Lisa has played roles ranging from black panther to go-go girl, but only in Shakespeare's male characters did she discover the essence of being female.
Lisa's Story
"It's definitely a role reversal."
I have a female body and I love my female body, but I like to play with gender roles. I think what Shakespeare was doing as an all-male company was looking at human behavior. They thought that they were balancing themselves in this perfect way by playing the male and the female in them. I feel that I am doing that as well, but I think it is interesting that I wouldn't have been able to do this back in Shakespeare's day.
"I have experimented with my identity in many ways."
For one of my early Shakespeare roles, I put a sock in my cod piece because I thought that is what I should do, and mid way through opening night my sock ended up half way down my leg. It was the most humiliating experience of my career. Now, I think the most important thing about acting like a man is centering your energy in your sex and your head. The stuff in the middle gets left out. It isn't that men aren't alive in their hearts and in their guts, but women tend to be really centered in their hearts and wombs, and they tend to pull away from head things and sexual things because they don't want to be victims anymore than they already have to be.
The key consideration for me is how vulnerable a man is because their genitals are external and every sexual thought they have is apparent. For women, you can control people and be manipulative without them knowing what you are feeling inside.
"As a man, I feel really beautiful."
When I was in my 20s, I made a movie that went to the Florence film festival, and I was a go-go dancer. I went to aerobics everyday, I was half naked and emotional and fabulous. I look at that now and I just shake my head. I do love being fit and shapely, but I am not one to wear a lot of makeup. I don't understand the day to day female archetype that exists. For me playing the female archetype is actually much more upsetting than playing any male archetype. As a man I feel really beautiful because I love men that are sensitive, romantic and smart. I can be that.
"There is a huge difference between crossing genders in your life and on stage."
One time when I was growing up my mom dressed as a man for Carnival in the Canary Islands, and she went out to the bar drinking as a man, and she had a fabulous time. Then she came home and my stepfather knocked her across the room. I will never forget that night. It was so violent and unnecessary. This whole sense that women should be at the home and they are not allowed to have fun is awful.
I make it a point to have fun when I cross genders, but I don't cross genders in my real life. For me I will not let anyone get in my way of my pleasure with gender. I am playing with gender because as we all know gender is mostly constructed, in fact identity is constructed. I believe that I am spiritual being having a human experience, and I have every possibility to enjoy my life.
