Embodying the Body Electric

When Amanda Cordner (BA ’11) wasn’t in class at York earning a degree in theatre, the actor-playwright-director-singer-dancer had a rousing side hustle. A big lover of sports, much of Cordner’s off-stage, out-of-class free time was spent hosting varsity events across York’s Keele Campus. While holding court on various courts, Cordner learned how to work stadium crowds into a frenzy whilst hyping up fellow student athletes. “It was one of many things during my time at York that allowed me to create my own educational adventure – and it gave me stamina,” says Cordner from their home in Toronto. 

Cordner’s days of championing champions has no doubt served the multi-hyphenate well. With a CV that includes cameo spots on CBC’s comedy sketch fest, Baroness Von Sketch Show, and an unforgettable star turn on Sort Of (stealing scenes as the gender-fluid sage, 7ven), each project required Olympic-level improvisational acting. Both television shows are also considered zeitgeist-changers in their own way. 

Cordner, whose background is Trinidadian and Italian, was drawn to Sort Of and Baroness because of the cross-cultural social commentary embedded into each series. “It’s strange to say, but the combination of my familial heritage and my time getting sports fans so fired up at York led me to make the most outrageous, intersectional work I’ve made so far.” 

Body So Fluorescent is a surefire example of this. The critically acclaimed play is one Cordner co-wrote with high school pal and fellow York University collaborator, David Di Giovanni (MFA ’17). The duo has been eating-breathing-sleeping the piece for years. A 2014 sensationalizing piece from Time magazine entitled “Dear White Gays: Stop Stealing Black Female Culture,” and a rival editorial clapback response posted on the website Thought Catalog entitled “Dear White Gays: Don’t Listen To Time Magazine,” seeded Body So Fluorescent’s roots. 

To showcase both sides of the appropriation argument, Cordner and Di Giovanni’s play – built by their shared madonnanera production company –  fearlessly presents the debate through comedy and tragedy set in a gay nightclub. 

In its many incarnations across Canada in the last three years, Cordner has played the two starring roles, mainly inhabiting theatrical spaces alone while taking on two characters: a young Black woman and a white gay man. Cordner and Di Giovanni’s investment in the piece has resulted in a tour-de-force script that unveils the problematic and powerful synergies in relationships across these communities. 

Cordner’s duo-dialogue is so direct and convincing that the audience often wonders “who’s exploiting who?” throughout each act. Cordner says that the play refuses to answer this question. “We leave it up to you to come up with your own conclusions,” Cordner says, “if you can.” 

Cordner’s performance is so potent that it further complicates and redefines our communal and conventional perception of identity politics. Yet Cordner says this comes at a price. “Every time I perform this play, it’s very exposing and vulnerable,” Cordner says. “For the first half of that play, we’ve seen many people walk out, even at queer venues. It’s a work that is disturbing to me, and obviously to some audience members, but it’s so important and we both stand by it.” ■