#51 - Roger Q. Mason: Wig the F*ck Out

“Child, I said dust mites of opportunity -- Lord help us, Jesus.”
Roger Q. Mason (they/them) is an energy like no other. When they
were twelve years old, Mason felt the most free when standing on
stage -- which was taken away by queer shaming and gener policing.
After spending years, reclaiming what they lost, Mason became
versed in writing, though they kept performing and writing
separate. “At that time, I was interested still in being a man of
letters -- so I still had a very two dimensional literary
relationship to writing. I hadn’t quite understood that writing was
a blueprint, at least for theatre, I hadn’t understood writing as a
blueprint for performance.” Mason always identified as a
multi-hyphenate, yet was socialized into ignoring that aspect of
their artistry. Eventually, they found the freedom of expression to
become the multi-faceted they are today. Today, Mason continues to
promote freedom of expression by helming the New Visions
Fellowship, an innovative and rigorous year-long professional
development program created to support emerging Black trans and
gender nonconforming (TGNC) playwrights. The 2021 New Visions
Fellowship playwrights will each be awarded $5,000, fully funded by
National Queer Theater, to develop a play, musical, or performance
experience of their design and choosing. National Queer Theater
will host a professionally cast and directed reading of their play
at the end of the program. They will also have the opportunity to
participate in professional development sessions covering a wide
range of artistic topics. In addition, they will receive a
five-year complimentary membership to The Dramatists Guild
including access to contracts, business advice, and career
services, to help protect the artistic and economic integrity of
their work. Take some Meyer Lemons and turn it into Meyer Marmelade
and listen to this episode where Michael and Mason speak on the
Auteur, Queer relationship to dramturgy, and how multi-hyphenating
is much like gender, blurring the lines of the binary -- and so
much more.  Roger Q. Mason (they/them) is an award-winning
writer, performer and educator known for using history's lens to
highlight the biases that separate rather than unite us. Mason's
playwriting has been seen on Broadway at Circle in the Square
(Circle Reading Series); Off and Off-Off-Broadway at New York
Theatre Workshop, New Group, The Fire This Time Festival, Dixon
Place, American Theatre of Actors, Flea Theatre, and Access
Theater; and regionally at McCarter Theatre, Center Theatre Group,
Victory Gardens, Chicago Dramatists, Steep Theatre, Serenbe
Playhouse, Theatre Rhinoceros, Open Fist Theatre Company, EST/LA,
Coeurage Theatre, Rogue Artists Ensemble, Son of Semele, and
Skylight Theatre. They are an honoree of the Kilroys List; the
recipient of the Chuck Rowland Pioneer Award; the Fire This Time
Festival Alumni Spotlight, and the Hollywood Fringe Festival Encore
Producers Award; and a finalist for the Geffen Writers' Room, Lark
Playwright's Week and the Screencraft Play Award. Mason's films
have screened at the Outshine Film Festival, Rochester
International LGBTQ Film Festival, and the Pan African Film
Festival. They've been recognized by the AT&T Film Award and
Atlanta International Film Festival. Mason holds degrees from
Princeton University, Middlebury College, and Northwestern
University. They are a member of Page 73's Interstate 73 Writers
Group, the co-host of Sister Roger's Gayborhood podcast, and the
co-founder/lead mentor of the New Visions Fellowship for Black
Trans and Gender non-conforming playwrights. Learn more about your
ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices