Asking about pronounce will signalize for me, that you’re welcome.
When i’m starting working with new group, i’m asking about name, but
then say: “When i’m talking about name, i’m not asking for your ID,
only for this name, you’re using usually”. And it’s very welcoming for
straight people too. A lot of them are using different form of their
name and here they can use it as default.
Thinking about examples of trans/NB characters across all media
(Impro(v), TV, Movies, Plays etc), what are the best trans/NB
characters or stories you’ve seen depicted? The worst?
I love the whole show Steven Universe. At the end there’s very typical
NB represantation, but i love all queerness in this show. That’s the
world i love. You don’t have to ask, you don’t have to say this. You
are just existing – that’s important. The same way it works in The
Good Place. Janet is considered as a NB character (it isn’t said
there).
I cannot remember something “the worst”. I didn’t watched any show,
where NB character were presented poorly. In polish movies there’s no
many queers at all. If they are, it’s gays. Of course – stereotypical
gays.
What’s something special that you and/or trans/NB performers have to offer?
Different point of view. We can start a discussion about gender and
put it in shows.
Is there anything else you’d like to say about being trans/NB or
impro(v) in general?
I’m happy, that we are talking about it. It means, that there’s more
and more NB/trans people. Let the world see us 