‘As a queer woman, my chosen family make me proud to be me’
Tania Azevedo, the co-creator of ‘BALLAD LINES’. (Supplied)
Tania Azevedo, the co-creator of 'BALLAD LINES'. (Supplied)
A queer theatre director has shared what chosen family means to her ahead of her musical about stories we inherit, opening in London.
Tania Azevedo, the co-creator of BALLAD LINES – “a heart-opening musical about the stories we inherit, and the choices each generation makes to break, reshape, or carry them forward” – tells PinkNews that she came out in her late 20s to her family during the pandemic when she moved back home.
She notes that her family come from a “conservative town in Portugal”, and her coming out led to a certain clash between the life her family expected her to live and the reality of the life she was building for herself.
“This clash of expectations between what we’re brought up believing our future will look like and what is actually right for us, this is a lot of what BALLAD LINES is about,” she shares
Tania empathises that it was important for the musical to touch upon the battles members of the LGBTQ+ community can face when family expectations don’t align with their authentic selves. But she also notes that the show touches on borrowing ancestral qualities that resonate with your authentic self from the family line.
She describes chosen family as “care, belonging, and commitment”, adding that it’s about being around people who not only challenge her to be herself, but do so “in a way that is courageous” and “proud”.
Offering advice to others who may be spending Christmas with people who don’t fully embrace them, she emphasised the importance of “caring for yourself kindly”.
“I often think that there might surely have been an ancestor in my family line who was queer, who was in an environment where they didn’t feel accepted. There is something about summoning my ancestors — those I know and feel in my bones would want nothing other than joy and good things for me — and bringing them into family rituals, even when right now my family might feel unsupportive,” she added.
This year, Tania, whose work specialises in LGBTQ+ storytelling, will host her first family Christmas with her wife and chosen family.
BALLAD LINES by Finn Anderson and Tania Azevedo will open in January at Southwark Playhouse. Tickets are available here.
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