A Sissy in Wyoming
“I am a good person. I am a good person. I am a good person.”
A Sissy in Wyoming
Written by and Starring: Gregory Hinton
With Zachary McCulley and Jed Huntzinger
Directed by Matthew Greenberg
A Co-Production and Statewide Tour sponsored by The University of Wyoming Department of Theatre and Dance, WyOpen Stages, The American Heritage Center, Wyoming Arts Council, Wyoming Equality, Wyoming Humanities Council, OutWest, Wyoming Cultural Trust Fund, and Wyoming State Historical Society.
What causes us to bully other people and is the outcome ever positive?
A Sissy in Wyoming tells the real story of Wyoming residents Vickie and Larry (Sissy) Goodwin. The play text came from oral history archives conducted by Leslie Waggener of The American Heritage Center and edited into a play text by Gregory Hinton.
Larry (Sissy) Goodwin was an award-winning teacher, veteran, father, and husband, who also happened to be a cross dresser. The play tells the story of his life and the discrimination he overcame along the way to become one of the most influential residents in Wyoming.
The lines of the play were verbatim from the interviews conducted. Verbatim Theatre has been really exciting to me since having the opportunity to work Off-Broadway and at The Martha’s Vineyard Playhouse on Full of Grace. A Docu-Drama about gay Catholics and their decisions to stay or leave the church.
Sissy was an important story to be attached to as it added visibility on University of Wyoming’s campus and around the cowboy state of Wyoming with the centering LGBTQIA+ voices. It aimed to make visible some of the experiences our audience members faced.
We launched this 10-stop Wyoming tour at The University of Wyoming and then took the company to Cheyenne’s Historic Lincoln Theater. While it was written as a solo play, I added two additional actors to help bring color, pathos and humor into Larry and Vickie Goodwin’s stories by re-distributing lines, adding staging, and creative movement mementos to specify the experience happening in the text.
The show played to full houses and sparked spirited community engagements in post-show talkbacks.
Jose A. Del Real of the Washington Post wrote a beautiful feature on the play and its impact across Wyoming found here.
More Publicity Found Here:
Wyoming News | This is Laramie | University of Wyoming Branding Iron | Wyoming Public Media | Casper Star-Tribune | Lincoln Theater | Billings Gazette
