←Recommendations of Cercle Hermaphroditos

Playwrights Foundation congratulates CERCLE HERMAPHRODITOS as an Honorable Mention for the 45th Bay Area Playwrights Festival in 2022. This play has the potential to use a bygone era as a launching point for discussing trans identity in a meaningful and nuanced way. Our Literary Council advocated strongly because we were moved by this joyful, hysterical, deeply touching, and starkly real theatrical narrative, as it lovingly renders a community of characters. This play asks, "What did trans happiness and community look like in the late 19th century?" We encourage producers to consider this work for further collaboration and production. #BAPF45

I love this play so much; Shualee is gifted at farce and creating memorable, fun, deep characters. I love how big and epic this play is and can't wait to see it produced and become part of our theatrical canon. Shualee is a bold playwright with a necessary and urgent voice. Produce this work!

Wonderfully written with delightful characters, fascinating history, and a very loving look at trans life and community. I keep thinking about this wonderful piece, and would gladly recommend it to anyone. I hope I get to see it performed in person one day!

A few hours after reading Cook's play, I found myself missing her witty, charming, courageous characters as if they were dear friends. A true gem of a play. It should be widely produced, but until that happens (and I believe it will happen!) it's such a joy to read.

A stunning play! The characters spring to life, and the pages soar! It is not at all surprising to see why the O'Neill chose Cercle as a finalist piece. I eagerly look forward to seeing it produced one day.

This play is full of heart that shows the power of community. The stakes are incredibly high for Ambrose, as well as, all the other characters featured. While the plot keeps you on your toes, it is the characters that drew me. It is a web of important relationships, trust, codes, and understanding.

I just finished reading this play, and I had to take several deep breaths so that I could write this instead of ugly-crying. What a charming, funny, sweet, utterly good-hearted play about trans community and friendship. I needed that, and I hope it gets more productions, so that more people can see it.

An amazing piece. I found myself so grateful to read a trans narrative centered around love, fellowship, friendship, and community vs. isolation and violence (while also appreciating how the characters articulated the place those things have in trans and queer experiences). All of the characters are so distinct and compelling. A subtle and nuanced piece with palpable conflict that doesn't veer into overwrought drama. I hope to see this produced soon!

If Oscar Wilde had lived to write a play about a society of trans women, this would be that play. Full of heart, wit, and love. Read it for yourself!

We produced Cercle Hermaphroditos this month at National Queer Theater and our audiences can't stop talking about it. A game-changing history of transgender advocacy in the United States, Cercle wields humor and camp as weapons against intolerance and otherness. As the American theater slowly begins to embrace the work of transgender playwrights, Shualee Cook's name should be at the top of any literary managers' list of bold new works.