Penny

Nobody taught Penny how to do any of this. She applies lipstick over the beard with the steadiness a surgeon brings to a suture, steps into heels that should not hold her, and moves like the room was built for it. The leotard is from 1986 and so, in some fundamental way, is she. There is no irony anywhere in her, no moment where she catches her reflection and reconsiders. She is the only one in this project operating at full confidence, and nobody has ever told her whether she earned it.

Her eyes stay closed for most of a track. Not from shyness, but because the music is in there and the room is out here, and she has made her choice about which is more interesting. She has shared this bedroom with a man and a cat for over an hour of screen time and has no idea either of them exists. It has never cost her anything. Whatever she is doing, she is the happiest one in the frame.