Meet the Queer Psychologists Bringing Therapy into Theater
How do childhood experiences impact self-esteem into adulthood? How about if you are trans? How about if you are also biracial and an immigrant learning a new language while interpreting for your parents? While these factors of intersectionality in identity play a crucial role in the psychotherapy process, there is still precious little research and clinical literature addressing them. This may be a continuation of the long history of colonizing and heteronormative mindsets in psychology and psychiatry. But new generations of therapists are radically expanding the definition of therapy, including Sydney-based, Chinese-Australian clinical psychologist Xi Liu, who says they are “queering therapy” with their new therapy/theater project called “In Session.”
Xi lives and works in Sydney, where they are a member of Gender Galaxy, a group of mental health practitioners focused on the therapeutic and advocacy needs of transgender and gender diverse clients. Their latest project is a co-creation with queer therapist and biracial Tanzanian-Australian, Saria Green. “In Session: Psychotherapy in Play” transformed improvised intersectional psychotherapy sessions into live theater as part of last year’s Sydney Fringe Festival.
What would it be like to bring live psychotherapy to the stage? Xi and Saria took turns playing the roles of therapist and client on successive nights, improvising everything. In the outdated but still powerful world of hierarchical psychotherapy, this kind of project is risky, but for Xi and Saria, it helped them see the future of therapy.
For their client roles, they each created a character which was a composite of client stories, plus their own experience as queers with intersectional identities, so that the roles were also authentically personal. Xi got very “method actor,” creating the character of a Chinese Australian trans man named Luke, and spending time in their shoes, even walking through a grocery store, reflecting on childhood memories as lived through Luke’s experience.
Xi is a colleague of mine in the global community of schema therapists, and I had a chance to ask them about their goals with the project.
“We wanted to move beyond narratives filtered through a lens of whiteness, presenting stories where race, queerness, and cultural connections weren’t side notes but driving forces,” Xi told me from Sydney.
The trip to the grocery store centered around Luke recalling, as a young child, the deep shame they felt at making mistakes while interpreting for their mother, who was trying to buy steak for the first time. A simple food item- becomes more than just a transaction; it’s a quiet confrontation with not knowing the ‘right’ cut, the ‘right’ doneness, the unspoken rules that signal belonging. It’s not just about being on the outside, but about the shame of unfamiliarity with something deemed basic—basic, that is, if one has grown up within white, Western norms.
“These experiences also tied to Luke’s shame about being trans and queer. The repeated feelings of being “less than,” as a child of immigrants and later as someone navigating his identity, compounded over time. It highlighted how race and queerness intersect in the development of deeply held negative beliefs, reinforcing feeling defectiveness, rejection, and unworthiness,” they explained. “Luke’s story showed the lasting impact of these intersections and the importance of addressing them in therapy.”
So how did all of this work as theater?
“For me, it was about offering the audience a sense of vicarious healing. As therapists, we experience this when working with clients—particularly when we have shared lived experiences. I wanted the audience to feel the profound impact of collective witnessing, not just the pain but also the reconciliation and growth.”
Xi and Saria played in the Sydney Fringe festival for multiple nights, which allowed them to switch roles, with minimalist staging and an intimate audience, followed by talk-back. They both knew they couldn’t predict the audience reaction, and were surprised and moved.
“The response was overwhelmingly emotional,” Xi said. “There were tears and moments of recognition, particularly from audience members with shared experiences.”
Xi shared one of the more powerful aspects of the experience.
“One spectator reached out after the show, deeply moved by Luke’s line: Sometimes I wonder if I’m trans because I’ve been a husband to my mum my whole life. This was a daring moment, which was not planned, but it spoke to the narratives of trans identities that do not fit with dominate culture— even within queer communities. It also spoke to the intersectional queerness and cultural burdens that Luke and that audience member shared.”
The impact of the experience has stayed with Xi and influenced their perspective of what psychotherapy means and where it’s going, especially for queer and trans folks.
“Healing looks different for everyone, and we aim to make that central in treatment."
Photo credit: Nicola Bailey
Photo Alt Text: Saria (multiracial in appearance, shoulder length hair, wearing a dress) and Xi (asian/multiracial, dressed in trousers) on stage, facing each other sitting in chairs, playing out an improvised therapy session.)
