I Am Both
When the people of 1629 Jamestown put Thomas-ine Hall on trial for being both man and woman, they never expected Thomas-ine to put all of them on trial in return.
Synopsis: On April 8, 1629, the citizens of Jamestown gather for what Governor John Pott expects to be a straightforward trial. The charge: Thomas-ine Hall has been seen dressed as both a man and a woman. When asked to settle the matter with a single word, Thomas-ine responds defiantly, I am both a man and a woman, sending the courtroom into uproar.
Guiding the audience through this world is Robert Stacy, a gentleman farmer and Thomas-ine's closest ally, who serves as a fourth-wall-breaking narrator bridging 1629 and the present day. Through flashbacks, we learn Thomas-ine's full story. Born in Newcastle in 1602 with intersex anatomy and quietly raised as a girl, Thomas-ine excelled at both domestic skills and physical strength. A chance intimate encounter with their cousin Catherine in London sparked a profound self-discovery. Understanding that society offered only two rigid paths, marriage for women, independence for men, Thomas-ine made the courageous choice to live as both, enlisting in the Royal Army in male dress before crossing to Jamestown as an indentured servant.
In Jamestown, Thomas-ine worked the tobacco fields as a man and wove bone lace as a woman, charming and confounding the settlement in equal measure. They bonded with Robert Stacy over Shakespeare, navigated the predatory attentions of landowner John Tyos, and fell into a tender relationship with fellow servant Great Besse, ultimately drawing the court's attention.
The trial becomes a theater of Jamestown society. Wealthy women are scandalized; landowners fret over property values. In a stunning courtroom moment, Thomas-ine accuses Francis England of sexual assault, a charge the court quietly buries. Governor Pott, a former doctor with a drinking problem and surprising medical knowledge, privately acknowledges the science of hermaphroditism, even as he admits he cannot shield Thomas-ine from public opinion. Running alongside the trial is Polly, a young servant who wields a wooden bobbin like a microphone, conducting sharp satirical interviews with each witness and connecting their attitudes to modern injustices: sexual predation, human trafficking, forced medical procedures on intersex people, and religious intolerance. Her scenes serve as the story's moral heartbeat.
The Governor's verdict is both recognition and punishment: Thomas-ine is declared a hermaphrodite but sentenced to wear a hybrid costume, marked forever as other. Thomas-ine walks out with their head held high.
In a powerful apocryphal closing, Robert Stacy smuggles Thomas-ine out of Jamestown to live among the Powhatan people, where two-spirit individuals are honored. Thomas-ine finally finds peace in a community that embraces exactly who they are.
Andrew Scott as Robert Stacy
Morfydd Clark as Polly
The Danish Girl
Fleabag (4th wall humor)
After a fulfilling career in teaching, counseling, and football coaching, I now devote my time to screenwriting. The discipline and patience I honed as an educator serve me well in this new creative chapter.
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