Editor’s Pick: ‘Scorch’ At Solas Nua
Northern Ireland playwright Stacey Gregg's touching story of first love is told through the eyes of a "gender-curious teen."
Northern Ireland playwright Stacey Gregg won plaudits at the 2016 Edinburgh Fringe Festival and a year before at the Outburst Queer Arts Festival in her native Belfast for this touching and provocative story of first love, told through the eyes of a “gender-curious teen.”
In Scorch, 17-year-old Kes, a female at birth, has a developing identification with male characters in videogames and movies, and while online, starts a relationship with Jules, who believes Kes to be a boy.
A whirlwind of confusion results after Jules discovers the truth about Kes, inspired by real-life events occurring in the U.K. at the time.
As Gregg explained it to The Guardian in 2016: “These were [court] cases taken by women who had been deceived into thinking they were having a sexual relationship with a man, but discovered that their partner was a woman or, in one case, a trans man. The accusations were of ‘gender fraud,’ which for me is a contested term. I thought that the media coverage sensationalized these cases, and this drove me to try to communicate the questions they raised in a more complex way.”
Solas Nua, a D.C.-based contemporary arts organization focused on compelling new art from Irish creators, offers a free reading of Scorch as part of a full lineup of intriguing upcoming events.
The presentation will be followed by a discussion with the company’s Artistic Director Rex Daugherty. Sunday, April 10, at 3 p.m. at St. Thomas’ Parish, 1517 18th St. NW. Free with donations welcome. Visit www.solasnua.org.
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