New Comedy Celebrates Coming Out and Coming of Age

The screening of the new comedy She’s the He at the Marjorie Luke Theatre on Tuesday, August 19, is an exciting homecoming for the movie’s writer and director, Santa Barbara–raised filmmaker Siobhan McCarthy. The film is an homage to the high-school-hijinks comedies of the ‘90s and 2000s with a modern, queer-positive bent. The story follows best guy friends Alex and Ethan, who pretend to be trans women to stifle rumors that they are romantically involved (and give Alex a chance to sidle up to his crush). When Ethan realizes she actually is trans, the film becomes a Gen-Z coming of age and identity story.

McCarthy wrote this film in just a few days. The entire production took less than a year, and She’s the He premiered at South by Southwest (SXSW) in March 2025. “By the beginning of 2024, my friends and I could feel it in the water — the tides were turning against trans people,” McCarthy says. “If we had tried this even a year later, it would never have happened. Fear of the controversy and the anger this administration will bring upon anyone who is willing to engage with this subject has really made the industry a very shy place.”

As a teen, McCarthy participated in the Santa Barbara High School theater department. They moved to L.A. to pursue their dream of working in the film industry, eventually graduating from UCLA with a filmmaking degree, and starting their career working for another Santa Barbara native, cinematographer Marz Miller. “[Miller] took a chance on me and let me come work on his set,” says McCarthy, “and I was so obsessed with everything that I put my nose to the grindstone and read every book and interview I could find … just to learn how it all worked.”

The genesis of She’s the He was sparked when McCarthy met producers Jay and Mark Duplass (producers of Tangerine) and was “blown away” by their attitudes toward independent filmmaking. “They were willing to take a bet on me and on stories no one else wanted to tell,” says McCarthy. “I didn’t think someone like me could really do this, because the truth of the matter is that the only really high-profile trans directors in this industry, the only ones who managed to make it through to blockbuster studio scale, are the Wachowskis. And they were only able to make it there because they spent years stuck in the closet, forced by the industry to work under false identities, as different versions of themselves.” 

The film comments on, jokes about, and defies the hateful rhetoric and narratives directed toward the trans community — narratives that lead to real-world violence. “There is a real value to not only presenting trans stories genuinely, but presenting stories, especially with social lessons within them, through the comic lens,” McCarthy says. “People are more willing to learn or have their minds opened when they’re laughing.” While inherent politicization of the queer and trans community makes this film a socially relevant protest piece, it is, at its core, a comedy about teenagers. McCarthy describes it as “a classic high school comedy about kids doing dumb kid stuff and learning the lessons that kids need to learn to find love and acceptance for one another…. It’s the kind of movie teens watch at a sleepover and get to know every line.”

Presented with support from Pacific Pride Foundation, the City of Santa Barbara, and the Marjorie Luke Theatre (where McCarthy performed as a child), this screening of She’s the He is free (the suggested donation of $12 helps support Pacific Pride). Members of the cast and production team, McCarthy included, will host a Q&A after the show (the film has a majority queer and trans cast, adding to the authentic representation of the trans experience). “It’s so miraculous to have all of these things fall into place,” McCarthy says, “and … getting to bring the project back to my hometown.”

She’s the He screens at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, August 19, at the Marjorie Luke Theatre (721 E. Cota St.). See luketheatre.org/event/shes-the-he.

View the film trailer at shesthehemovie.com.