Silenced

for cello, electronics, lights, projection, and audience

Silenced is a mono-drama retelling of Plato’s Allegory of the Cave. The performer takes the role of the enlightened leading the prisoners, the audience, out of the cave and to the light. The work was inspired by the passage of Ohio SB 104, which made it illegal for trans people to use the bathrooms that match their gender identity, as well as forcing the removal of all gender-neutral bathrooms that are not single-occupancy in primary, secondary, and collegiate schools. At the same time, other state and national legislators introduced various bills and proposals banning same-sex marriages, various executive orders outlined the federal government’s position on the existence of trans and gender queer individuals.

I updated the piece for the first time after only a few months, as the FBI released their hate crime statistics for 2024. They show that documented hate crimes towards members of the LGBTQ+ community continues to be the second largest category of hate crime reported, and that its proportion within all hate crimes continues to increase. This piece is a call to action in the hopes that people do not remain complicit in the US government’s oppression of gender and sexual minorities as they continue to advocate not just for lesser rights, but for erasure.

My hope is for this piece to become obsolete and a memory of the past. To not read the news and wonder how I can incorporate this into the piece, or looking with morbid curiosity at how the hate crime statistics have changed. But for now, I continue to advocate for acceptance and equality in a world where silencing kills.