Three Gender Plays: Nelly Boy, My Funny Valentine, and Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls
CISSY is a timely collection of three moving and thought-provoking plays on gender and young LGBTQ+ folk by the acclaimed playwright Dave Deveau, hailed as “one of Vancouver’s brightest up-and-coming playwrights” (Vancouver Magazine).
In Nelly Boy, an unknown man sits in a nondescript room trying to discover how Nelly came to be running naked along the side of a six-lane highway. As their dialogue progresses, Nelly’s traumatic history slowly unfolds. Caught in the middle of opposing gender ideals, Nelly is forced to confront hatred and their own perceptions of the world in order to survive.
My Funny Valentine tackles the fracturing of opinion in the face of a horrendous act – the 2008 murder of fourteen-year-old Lawrence Latisha King, who was shot twice in the head after asking Brandon McInerney to be their valentine. Entering the minds of people on the fringes of a murder that will forever affect them, the play invites readers to search for their own humanity amid the confusing and chaotic implications of King’s tragic death.
Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls is the story of nine-year-old Fin, who has come out as a boy. As he cuts his hair short and changes his name, Fin’s family works to understand and adjust to his gender identity. Dad accepts the change right away, but Mom struggles. We see Fin’s family grapple with their child’s transition with the best of intentions and, ultimately, begin to accept and embrace Fin for who he is.