Featured photo: Lyn Koonce and Stephen Emberley collaborated to create ‘Becoming More,’ a musical show based on Emberley’s experience as a transgender person. (photo by Lynn Donovan)
As a child, Stephen A. N. Emberley lived a sheltered life.
They grew up in New England as part of a fundamentalist non-denominational Christian household. Their grandfather was the elder for the church their family attended while their dad also served as the school’s Sunday teacher. Multiple family members served as pastors.
“My parents were extremists,” says Emberley, who is transgender and goes by they/them pronouns. “Even within fundamentalists they were considered more extreme. Who I was, was not talked about. It really wasn’t until I moved to Greensboro that I was able to.”
That was a few years ago before the pandemic. Emberley had graduated from James Madison University and taught and performed piano in a variety of places including Australia, France and Canada. It was around that time that Emberley moved to the city that they had a personal awakening. They had the space to delve into their identity and identify what felt authentic to them.
“I had been doing research, and I learned names and words,” they say. “Having the language to know, this is me. This is what’s going on.”
That story of self discovery is now embodied in a stage performance created by Emberley and Greensboro musician Lyn Koonce. Titled, “Becoming More,” the multidisciplinary event will take place on Feb. 22 at the Congregational United Church of Christ in Greensboro and tells the story of Emberley’s life and coming-out process, but also the importance of community, love and found family.
“The idea for this is to curate empathy and understanding,” says Koonce, who first started collaborating with Emberley a few years ago.
The base of the performance is rooted in choral music. As a former choral music director, Koonce worked with Emberley to pair established choral pieces with parts of Emberley’s life story. In between the performance of each song, which will be accompanied by dancers, Emberley will narrate a part of their life. Koonce likens it to the popular radio show, the Moth Radio Hour, but with song.
At the end of the event, there will be a panel discussion to talk about the importance of trans identity, acceptance and the attacks by the current administration on LGBTQ+ rights.
As has been reported nationally, President Trump has issued multiple orders targeting LGBTQ+ people. On his first day in office, he noted that the federal government would only recognize two genders: male and female. He also ended the process by which people could update their passports to their identifying genders. As a result of one of his executive orders, hospitals around the country have stopped providing gender-affirming care to queer youth under the age of 19.
The slew of targeted actions has resulted in a spike in crisis calls by LGBTQ+ people to the Trevor Project, a national hotline that helps queer people. According to a Jan. 21 release, the organization saw a record-breaking 700-percent increase in calls after the 2024 elections and a 33-percent increase on Jan. 20, inauguration day.
“People in the community are looking for hope,” Emberley says. “People who are not part of the LGBTQ+ community are looking for what to do. I think this will help people.”
As part of telling their story, Emberley says they wanted to push back against the stereotypical, sad tale of a trans person being disowned by their family and that being the end of their story.
“I wanted to focus on the joy,” Emberley says. “I wanted to focus on what happens when you find community, when they use your name. I wanted to use this project to present that there is a before and after. That there is a path forward after these things; that there’s community for you.”
To put the show together, the duo is fundraising, aiming to raise about $20,000 to help pay the 30 or so musicians and dancers who have come together for the performance. They have a fiscal sponsor through the Guilford Green Foundation, Greensboro’s LGBTQ+ center, and are still looking for more financial support from area institutions.
Because the performance is one night only, Koonce and Emberley hope that anyone who is curious about the topic will attend.
“We want LGBTQ+ youth, allies, people who are just curious and want to know more,” Koonce says.
And it’s not just for people who identify as queer or not know someone who is. The story is relatable to anyone, Koonce says.
“This performance art piece is centered around Stephen’s story, but as Stephen has said, we’ve all felt othered,” Koonce says. “We’ve all felt not good enough. This production speaks to us in that way. It’s a salve where we don’t feel alone.”
And being on the other side of alienation and isolation, Emberley wants this performance to act as a reminder that there is good and hope in the world, and that things are always evolving. They ground themselves in the work of their ancestors, particularly LGBTQ+ activists who paved the way for the rights held by others today. That’s why the title is the way it is.
“We’re all becoming more,” Emberley says. “There are all the things that I was told I was supposed to be. But we don’t stay stagnant as humans. We’re always slowly turning into the person we hope to be…. And if there’s one thing that I hope for myself, it’s through love, we’ll continue to grow and all become more.”
‘Becoming More’ will premiere on Feb. 22 at 3 p.m. Doors open at 2 p.m. Tickets can be purchased on Eventbrite here.
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