i’m not done with this body (and I never will be)

all images by Beth Barbis

Part archive, part resource guide, and part celebration, “i’m not done with this body” is a multimedia performance about trans women and the sex hormone estrogen. It gives shape and sound to the often unheard emotions of trans women by shouting the truths that doctors and cis family and friends hide from in fear. i’m not done with this body uplifts Pittsburgh’s trans community and celebrates every part of transition, preserving our collective knowledge and experience of hormones toward understanding and access to life-giving care.

“i’m not done with this body” was made possible by the Kelly Strayhorn Theater “Freshworks,” a creative residency for artists and collaborators based in the greater Pittsburgh region, as well as the Frank-Ratchye Further Fund Microgrant #2022-061. Additional images can be found here.

Artist Bios

B Kleymeyer is a transgender director of theatre, performance, and film. She is currently a John Wells Directing Fellow at Carnegie Mellon University. Her work focuses on creating harmony from contradiction: the mechanical and the human, the infinitesimal and the gigantic, the beautiful and the grotesque. Her productions have been produced at Carnegie Mellon University, Single Carrot Theatre, Rochester Fringe Festival, and (upcoming) Project Y Theatre. B’s work is a collective prayer, a model of the world we wish to build, and a place of transformation.

Natalya Chorba is a trans woman who moved to Pittsburgh, PA relatively recently. She is currently working as a software engineer at a medical games company. Finding new methods of expressing art is a constant search Natalya undergoes, but acting and experiencing games are constant passions. Now comfortable in Pittsburgh, Natalya was looking for an opportunity to get back into acting. A friend mentioned B’s project and it sounded like an awesome opportunity!

Jazmine Butterfly is a 50 something year old trans woman of color who was one of the most talented entertainers to ever perform the art form of female impersonation in Pittsburgh, PA. A budding writer, Jazmine is currently working on her autobiography, which will include a few chapters of what it was like being HIV positive and staying alive while attempting to transition and battling a severe drug addiction during the AIDS epidemic in the late 80s and 90s. Jazmine is a Trans, Black Lives Matter, and HIV activist.

Moire del Carmen Día is an Actress, Draper-Tailor and Interdisciplinary Artist from Santa Isabel, Puerto Rico. An alumna of the University of Puerto Rico, Recinto de Río Piedras, Moira is currently pursuing her graduate degree in Costume Production at Carnegie Mellon University. Moire’s work centers around authenticity, resilience, and aesthetic bliss as defiance in a increasingly troubling world.