Cabaret actress Alexandra Billings on transgender politics and Hollywood.

Alexandra Billings, 54, grew up in the theater, surrounded by performers. Her father was musical director of the L.A. Civic Light Opera House for almost 20 years. Her mother moved her and her brother to Chicago, where theater and performance is practically a religion. She herself acted and sang on countless stages as a drag performer, and in time expanded onto bigger stages and more central roles.

She made history as the first transgender actress to portray a transgender character on television. That came in her role as Donna on Romy and Michele: In the Beginning, from 2005. And now she essentially plays herself on the award-winning Amazon hit series Transparent, in the three-dimensional character of Davina.

She's in town teaching a crop of young people the art of theater at CSU Monterey Bay's last hosting of Summer Arts, and she will do a public performance this Saturday. First, she spoke to the Weekly.

Where are you now?

I’m on CSUMB campus in a big dormitory. The faculty dorms. The students are on other side of campus in their own building. They’re insane.

A lot of people are learning more about formerly marginalized people and communities, learning about ideas and words that may be new to them. Comedian Patton Oswalt suggests there needs to be patience as people re-align what they previously knew. How do you feel about that?

I’m always for patience. That’s a great gift for humankind. We have to remember that change is both a gift and a curse. It comes with its own peril. When we move into a newness, it’s a rebirth. Births are messy, loud, they take up space. When that happens, we as Americans, we get very adamant about “This is the way things have always been…” Patience is a great idea. I would add that we have to approach each other with great kindness. Attitude, tone, ease. We’ve got to remember that you don’t understand my history as I don’t understand yours. We’re not just talking about vernacular, but listening.

I see you've had a website since 2004. What was on it back then?

Oh God. I don’t remember. I have a webmaster. I never even go there.

Your reel has roles that take place in hospitals: ER, Grey’s Anatomy, Nurses. But Transparent seems to have gone past medical issues and into the home and private life of your character, Davina. How has Davina been different from your previous roles?

I’m thrilled you noticed. I told my manager “I’m done killing people and I’m done putting on a hospital gown.” And I didn’t work for two years. [Transgender actress] Candis Cayne just played a transgender character who has cancer. Hollywood doesn’t know what to do with us. Because they don’t have trans people making these shows. We don’t infiltrate Hollywood. The only story they know is we have terribly tragic lives and we’re very brave. Bravery and courage are different. All of us who make it through the day are living in courage. Look at all these people who are being assassinated because of how they look or dress. Courage takes action, movement. That’s what revolutions are. Trans people have got to be courageous. We’ve got to get out and apply for jobs, get into education, get out of sex work, work for self, demand that our allies hire us, listen to us. We’re not tragic people. We’ve been around since the beginning of time. I’ve had AIDS since 1988. I survived a plague that killed all of my friends. I know what it’s like to live in bravery. I’ve known [Transparent writer/director] Jill and [Transparent writer] Faith Soloway for 20 years. I said, “Look, Jill, this is what I sound like, this is how I dress, this is my marriage which is quite boring—not normal, I don’t know what that means—I live a fun, passionate and grateful life. I don’t want to live in turmoil, I don’t want people picking me up off the floor.” Davina’s got some problems: she drinks too much, her boyfriend's a case. But it’s not bad compared to the others.

I like your character. I don't like many of the others. Ali, Josh, Sarah. They seem to have lost their moral compass. Have you heard people express that sentiment?

Norman Lear, a friend of the show, said something profound: “I really love you, the fact of you on the show, the character. She reminds me of our wonderful next door neighbors.”

I was told that you delivered a special and powerful message about the massacre at Pulse in Orlando.

I did a live Facebook post about a week ago when I finally said something about it.

Can you or did you use theater or performance to work through the pain of that horrible crime?

I’m doing this concert Saturday here. It’s very different from being in a play where I can say anything I want to. They can walk out, of course. God, I hope that doesn't happen. I don’t really know if I’m going to say anything about it. I don’t like to draw a big red circle around being an actor, imply that it’s the profound profession, that this is the only portal from which healing can happen. All of us have the ability to do that. In everything we do, there is the promise of healing. One of my students doesn’t want to be an actor, he wants to be a doctor. He’s compassionate, funny and kind, and he's going to save lives with it. I had friends who had doctors in the '80s who wouldn’t touch them, would make them sit in the waiting room for hours and hours. My doctor would call me, hold my hand, we wept together.

Why are people frightened or put off or offended by lesbian, gay, transgender people?

Ha ha ha. Gee, you can probably answer that better than I can. Why do you think?

Maybe some misguided religious basis?

But don’t you think religion is only the symptom? Religious doctrine is learned behavior. I don’t know why. I really don’t. We all belong to the same human race. We all belong to humanity. Whatever you believe to be true, the color of your skin, whoever you fall in love with, we all come from the same piece of the universe. Anything other than that is what we’re taught. The question is why are we teaching people this? I wish I had an answer.

What are you teaching your Summer Arts students?

Everything I just told you. I’m totally serious. Through artistic expression, everything we just talked about.

How’s it going?

It's amazing. I love being in academia. I’ve been a teacher for 34 years. An actor since I was 7. That’s all I’ve really done. I got my Masters degree and I’ve been in academia 7 years. Before, I taught at Steppenwolf Theater, and I traveled to different schools to teach. And now I have a permanent tenure track position [at CSU Long Beach]. I’m there all the time. I teach the same students for 4 years. It’s fascinating. They have no idea this is true, but they are the greatest teachers of the human experience I’ve ever had.

What have you learned from them?

How to navigate through the world in a way that’s about curiosity. I, myself, fall into judgement. We were talking about religious people: “Those religious people are blah blah blah…” I have family who are self identified Christian and they are the kindest people. The students remind me you can be curious first.

Alexandra Billings performs her one-woman show 7pm Saturday, July 16, at CSU Monterey Bay's World Theater, 5260 6th Avenue, Seaside. $18-$20. 262-2714.