I know Dylan Goodman well enough that I expected his senior thesis performance to be incredible, but that was about all I knew to expect. Dylan’s performance was incredibly insightful, powerful, and moving. It centered on the intersection of identity and politics and conflict and much more; I’m still at a lost for words in many ways. Dylan told the stories, embodied the stories, of Israelis on the LGBTQ spectrum. As a Jew, I identified fiercely in some ways, and also felt the span and the diversity of what I consider to be my culture. As a performer, I was stunned by the artistry Dylan brought to his performance. As someone voting in her first presidential election soon, I’m fascinated by the way this will make me reconsider the rhetoric around the Israeli conflict. As a heterosexual cis-gendered American, I learned about how others look at the world, which did relate to me personally as a vehicle to understand further. Through Dylan’s embodiment of the stories, I gained a new understanding of the way these identities intersect.
The politics of sexuality in the Middle Eastern conflict are as complicated as the conflict itself; it is used as a propaganda tool to paint the enemy as backwards, to build alliances on a shared principle to garner support from other nations, and to bolster an image when it is convenient. The micro-scale realities of individual lives paint a different picture in some ways and simply add detail to the bird’s eye view of overall politics in others. Across the board, the Israelis Dylan was so kind to introduce to us spoke of the connection to identity that comes with being a minority, no matter the kind, that made most of them support steps towards peace—whether they had fought in the army or been in jail for refusing their conscription. They spoke of the problems that are part and parcel to being at the specific identity intersection of Israeli and LGBTQ, but also to how Israel was at least ahead of its enemies.
The piece was smart, funny, moving, and insightful. Dylan brought together all these different aspects of people and the names, ideas, and identities they attached to themselves. He gave us a window into how that intersection works. It was an amazing performance that I feel incredibly lucky to have seen.
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