Nancy

by Sean Swenson

A play for four performers. It’s about Clem, an agoraphobe who becomes fixated on an online fetish subculture called “forcemasc” geared towards closeted trans men. Clem begins an intense correspondence with a Mephistophelean figure named Jack, who promises to rebuild them in his image, before forces both mundane and divine intervene -- including a blank verse-speaking Joan of Arc, a depressed neighbor, and an...

A play for four performers. It’s about Clem, an agoraphobe who becomes fixated on an online fetish subculture called “forcemasc” geared towards closeted trans men. Clem begins an intense correspondence with a Mephistophelean figure named Jack, who promises to rebuild them in his image, before forces both mundane and divine intervene -- including a blank verse-speaking Joan of Arc, a depressed neighbor, and an archangel with 1000 hands. NANCY is about feelings of ambivalence and terror around transition, and what we have to sacrifice in order to live how we’re meant to.

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Nancy

Recommended by

  • Sarah Jae Leiber: Nancy by Sean Swenson
    “

    My favorite Sean Swenson play. So broad in scale and personal in stake, Swenson's finely-tuned senses of humor, history, and the uncanny dovetail into something weird, wild, and wonderful here. A play that begs to be staged, designed, and witnessed.

    My favorite Sean Swenson play. So broad in scale and personal in stake, Swenson's finely-tuned senses of humor, history, and the uncanny dovetail into something weird, wild, and wonderful here. A play that begs to be staged, designed, and witnessed.

    ”
  • Beckett Flynn: Nancy by Sean Swenson
    “

    I'm so glad I'm passed the point of transition where angels talked to me

    I'm so glad I'm passed the point of transition where angels talked to me

    ”
  • Rob Silverman Ascher: Nancy by Sean Swenson
    “

    Only Sean can juggle all of the elements at the core of a play like NANCY and create a play so brazenly experimental and so emotionally attuned.

    Only Sean can juggle all of the elements at the core of a play like NANCY and create a play so brazenly experimental and so emotionally attuned.

    ”

Character Information

  • Clem
    trans, sort of. having an agoraphobic-depressive episode and hasn’t been outside in days. weeks? maybe went to the bodega under cover of night last week. wealthy. spent too much time on the computer in formative years.
  • Jack/Jeanne D'arc
    calm, persuasive, sexy, not of this earth,
    & a prophet, vessel, future saint
  • Eady/Pierre d'Arc du Lys
    slightly older than Clem. trans, sort of (currently “boymoding.”) struggles with rigidity, social skills, baseline self-care. backend programmer. would definitely rather be a brain in a jar. spent too much time on computer in formative years.
  • Archangel/Bluebeard (Gilles de Rais)
    angel with 1000 hands, vengeful and inarticulate,
    & a baron, knight, terror of fairy tales