Bite My Thumb
A Skirmish in One Act
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Pacific University Production
- 2018 SUNY Potsdam Festival of One-Acts, NY
- 2016 Gadfly Theatre, Minneapolis.
- 2015 Shanghai Pride, EastWest Theatre, Shanghai, China.
- 2015 Michigan Womyn's Music Festival (reading).
- Published in Sinister Wisdom, Issue 76, Sebastopol, CA.
- Published in Nine Short Plays, Outskirts Press, CO.
- 2010, Pacific University, Forest Grove, OR.
- Optioned by CottonLover Films, Indianapolis, IN.
- Produced in Beyond the L-Word: An Evening of Lesbian Theatre, Cauldron & Labrys, Portland, ME. (staged reading)
- Produced by the School of International Migration and Ethnic Studies, Malmö University, Malmö, Sweden.
Synopsis:
Two “gangs” from rival Off-Off Broadway productions of Romeo and Juliet meet in an alley to rumble, sixteenth-century style. Transman meets lesbian cross-dressing, and lesbian butch squares off against male machismo in this swashbuckling gender-bender!
A male “Romeo” from a traditional production shows up at the stage door of an all-women theatre company, challenging their “Romeo” to come out and fight like a man. The fact that this cross-dressing, female Romeo has stolen his former girlfriend by offering her the role of Juliet only fans the flames of his indignation. When Juliet’s Nurse, a lesbian butch, takes up his challenge, however, Romeo finds himself outclassed in the martial arts. On the brink of surrender, he is rescued by his own masked “Mercutio,” who takes on the Nurse in a dazzling display of sword-fighting techniques.
In another surprise twist, “Mercutio” is unmasked, revealing his identity as a transman. Accused of being a woman by his former buddy, he is also attacked by the lesbian butch for alleged lesbophobia. Meanwhile, the female “Romeo,” threatened by the butch’s superior fighting skills attempts to put her back in her place as a character actor. The Nurse however, joins forces with Mercutio, with the result that both find themselves expelled from their respective companies.
Having pronounced a plague on both their houses, the butch launches into a tender coda about the unsung heroism of those who renounce traditionally assigned gender roles. The two commit themselves to the creation of a new kind of theatre that can support their stories.
Two males, three females, one transman
Thirty minutes
Single set
A male “Romeo” from a traditional production shows up at the stage door of an all-women theatre company, challenging their “Romeo” to come out and fight like a man. The fact that this cross-dressing, female Romeo has stolen his former girlfriend by offering her the role of Juliet only fans the flames of his indignation. When Juliet’s Nurse, a lesbian butch, takes up his challenge, however, Romeo finds himself outclassed in the martial arts. On the brink of surrender, he is rescued by his own masked “Mercutio,” who takes on the Nurse in a dazzling display of sword-fighting techniques.
In another surprise twist, “Mercutio” is unmasked, revealing his identity as a transman. Accused of being a woman by his former buddy, he is also attacked by the lesbian butch for alleged lesbophobia. Meanwhile, the female “Romeo,” threatened by the butch’s superior fighting skills attempts to put her back in her place as a character actor. The Nurse however, joins forces with Mercutio, with the result that both find themselves expelled from their respective companies.
Having pronounced a plague on both their houses, the butch launches into a tender coda about the unsung heroism of those who renounce traditionally assigned gender roles. The two commit themselves to the creation of a new kind of theatre that can support their stories.
Two males, three females, one transman
Thirty minutes
Single set
Photos from the production at Shanghai Pride in Shanghai, China
