Empress by Jennifer Wenn

A personal and family drama set within a sweeping historical epic, Empress explores true events. The Roman ruler known to us as Elagabalus was a member of a powerful family from the far east of the Roman Empire, and came to the throne at age 14 in 218CE. Elagabalus has traditionally been derided as one of the worst Roman Emperors. But there is another story to be told, one of war, attempted reform, youth adapting to high position, the conflict with political and ecclesiastical powerbrokers, betrayal, love, the quest for selfhood and a fight for what today we would call gender identity. Empress can be thought of, in part, as Hamlet for trans women. Keywords: transgender, queer, historical, Roman, LGBTQ2S+, epic, biography, Elagabalus, large Genre: Drama/Historical/Biography Acts: 4 Run time: 150 minutes Suitable for students 16+ Content notes: Play contains a love scene (nudity not required); battles/swordfights resulting in deaths; murders (actual and attempted); and an execution. Cast size: 25 actors Male roles: 9 Female roles: 5 Trans/non-binary/gender non-conforming roles: 2 Other roles: 9 Casting notes: The two trans roles are for trans females, one of whom is a child. The lead role is a trans female who plays a character from ages 14-18, but note the actor may need to be over 18 because of one scene. One of the male roles is a child. The "other" roles would best be played be a mixture of males and females (the latter in some scenes will need to present as male); the number nine is approximate. The cultural heritage or ethnicity of the actors does not matter. The cast can be larger if desired by altering treatment of crowd scenes.