ABSTRACT
Applied theater work offers a space to use theater techniques to unpack and work through community issues. For this group of transgender applied theater artists, the task at hand is naming: what does it mean for a trans person to choose a new name? to reconnect with a given name? to ask for community support in naming? This piece tracks the process and experiences of one troupe exploring trans naming through a new set of applied theater exercises. These exercises culminate in Trans Naming Rituals – performances where trans participants claim their identities and ask for community recognition.