Dark comedy challenges the modern Family
Play offers a searing view of the American nuclear family facing disarmament of its rigid structures
A dishonourably discharged veteran named Isaac returns from the wartime horrors of one of America’s many recent wars. Arriving home, he finds his patriarch father felled by a debilitating stroke, his younger sister Maxine now is his brother Max and their mother Paige appears to be getting even on a number of levels with both family and society. Hir, from playwright Taylor Mac, is a picture-perfect, searing view of the American nuclear family facing disarmament of its rigid structures under the light of reality.
Hir (pronounced here) is a gender-neutral, third-person pronoun that unites him and her. The word is believed to have had its origins in Middle English. Playwright Taylor Mac won the 2015 Lambda Literary Award for LGBT Drama for this dark comedy which continues the artist’s dedication to dismantling standard gender stereotypes and more. The Vancouver production of the play by Pi Theatre marks its Canadian debut.
Mac is an American performance artist who acts, sings, directs, produces and writes powerful works that diverge from so-called cultural norms while seeking to establish new ones. His work is one-ofa-kind and has floored audiences across the United States, Canada and beyond.
Directed by double Jessie Awardwinner Richard Wolfe, the Pi Theatre production keeps to the company’s mandate to present “bold and uncompromising plays that explore modern life.” Hir’s examination of the internal dynamics of a suburban family dealing with everything from identity crises to PTSD and abuse via an absurdist/ realist window really resonated with Pi’s artistic director.
“We’re always looking for something relevant and current that adds to the discussion and Mac’s examination of the issues of the reinvention of the family and the country — it’s an American play, but I think it applies here equally — is unsentimental and quite real and dark,” Wolfe said. “And that really appeals to me, because it has very nuanced and complex characters within this structure that is comedy with a razor’s edge. I happen to really like it, but admit that it’s delicate.”
Pi Theatre loves to present work that pushes audiences into territory that moves beyond mere entertainment. The company is looking forward to seeing how the play resonates with Canadian audiences who may come at it with a quite different outlook.
Calgary actor Jordan Fowlie (AMC’s Hell on Wheels, others) plays the character of Max. Playing a powerful character such as Max is “the highlight of the year” for the transgender actor.
“Getting to take on a role that is that close to home is always really exciting, because being able to open up the window to the representation of the community is needed,” Fowlie said. “Pi’s dedication to presenting fearless theatre that tells stories that many might shy away from is amazing. Plus, Mac is a genius whose work in Hir is just hilarious.”
The word “genius” is applied to Mac in many contexts. In 2017, the artist received a John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation “Genius Grant” (a.k.a. the MacArthur Fellows Program, MacArthur Fellowship), a sizable cash prize given out annually to American talents whose work exemplifies an “extraordinary originality and dedication in their creative pursuits and a marked capacity for self-direction.” It has been awarded since 1981 to past winners such as drummer Max Roach, filmmaker Errol Morris, composer/ musician John Zorn and other very select persons.
Since its debut, Hir has won multiple awards in markets from American to Australia, with reviewers all lauding the realist/absurdist approach to the raw subject matter and the playwright’s severe observational eye. Mac pushes boundaries and buttons with apparent glee, but his work should never be confused for being the sort of tame, simpering societal satire that appears on shows such as Bill Maher’s Real Time or John Oliver’s Last Week Tonight.
“He’s really pushing boundaries with the whole Trump situation and what that means for transgender people down there, but he does it in such a brilliant way,” said Fowlie. “I see the situation of being transgender in Canada as being better, but am trying to honour the American aspect of the work. Plus, it also looks at the situation of the white male, too, and that hits people with a reality that they might not usually get.”
In other words, Hir — both in the whole play and in Max’s distinct case — was chosen very carefully as a title and a conceit. Fowlie says that the entire play with every character is about identity and viewing yourself. Mac himself likes to use the pronoun “judy” when discussing himself. It’s an education in his work for cast and crowd.
“Hir has a lot of punch, because of its focus, and Max is trying to be so instructional about the community,” Fowlie said. “But I’d never heard the word before this and there were a lot of things in it that I had to go out and educate myself about and it made me realize how much about my own community I didn’t understand. Call it a reality slap to the head that can only help me as an actor and in understanding differences.”
Wolfe said that finding the right actors to perform in Hir took a national audition process to get right. There were submissions from across the country, but Fowlie just “had something ” that the director felt was right for the role. Filling in the family with Mom’s the Word co-creator and star Deb Williams, Bard on the Beach veteran Andrew Wheeler — who plays the mostly mute and almost completely subservient husband Arnold — and Stratford Theatre Festival actor Victor Dolhai was key to the making of the production.
Plus, for Hir, Pi is breaking one of its unwritten rules.
“We have said that Pi doesn’t do shows set in living rooms, but this is an exception,” he said. “It’s in a California rancher that we show a few rooms in.”
Hir is being presented at the Vancouver Civic Theatre’s Annex, a space adjacent to the Orpheum Theatre opened in 2010. Pi is one of three resident companies in the performing arts venue and Wolfe is excited to be presenting the first of the four-part play series taking place in the 160-seat space.
“Having a theatre like that in downtown Vancouver is really great and we are really excited that the City of Vancouver wanted to animate the space, because it’s under utilized,” he said. “So many people live around there and they can just walk over and take in what I really feel is an exceptional piece of work.”
He notes that Pi Theatre produces shows that are emotionally charged and intellectually alive. The company doesn’t issue warnings as its members believe that sensitivities to material differ too widely between people to do so.
That said, any questions about content, age-appropriateness, stage effects and so on can call 604-872-1861.