The actress plays a lover in transition in off-Broadway’s Would You Still Love Me If…
By Brandon Voss
How much can love withstand? It’s a tough question posed by John S. Anastasi’s Would You Still Love Me If…, which opens October 10 at off-Broadway’s New World Stages.
Sofia Jean Gomez stars in the world-premiere staging as Danya, who’s in a serious lesbian relationship. “She’s the happiest she’s ever been,” Gomez says. “They want to start a life and family together, but she’s hiding a secret. She believes their love is strong enough to survive it.” Danya begins taking steps to transition from female to male.
At this watershed moment for trans visibility in the media, the actress feels the weight of responsibility to represent the community respectfully. “I don’t take this lightly at all,” says Gomez, who also appeared in the off-Broadway revival of Angels in America. “I’ve been digesting information about the transgender community like a sponge.”
Gomez has particularly followed the journeys of young trans men like The Fosters star Tom Phelan and Men’s Health cover model hopeful Aydian Dowling. “These people are so remarkable, it blows my mind,” she says. “This community’s been screaming for decades to be heard, so these stories need to be told. I’m humbled to be a part of the conversation.”
She’s also been inspired by her director and co-star Kathleen Turner, whom she first saw in The War of the Roses. “I remember thinking, ‘Oh, my God, she has a low-pitched voice like me. I’m OK!’”
Next, September 2015.