BIOLOGY PLAY by reid pope
2023 parity development award winner

 

Thank you to everyone who attended our readings on August 28th and 29th, 2024!

 Synopsis

Biology Play is a theatre piece about how we all morphed from little amoebas with one big eye and no anus. It follows two trans kids, Lila and Max as they play basketball in a park from age 11 to age 30. As Lila and Max dribble and shoot, they discuss the sea creatures they've been assigned to create out of paper mache for their elementary school Great Barrier reef project. They play-act as seahorses. Give birth to shoes and sports equipment. Quiz each other on biology. Max grows interested in hermaphroditic fish. Lila grows interested in Max. They spend time exploring the fluidity of the sea (and one another). Then struggle with evolution.

What do we hold onto? What should we hold onto? What can we honor and what can we let go of?

From the Playwright

Societal conversations about transness tend to skew conceptual. People forget about proof of gender variance in nature. I wanted to look at the history of this variance and explore how we can better understand transness and fluidity by using the sea as a guide. In making this piece, I hope to re-evaluate my relationship to my body and the things I’ve tried to taxonomize. The relationships I've fossilized. I hope it will help audience members, readers, actors, directors, and designers do the same.

About the Playwright

Reid Pope (they/them) is a comedian, playwright, and Jew who’s been featured in Vulture, PAPER, and Boys With Plants Magazine. They were a finalist for the 2023 Terrence McNally Incubator and have developed plays with Jewish Plays Project, Normal Ave, Primetime Theatre, The 24 Hour Plays: Nationals, and Edinburgh Fringe. Their television pilot Old Queens won the 2023 ATX TV Festival Pitch Competition and they were named a 2022 New York Comedy Festival Content Creator To Watch. Reid is a New Georges Affiliated artist. B.A. Brown | M.F.A. NYU Tisch

Reading at the Maker’s Studio at Chelsea Market, August 28th, 2024. Pictured (left to right): T Mitsock as MAX, Ashil Lee as LILA, and Riylan Mills as Stage Directions. Photos by Allison Stock.

AUGUST 2024 READING CAST AND CREATIVE TEAM

TEAM
Playwright: Reid Pope (they/them)
Director: Jaye Hunt (they/them)
Stage Manager: Skylar Back (they/them)

CAST
Ashil Lee (they/he) – LILA
T Mitsock (she/her) – MAX
Riylan Mills (she/her) – Stage Directions

 
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