Lindsey Mantoan, the Ronni Lacroute Chair in Theatre Arts and associate professor, has co-edited a new book that highlights the voices of trans playwrights across the country.
“The Methuen Drama Book of Trans Plays, Volume 2” was released in September by Bloomsbury Publishing. The anthology, co-edited with Angela Farr Schiller and Leanna Keyes, includes eight new plays by trans playwrights. Each work centers on trans characters, trans life and gender diversity. Together, the works shine a spotlight on the richness and range of contemporary trans theater. The anthology also features a range of critical essays to inspire deeper understanding of the works and playwrights.
“After the success of the first volume, our editor at Bloomsbury reached out and asked if we’d create another. There’s such great art out there, and we’re thrilled to be able to amplify it,” Mantoan said. “Our dream is that these plays will reach broader audiences now — we hope more people will teach them and theaters will produce them.”
The new volume follows the success of the groundbreaking first edition, released in 2021. A third volume, featuring young adult trans plays specifically, is slated for a May 2026 publication.
“When we put out a call for submissions for the second volume in this series, we received so many excellent and creative plays that we asked Bloomsbury if we could make a third installment, this one with a YA focus,” Mantoan said. “Trans youth deserve to see themselves represented and these plays delve into the range of emotions that young humans experience as they navigate growing up.”
Mantoan’s editorial work has already earned national acclaim. In 2024, she won the Excellence in Editing Award from the Association for Theatre in Higher Education for her anthology “Troubling Traditions: Canonicity, Performance, and Theater in the U.S.”
Mantoan joined Linfield in 2017 and serves as the university’s resident dramaturg and intimacy director. She has directed numerous mainstage productions while teaching courses in theater history, musical theater and queer theory.
She directs the Linfield Theatre Program’s upcoming production of Shakespeare’s “Macbeth,” running Oct. 30-Nov. 9. Tickets for “Macbeth” go on sale at noon Oct. 15 at www.linfield.edu/arts.
