EDGE Interview: Jesse James Keitel Channels Christine Jorgensen in Off-Broadway Show

EDGE: What are your thoughts on straight people playing trans characters?

Jesse: I do think actors are actors, and we're born to play a wide range of characters outside of our lived experience. But until the playing field is level and trans actors, gay actors, queer actors in general are getting the same amount of opportunities as our straight counterparts, why should we forego the opportunity to have a life-changing role just for some straight cis person to tack on their perception of our lived experience when they have no real lived experience with it? It's not fair for me to be reduced to my transness and my talent and hard work ignored, my resume ignored, to then have a role go to someone not of my experience. That feels unjust when there are so many talented trans actresses that I know of.

I do think there are some great performances from amazing actors playing characters outside of their lived experience, but we have so much talent within the community. It should be used. That's how I feel.

EDGE: Let's get back to the upcoming show. You're singing. Are you a singer?

Jesse: I don't identify as a singer at all. I have sung in multiple roles that required me to sing, and I started in musical theater as a kid. But you couldn't pay me to audition for musical theater. It terrifies me. Once I started professionally auditioning for it, that's when I knew it's not for me. I played a singer on "Big Sky," and I'm playing a singer now – or rather, I'm playing a character who sings. I don't think I'm not coming out with an album anytime soon!

EDGE: Was Christine a singer, or a person who sang?

Jesse: I think a lot of the music she sang was a little more speak-singing, but she sounded lovely, especially as she got more and more confident and her show got more and more successful. She had a lovely voice. I don't know if she considered herself a singer.

EDGE: Tell me about the costumes in the show?

Jesse: Breathtaking. Our costume designer, Suzanne Chesney, has truly outdone herself. There's a new scene in this production that wasn't in the 59E59 production that is adorable. I'm so smitten. Everything's very period. It's accurate. It's beautiful. I feel glamorous. And it's all stuff that I would never think to wear now. Some of it is quite conservative and buttoned up. I feel like every other production I do wants me to be naked or in mesh, and I don't mind, but it's nice to not be reliant on that. I feel beautiful without feeling overly sexy. It's nice.

EDGE: What's next for you?

Jesse: I unexpectedly had quite the year. I just finished two feature films and a new TV show for Amazon called "Obsession." It definitely pushed me as an actor. I'm feeling very proud of myself. I feel really lucky, especially right after the strikes. But I'm also a writer, and so once this play ends I'm excited to focus on some of my own projects and hopefully get one of them off the ground next year.

EDGE: TV, stage, film?

Jesse: I've dabbled in in all of them, but right now I'm focused on a rom-com based on a couple funny experiences I've had last couple years.

EDGE: Do you have any role models in the business?

Jesse: That's such a good question. I'm sure there are plenty of actors who I do look up to and admire and have massive talent crushes on. And this might be a hokey answer, but I do feel like I bring a lot of my parents into roles, just thinking about the way that I've watched them for years navigate life. I feel like my parents are larger role models for me than maybe I give them credit for.

EDGE: They're not industry people?

Jesse: No, not at all. My dad thought me going to acting school was me going to clown school. I guess he wasn't wrong. I actually did take some circus classes at Pace.

EDGE: One more question. If you could go back to the time in your life when you were struggling, what would you say to that person?

Jesse: I think it would actually be fairly recent. A lot of parts of my life took a difficult turn right around the same time. "Queer as Folk" got canceled, and all of a sudden everything I had stability with was no more. It really took reinventing myself in a way. I had to lose myself to find myself. I guess I would say, "You're gonna be okay. Life does move on even if it does feel challenging. But you're gonna be okay."

"The Christine Jorgensen Show" runs through November 17 at the HERE Arts Center, 145 6th Avenue, NYC , NY.