Review Fix Trans Theatre Festival 2018 Coverage: Sandy Gooen Talks Pass/Fail

Review Fix chats with Sandy Gooen, who discusses ‘Pass/Fail’ at this year’s Trans Theatre Festival in New York City, detailing the creative process and letting us know what to expect.

About ‘Pass/Fail’

July 9 – 22, 2018

The Brick | 579 Metropolitan Ave | Brooklyn NY
Pass/Fail  by Sandy Gooen 

July 17 – 21, 2018

Directed by Donnie Cianciotto

Pass/Fail is a new play by Sandy Gooen, whose Twitter is @featsandygooen. A play about friendship, belonging, and, well, passing. The story follows Johnny, who is a transmasculine student at a women’s college, and his best friend Noah, who is a cis gay man at the Ivy League across the street.

1 hour

Tuesday, July 17 @ 7pm
Wednesday, July 18 @ 7pm
Saturday, July 21 @ 3pm

Review Fix: What was the inspiration for this project?

Sandy Gooen: My playwriting course had a final assignment to be inspired by a story or a fable, I picked the Don Quixote narrative of the unattainable, impossible, idealistic dream, and applied it to my current circumstances as a Transmasculine student at a women’s school. I also was inspired by an evolving relationship with my dear friend, Zach.

Review Fix: What’s your creative process like?

Gooen: Crying and blasting music while writing, collaborative and lots of fun, self-deprecating humor (and occasional snacks) in rehearsals. I draw from memory, from culture, from my and other experiences, and I just create the most relatable, well-rounded, eccentric work I can.


Review Fix: What makes this different or special?

Gooen: Well. It’s certainly not common enough to see a Transmasculine protagonist and a gay co-tagonist (as I like to call him) and a number of other wild intersecting narratives clash onstage. It’s a play with music and the lead character moves and stays onstage throughout to invite you to see both inside his world and how others see him.

Review Fix: What did you learn about yourself through this process?

Gooen: Firstly, the actor playing Johnny (a somewhat factionalized version of myself), is somewhat of a doppelgänger for me, and so I learned how not alone I am. My work this year has brought me closer to my community. I learned I want to keep doing this writing thing, but I’m always learning and growing. It’s my second professional play and this one came with the challenge of less resources and more personal content. But I have learned to open myself up, though not all my shows will be autobiographies.

Review Fix: What are your ultimate goals for this production and for the future?

Gooen: I want to keep going. Keep working with marginalized artists. Get our stories out there. And maybe change some minds and make some friends along the way. Ideally, this will not be the last time this play- or any of my work- is performed. We need representation in every facet of the media and in every field on earth. I stand on the shoulders of other queer and trans artists like MJ Kaufman, Kit Yan, Larry Kramer, Shakina Nayfack, Lisa Kron, (and a whole bunch of other lovely folks who are too famous for me to be naming in the same sentence as myself), and I will continue to put in the work to pay it forward!

Review Fix: What’s next?

Gooen: I’m graduating in December, and my thesis concert will be on December 12 at the Glicker-Milstein Theater, where my first play, It Takes a Village, made its professional debut.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 13819 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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