Staging trans experience: a practice-based inquiry through immersive verbatim theatre in Thailand

This article examines Ila Raja Is Me?, an immersive verbatim theatre project developed at Thammasat University to explore how transgender experiences in Thailand can be mediated through theatrical performance. Using qualitative, practice based research, the study draws on interviews with ten transgender participants, reflexive thematic analysis, performance development, and post performance responses from audience and production team members. Guided by the Temporal Intersectional Minority Stress model and an immersive experience framework, the production combined recorded testimony, spatial design, live performance, movement, and audience participation. Findings suggest that effectiveness depended on clear relationships among testimony, performer action, spatial design, participation, and the Ila Raja literary narrative. Recorded voices maintained a connection to participants, while selection, editing, sequencing, and theatrical framing shaped their testimony. Production team responses indicated that creative involvement deepened understanding, while audience responses showed affective engagement that did not necessarily extend to wider social conditions. Challenges emerged when recorded testimony competed with live action and when the Ila Raja narrative lacked continuity. The article argues that immersive verbatim theatre can create attentive encounters with transgender testimony when theatrical elements clarify its social context, while recognising that performance cannot guarantee empathy, understanding, or social change.