‘F to M to Octopus’ is latest installment in Process Series

Carolina Performing Arts’ Process Series presents its latest installment: a tale of a girl, a boy, a sex change and a cephalopod.

Playwright and UNC communication studies major Sam Peterson’s “F to M to Octopus,” following a week-long residency at New York City’s 3-Legged Dog Theater, opens tonight in Swain Hall.

The show is an autobiographical, multimedia work exploring the relationship between gender and the natural world and is the product of Peterson’s personal experience with transgender transition.

“It’s a moment of transition with testosterone,” Peterson said.

“The transition isn’t just a ‘the body and the hair grows, I’m a manly man now’ change. It’s a spirited awakening that connected me and made me communicate differently with all kinds of species on this Earth.”

Joseph Megel, founder of the Process Series and longtime collaborator with Peterson on the production, said he appreciates the perspective the one-man piece presents.

“It was an entrance to a journey so few of us have a reference for,” Megel said.

“More than that, though, it’s a window into the process of what a transition can be. Not necessarily a gender-related one.”

Peterson said he came to many realizations during the process of creating the work and exploring its themes.

“One of the realizations I had was that this transition was not unique,” Peterson said.

“We’re all transitioning. We’re all trying to find our — in my case — two burly legs on Earth. This show is really to get people thinking, ‘What the hell am I doing here on this planet?’”

Though “F to M to Octopus” premiered last year, digital designer Jared Mezzocchi, of 3-Legged Dog Theater, is helping to add multimedia elements to the production.

“Sam has a lot of photos from his family and a couple video clips,” Mezzocchi said.

“I’m trying to take those and sculpt them into the space.”

Peterson said he is excited at the prospect of utilizing multimedia elements.

“We get to take the audience to these places in the brain where testosterone is acting,” Peterson said.

“We even get to take them to the ocean with my muse, the octopus.”

Megel said he is looking forward to the opportunity of presenting this kind of gender lesson to students.

“We’re at a University where our governor said that sexual studies are nonsense,” he said.

“I think that a work like this challenges what gender is and shows us what the real nonsense we’re learning about is.”

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