Arts, Etc.Theater

Pietrzak discovers identity, true self

"She does just about everything," said theater major Chryseis Alexander when talking about M. Elizabeth Pietrzak's duties in the Theatre Department. Pietrzak has been with the University of La Verne for 11 years, first as a student, then as an employee. Currently, she has undertaken the role of technical director in the Theatre Department. / photo by Michael P. Bailey
“She does just about everything,” said theater major Chryseis Alexander when talking about M. Elizabeth Pietrzak’s duties in the Theatre Department. Pietrzak has been with the University of La Verne for 11 years, first as a student, then as an employee. Currently, she has undertaken the role of technical director in the Theatre Department. / photo by Michael P. Bailey

by Araceli Esparza
Features Editor

When a male is born, society expects him to live his life as a man, and so forth. Anything different would usually be mocked, ridiculed, judged or condemned without much thought.

Yet, some individuals — including the University of La Verne’s M. Elizabeth Pietrzak — sometimes feel that their body is not in complete agreement with their true interior persona.

That is the reason for which Theatre Department technical director Pietrzak began the process to alter his physical mold to that of a particular gender — female — and changed his name from Mark to Elizabeth just one month ago.

Pietrzak said that she has not experienced any negative reactions from the ULV community, although she is aware that there is the expected occasional pointing, staring and laughing. However, within the department especially, she believes that the art culture is more accepting of such matters.

According to a memorandum released by Pietrzak, the condition is best recognized as gender dysphoria, by which “an individual feels that his or her mind and spirit do not align with his or her physical body,” she stated.

In this case, the issue was initially discovered when Mark was nearly the age of 6.

“I’ve always known that I was somehow different,” said Pietrzak, who was raised in Minnesota with two other siblings. “It just wasn’t until I was a teenager that I actually figured out what it was.”

As the issue became reoccurring, Pietrzak realized that a move to California would allow him to deal with the matter more personally. “That’s what made me come out to L.A. because I thought I would have the chance to deal with the issues more easily,” she said. “It would not have been accepted where I grew up.”

Therefore, in the fall of 1987, Pietrzak began the pursuit of a college education at the University of La Verne, where he majored in theater.

“I had the intention of transferring out to a bigger school, but that pretty much never happened,” she said. “I graduated in ’91 and stayed as a part of the department.”

One year later, Pietrzak married 1993 ULV alumna Alice Gasparian, whom he met while enrolled at the University. The couple was married for four and a half years before the marriage was simply no longer working. However, throughout the relationship, Pietrzak says she realized that the issue was still reoccurring.

“I finally told her [Alice] toward the end of the relationship. That wasn’t the reason we separated,” she said.

The matter was not much of a surprise to his spouse, but that she was in fact supportive. Pietrzak said that her parents “didn’t now how to deal with it,” and were shocked.

“They had a lot of moral issues…but they support me now,” she said.

Yet throughout that time, Pietrzak admits she was never really unsure about the decision.

“Sometimes I’d question it, but I never doubted it,” Pietrzak said. “That was an assurance that it was something I wanted to do.”

Her decision to go on with the process of transition was not based on the desire to be a cross-dresser, a drag queen or a transsexual. She simply described the decision as something based on the idea that “it is difficult to be who you are when you feel pressure to be one way because you are born with a certain body.”

It is for this purpose that she has undergone the crossover period for the past 18 months, most recently changing her name and demeanor in a manner which is reflective of her preferred gender role. However, Pietrzak wants the ULV community to understand her situation.

“Just to clarify the process, there are a number of things a person has to undergo before being considered for this procedure,” she said. “You have to meet guidelines, have letters [from medical professionals], go through therapy sessions.”

Additional steps to the transition included taking consistent dosages of hormones, such as estrogen and testosterone blockers, as well as undergoing surgery for the permanent removal of facial hair, growing out his hair and, of course, wearing women’s clothing.

She said, “It was kind of awkward at first with the progression, but the longer I do it, the more comfortable I am with it.

“It’s not so important that I wear a dress, but more that I be happy with who I am and what I’ve got.”

In the meantime, she has also adapted to the changes of a new image and lifestyle.

“At first, I did notice some changes in my eating habits. I have had more erratic cravings for food,” she said. “Also, I have become more demanding as to what I need from people.”

As she prepares for the final touches of the process, Pietrzak has had a revelation of the entire experience to explain its beginning and its end.

“Before, I was in the middle of the ocean treading water and trying to stay afloat,” she said. “Now I am reaching the shore to walk out of the water and onto dry land.”

Araceli Esparza, Editorial Assistant
Araceli Esparza
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