The Mermaid Hour

For Pilar and Bird, parenting a trans tween is all about guessing how to get it right when they’re not even sure what that means—and it doesn’t help that they’re not on the same page. Vi just wishes they would keep up: she’s busy navigating her first crush on super-cool Jacob, obsessing over her favorite YouTube vlogger, and just about ready to make herself an internet sensation. Fast-paced, funny, and...
For Pilar and Bird, parenting a trans tween is all about guessing how to get it right when they’re not even sure what that means—and it doesn’t help that they’re not on the same page. Vi just wishes they would keep up: she’s busy navigating her first crush on super-cool Jacob, obsessing over her favorite YouTube vlogger, and just about ready to make herself an internet sensation. Fast-paced, funny, and heartfelt, The Mermaid Hour finds all three confronting the gaps between who they are and who they wish to be.

Mermaid Hour is available from Original Works Publishing
https://www.originalworksonline.com/
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The Mermaid Hour

Recommended by

  • Nick Malakhow:
    22 Jun. 2021
    A lovely piece about the complexities of family. I especially loved how in this narrative we were presented with an ostensibly liberal and accepting family whose relationships and equilibrium were challenge by Pilar and Bird's unconscious and (and semi-conscious and conscious) biases. An important reminder that left-leaning politics don't make someone immune from the toxic forces that threaten marginalized communities and identities. Every single person in this piece was a nuanced and fully rendered human, and they kept my sympathy even as they bristled against and challenged one another. Beautiful, funny, poignant, theatrical.
  • Cheryl Bear:
    20 Jun. 2021
    A great play that captures parenthood and how to love your child for who they are. Well done.
  • Patrick Gabridge:
    7 Jan. 2020
    This play is just lovely. Yes, it’s about a trans kid, but it’s also about the challenges of parenthood (any kid) and what happens when your kid isn’t the kid you dreamed about, but you love them anyway (loved Bird’s Fenway story). The writing is sometimes just so beautiful—I’ve gone back and reread Vi’s mermaid hour speech several times. There’s so much love and hope here. I hope it gets done again and again.

Character Information

  • Pilar
    30's-40's,
    Latina
    ,
    Female
    Pilar is Latinx of any race, born and raised in the U.S.
  • Bird
    30's-40's,
    Cisgender Male
  • Vi
    12,
    Latinx or mixed-Latinx
    ,
    Transgender
    Vi is a trans girl and may not be played by a cisgender actor. She may be played by self-identified trans, genderqueer, and nonbinary actors.

    If Vi is cast as the biological child of Pilar and Bird, she would be at least half Latinx. If Vi is cast as adopted, that distinction matters less.
  • Mika
    30s-40s,
    Japanese-American
    ,
    Cisgender Female
    Mika is Japanese-American.
  • Jacob
    12,
    Asian American
    ,
    Cisgender Male
    Jacob is gay and either Asian-American or mixed.
  • Merperson/Crux du May
    20s-30s,
    Any
    ,
    gender non-conforming
    The Merperson is the YouTube name for Crux Dumay, a gender nonconforming performer and grad student. They may be of any race, but it is important that the role clearly be that of someone genderqueer, nonbinary, or otherwise gender nonconforming. Crux is not a drag queen.

Development History

  • Workshop
    ,
    Actor's Theatre of Charlotte
    ,
    2016
  • Commission
    ,
    Sloan Project at Ensemble Studio Theatre
    ,
    2014
  • Reading
    ,
    Ensemble Studio Theatre
    ,
    2014

Production History

Awards