Advocate/Actress Addams & Jer Ber Jones Bring Their Show to San Francisco
From her Los Angeles home, Calpernia Addams gently educates me on the difference between “transgender” and “transsexual.” After Addams tells me the media, even within the LGBT community, has too long portrayed trans people “as prostitutes, punchlines, psycho killers or the poor, tragic freaks,” I want to avoid the same pitfalls.
Having gained national notoriety after the traumatic 1999 murder of her military boyfriend as documented in the feature film A Soldier’s Girl, Addams - a one-time Tennessee Entertainer-of-the-Year drag star - found herself spending more time as an advocate and activist than actress and showgirl. In the years since, she has etched a name in Hollywood as a feature film consultant, documentary subject and LOGO reality TV star.
Most recently, with partner-in-crime Jer Ber Jones, she pokes fun at a twisted, fictionalized take on her life in the uproarious and very tongue-in-cheek two-woman stage show Transfixed. After playing to critical acclaim in Los Angeles, the duo brings their act to San Francisco for a July 24-25 run in the intimate parlor setting of Finn’s Funhouse (814 Grove Street).
(Bay Times) You were thrust into the national spotlight a decade ago through tragic circumstances. How did you adjust to suddenly becoming a spokesperson for an entire community?
(Addams) I did end up being a focus of a lot of media attention back in ’99, when my boyfriend was murdered. In addition to all the stuff around the murder itself, which it’s now been 10 years, so I don’t go into it too much, but there was basic, baseline education I had to with so much of the media.
Sometimes they were actively disrespecting me, but sometimes they just didn’t know what words to use. The trans community – which is an umbrella word I use for the transsexual and transgender community – we’re a vibrant, lively community who have all come to our identities through different roads. Everybody has their own little twists on the definitions and what these terms mean. For me, I used to work in the medical field, and my college background led me toward the medical and psychiatric use of the word. That’s what I was presenting when the media asked me. It was exhausting and hurtful, especially when they would present me as the ‘boyfriend’ in the media. I was doing everything in my power to present as a woman.
Not many people could have handled that with the grace you did.
Thank you. It was a really hard time for me, for a million different reasons. It was especially hard for me with a loved one being involved and so much big media – New York Times, Rolling Stone, Vanity Fair – writing about it. I felt it important to be as classy and respectable as well as respectful as I could be. I wanted to honor my boyfriend’s memory and show people our love was not something to look down upon or be disgusted at. I just wanted to show people the reality of trans women that I knew, which was just ordinary women pushing through extraordinary circumstances.
Since that time, you have done some groundbreaking things like TransAmerican Love Story on LOGO, a reality series where you chose from a group of suitors.
I’ve done a lot of serious stuff in the last 10 years. It was kind of nice to do something light-hearted and funny. I was scared to do a reality show. A lot of reality shows present the worst possible people in the worst possible light. I told LOGO I’d do it if we could be respectful and respectable. I wanted to be classy and funny. I didn’t want to hurt anybody’s feelings. It was important for me to show what it’s like for a trans woman to date and what it’s like for the men who date us. It can be hard for them. They are heterosexual men who, all of a sudden, have to throw their sexuality into question with their friends and family by dating us. That’s a challenge they have never had to face in their lives because they are straight.
There must be social issues on your side also. As a gay man, those are things I have never had to face.
I grew up in the body of a boy who was attracted to other males, so I know the experience of being treated as a gay man. I know what’s it’s like to grow up with the taunts of ‘faggot’ and ‘sissy.’ I’m very comfortable in the gay community because we have all shared that experience. Once I transitioned and had sexual reassignment surgery, I suddenly had to step into dating in the straight world. It’s funny to me, because a lot of gay people don’t get this any more than straight people do, but I date straight men because I don’t have anything a gay man would want. My body is completely female now. Everything about me is female and feminine. It’s a whole new world for me, though, around straight people. I didn’t grow up like them. I don’t know anything about their world or dating rituals. It’s a challenge for them because my very nature forces them to ask questions they’ve never asked before. It’s very difficult.
After sexual reassignment surgery, if possible, do most trans women distance themselves from gay culture?
There are usually two kinds of trans women. There are those who cannot wait to transition and fully move into the straight world and completely leave behind the gay world, if they were ever in it at all. Some want to leave it all behind and live what we call ‘stealth,’ without anyone ever knowing about their history. Others are like me and pretty relaxed about it. I love the gay community. The gay community is still a major source of support for me, and I don’t feel fully comfortable in the straight world because of the social customs. I need to keep connected with the gay community.
Tell me about your show Transfixed. I thought Jer Ber Jones and you and you would simply play your respective material. It sounds like a scripted show along the lines of Kiki & Herb though.
I’ve read about Kiki & Herb, and I really like what I have read, but I don’t know about the comparison. Transfixed is inspired by those ‘70s and ‘80s musical variety shows like Sonny & Cher and Donny & Marie. Jer Ber and I play, like, alternate reality versions of ourselves – Jer Ber Jones and Calpernia Addams – but we come out and sing our songs in real Bob Mackie outfits. Then, the set onstage has us backstage in our ‘dressing room.’ It’s kind of like you’re watching us backstage during the commercial break. All this drama happens where I’m cruel and brow-beating and manipulating to Jer Ber. She’s very innocent and trying to figure out why things are happening as they are. It just gets crazier from there. In the process, we perform some of our greatest hits and do some fun covers as well.
How were you cast as the cruel and manipulative one?
Well, we wrote it ourselves, so we could make it however we wanted. In real life I bend over backward to be nice and respectable and not hurt people’s feelings and blah-blah-blah. For this show, I just wanted to be the bitch, the villainess. It’s really fun getting to play that role! Gay kids love bitches, so hopefully they’ll love me in this role, but hopefully they’ll realize that, in real life, I’m a polite and kind sweetheart as much as I can be. If somebody crosses certain lines, though, then that character comes to life!
For More Details, Visit: http://www.Calpernia.com
