Trans Actor/Activist Shakina Makes History with 'Quantum Leap' Episode

NBC's sci-fi hit "Quantum Leap" made history recently. On the episode entitled "Let Them Play," the show celebrated trans youth in school sports, thanks to trans actor/activist Shakina.

NBC's sci-fi hit "Quantum Leap" made history recently. On the episode entitled "Let Them Play," the show celebrated trans youth in school sports. In it, time-tripping protagonist Ben (Raymond Lee) leaps into the body of Carlos, a girls high school basketball coach circa 2012. When a player is injured, Ben (as Carlos) picks the only player on the bench to play. What he doesn't realize is the player is Gia (Josielyn Aguilera), the transgender daughter of Carlos.

In the real-life scenario, the coach did not choose Gia and the team lost. In the process, Carlos ignored his daughter's dream of playing in order to accommodate the transphobic beliefs of the school administrators. Hurt, Gia runs away and is never seen again. Ben sets some things right, including honoring Gia's desire to play and stand up to the transphobic school committee.

Not only did the episode do something unusual for a prime-time network show – deal with the issue of high school trans athletes and the backlash against them – but it did so in an authentic way. "Let Them Play" was written and co-directed by trans actress/writer/director/activist Shakina Aguilera. (Her co-director was Morenike Joela Evans.) She also was featured in the episode, alongside transgender actors Trace Lysette, Josielyn Aguilera, D'Lo, Jacoba Post, Rain Yabut, and Olabisi Kovabel. Nonbinary actor Mason Alexander Park appears as a series regular.

Shakina previously made who made television history on NBC's "Connecting......" as the first transgender person to play a series regular on a network sitcom. She also appeared in Amazon's GLAAD Award-winning "Transparent Musical Finale," which she helped write and produce, and Hulu's "Difficult People" as the iconic trans truther, Lola.

She is the Founding Artistic Director of Musical Theatre Factory, where she helped to develop hundreds of new musicals including Michael R. Jackson's Tony- and Pulitzer Prize-winning "A Strange Loop," along with her own autobiographical glam rock odyssey, "Manifest Pussy."

EDGE: Could you introduce yourself to our readers?

Shakina: I'm Shakina. I am a writer, director, producer, performer, and activist. I'm also the writer, director, and guest star of "Quantum Leap," episode 112, titled "Let Them Play."

EDGE: This is your second time making television history. Is that the way you just do things?

Shakina: Yep. I'm a go big or go home kind of girl. I was thinking about it, and it's kind of my third time making television history. On Hulu's "Difficult People," it was the first time that we had seen a trans actor in a comedic role – telling the jokes and not being the butt of them. And then on NBC's "Connecting...," it was the first time we saw a trans actor in a series regular role on a network sitcom.

EDGE: How did you get involved with "Quantum Leap," and why was this show the right series to tell this story?

Shakina: It was kind of fortuitous because I worked with the showrunner Martin Gero on NBC's "Connecting...." After that show ended, we have been talking about ways to continue collaborating. Martin told me that I should probably get some experience in a writer's room so that I can make my own show one day. I wrote a sample, and I asked if I could meet the showrunners of "Quantum Leap" and submit myself for an interview. I got that interview, and I pitched this episode idea at that interview, and then I got the job. What I have said from the beginning is that "Quantum Leap" is essentially a show about walking a mile in another person's shoes every episode.

As a trans person, I feel like I have a particular understanding of what it's like to be in someone else's shoes/body because I've had to live in this world in multiple bodies, including a body that felt like it wasn't mine. As a writer, this is the lens that I bring to every episode. The show has a legacy of taking stories about people and bringing them into the center, creating bridges of empathy. That is why I felt like this was the perfect time to bring a story about a trans kid and her family to network television.

EDGE: In writing this episode, did you draw on your own experiences and/or the experiences of other trans stories?

Shakina: It's really inspired by a trifecta of experiences, which are my own experiences as a queer youth activist in the nineties, and then the lives of two dear friends who were also trans who took their own lives. I sort of made this composite character, Gia, out of the lives of myself and my dear friend Gia and my other friend, Lady Justice.

EDGE: In writing this episode, what were the must-haves that had to be told?

Shakina: The must-haves were trans joy and trans community, because so often when we see stories about trans people there is one singular character and they're enduring some kind of trauma. While there is a lot of difficulty in this episode, the thing that really mattered to me to show is that trans kids are magic, that trans joy is valid, special, and sacred. I wanted to show that we have a community that is trans and cis together, and that it is a community of support.

EDGE: There's been much debate, and still is, that trans people and trans youth should not participate in organized sports. How do you say why they should be allowed?

Shakina: Like we say in this episode, all kids deserve the right to play, to learn how to work together as a team, to feel a sense of belonging, and to build skills so that they can become productive members of society. That's what school athletics are really about. There's a very small percentage of student athletes who are vying for scholarships and planning to play professional sports. For the most part, when kids play sports in school, it's about having an extracurricular activity, camaraderie, and learning how to be a good person. That is what we teach about teamwork. Every student, trans or not, should be entitled to that opportunity. I could unpack all the BS excuses that haters might try to whip up around trans youth, but the fact is that kids deserve to be kids, and the kids deserve to be treated equally.

EDGE: What are you hoping that viewers are going to take from this episode, especially the viewers outside of the queer community?

Shakina: We thought long and hard about that question, and what was very important to me is that this episode leans into accessibility and bridge building. I don't want to push anyone away. We want to broaden the tent and bring more people in to support trans kids. So, my hope for viewers who might feel ambivalent, or even anti-trans kids, is that they will have an opening toward understanding of what it means to be young and trans in the world today. I hope that they will have a little more empathy and compassion for those kids and their families.

EDGE: After watching the completed episode, did you have a moment of, "Oh no, I should have said this or done that"?

Shakina: There are always more stories waiting to be told. What I love about "Quantum Lea"p is that every episode has a beginning, a middle, an end. Each of the stories have a really clear message about humanity. I feel like this episode is one little impeccable offering that I get to make as an artist, and hopefully I'll have the opportunity to make more stories and shows like this one.

EDGE: Do you feel that Hollywood is doing a better job of erasing transface?

Shakina: I think that as an industry we are moving away from transface, but more needs to be done to ensure authenticity in the storytelling at every level. Not just who's on screen, but who's in the writer's room, who's producing, who's directing, and who's costume designing. We need trans people to be a part of the fabric of Hollywood so that when our stories are told, they're told authentically at every level.

EDGE: Can you talk a little bit about your Musical Theater Factory?

Shakina: I started back in 2014 in the back of a gay porn studio in Times Square. Michael R. Jackson's "A Strange Loop," which recently closed on Broadway after winning last year's Tony Award for Best Musical, was developed there. (It also won the Pulitzer Prize.) So MTF is really an incubator and a laboratory for early career musical theater artists working from the margins to create new and innovative forms of musical theater storytelling. It's a very collaborative and community-focused organization in New York City. I'm so proud to say it is now under new artistic leadership. Last year, our new artistic director, Brisa Areli Muñoz joined us. I'm the founding artistic director, but now I'm in LA focusing on my career. I'm so glad that I was able to leave something in New York that continues to serve the community and create opportunities for other artists.

EDGE: Are we going to at least get a Scott Bakula cameo in an upcoming episode?

Shakina: Those conversations are always happening, but that is above my pay grade. Like everyone else, my fingers are crossed that it will happen.

For more information on Shakina visit, click here.

"Quantum Leap" airs on NBC Monday nights at 10:00 pm. You can also streams episodes on Peacock TV.