Much nuance can be introduced to a play by considering a broad range of actors who bring different physical characteristics to the table, along with their unique performances. As readers, we have often been conditioned to picture characters as thin, white, & able-bodied unless specified otherwise. In theatre, we have the opportunity to make deliberate choices to subvert the concept of a human default, which of course does not exist in life. A pretty young woman can be fat. Fathers & their children are not necessarily the same race. These & other facts of life should be just as apparent in theatre, & they need not be mentioned in the text to leave a positive imprint in performance.

When it comes to embodying queer, trans, & nonbinary existence in theatre, the lines of who can play whom can be clear in some areas, murky in others. As a queer, trans, nonbinary thespian, considering the general scarcity of these roles, it does delight me to think of Dee as being written exclusively for actors who hold these identities. But knowing how powerful it can be to embody a role in theatre that you did not yet know felt right to you, I find I cannot hold a hard line on this. So my line is that the actor who plays Dee should understand what it is like to inhabit their body in the world as clearly as the actor who plays Caro understands what it is like to inhabit her body in the world.