Theater: “On the Evolutionary Function of Shame”
Even though you think you may have seen everything in the theater world (and sometimes I think we have), you’re in for a surprise with D. A. Lindell’s “On the Evolutionary Function of Shame.”
The structure of the play moves back and forth between couples in two different time settings: one in the Garden of Eden, the other “sometime in the future” in a geneticist’s office called the Wden Project. The first couple, named Adam and Eve naturally (Jordan Barbour and Slizaberh Ramos) are about to be cast out because Eve has committed the shameful act of eating the apple. Adam follows suit. When she asks why, he said, “Because I was curious.”
Flash forward to the second futurist couple, two gay men, Adam, a potter, and Fox, a lawyer (Cody Sloan and Ryan Jamaal Swain) who are expecting their first child. Adam, the sarcastic one however is somehow pregnant. How? We soon learn that Adam is trans. Surprise!
Adam’s OBGYN is Eve (Kayli Carter), his twin sister who after performing a sonogram is willing to reveal the sex of the child. But what Dr Eve and her research partner Margot (Imani Russell) don’t reveal is they have just successfully isolated the gene that causes gender dysphoria, implying that said gene can be switched off should parents so choose. Adam is horrified. “You’re a eugenicist,” he cries.
In an era where trans people have been used as punching bags, it’s interesting to see a play that lets you see the complexities they face even as upscale educated professionals. Bet you’ve never seen anything like this. And if Mister First Nighter hasn’t, it may be a first for you, too. At 2nd Stage @ Pershing Square, now through March 9.
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