In Conversation with Artemis Muñoz | Two

In today's Backstage Blog, we spoke to Artemis Muñoz, the writer and director of the upcoming show Two, which opens at Theatre Works next week.

Up until this point Kit has loved being non-binary. But Kit is pregnant now - and people who used to be mostly okay about their gender are ready to start misgendering them to an obscene degree. Even more irritatingly, they beg Kit for details about their unborn child’s genitalia. Keen to force a gender on this tiny unborn being. Kit is having no more of it. They proclaim to their loved ones: Fuck off it’s twins. Different genitals. How will they maintain the lie once their child is born?

Q: As an award-winning cabaret and theatre performer, how do you think 'Two' fits into your already impressive and varied catalogue of created work?

Two is my first stage play to make it to production. It's a work I feel very proud of and a work I've poured so much of myself into - not just time and labour but also emotions and inner conflicts and ideas. Though I am stepping into the role of theatre writer and director for the first time with this show, much of its style is similar to my previous works. 

I love using art to dig into messy feelings or unanswered question and this show is no exception to that. It's also full of my usual humor and inherent love for the silly and absurd. 

The more things change the more they stay the same.

Q: How long have you been working on this show? How did the idea of 'Two' come to be?

I've been working on this show since 2021. The seed of the idea came earlier than that though. Partly from hearing my sister complain about a friend of hers having twins and that meaning she had to buy double the amount of gifts. I chuckled to myself and thought... that could be a good scam and filed it away in my brain where all my silly little ideas live. The was the other, less fun part... observing people in my life who I thought were cool about trans stuff absolutely disintegrate into transphobia anytime something to do with pregnancy or reproduction in general was mention. At some point these two concepts met and... I had the beginnings of what would be 'Two'

I worked on it through 2021 as a part of my Masters in Theatre (Writing) at the VCA and then again in 2023 with the support of Wit Incorporated. It's been truly wild and so exciting to be on the other end of such a long stretch of development and seeing these words, these characters come to life.

Q: 'Two' speaks directly to the lived experience of non-binary people, and the norms imposed on them by others. For people coming to 'Two' who are non-binary, or to those eager to interact with art told from that perspective, what message do you hope 'Two' might leave them with?

I honestly don't think this is a 'message' sort of play. But I want people to come to this show to have a laugh and maybe a cry. I want them to think about who they want to be and what they would need to leave behind to become that person. I want people to start to imagine the world they want to build for those who come after us. 

Q: What will surprise audiences about this work?

Hopefully not a total surprise but the cast and creative team have done phenomenal work and I hope audiences will be as blown away by them as I have been!

Q: What has been the most memorable moment in the process so far?

No spoilers, but seeing the team react to our prop baby is always an absolute delight. There have been so many little memorable moments from rehearsals though from tiny little improvised character quirks that made me die laughing to the time I accidentally locked us out of our rehearsal venue and we had to go run lines in the indian restaurant next door until someone could come and save us with a spare key!

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Two plays at Theatre Works from December 10-20.

Click here to get your tickets!