this is a face

by J.C. Pankratz

B’s work as a potter trying to sculpt the perfect clay egg is interrupted when their partner, K, asks for a vitally important creation: a new face. Attempting the impossible will redefine what it means to see and be seen for both of them in this chimerical t4t love story.

B’s work as a potter trying to sculpt the perfect clay egg is interrupted when their partner, K, asks for a vitally important creation: a new face. Attempting the impossible will redefine what it means to see and be seen for both of them in this chimerical t4t love story.

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this is a face

Recommended by

  • Rob Silverman Ascher: this is a face by J.C. Pankratz
    “

    Elegiac without being saccharine, THIS IS A FACE is a gorgeous look at giving oneself to their partner and carving out a new life.

    Elegiac without being saccharine, THIS IS A FACE is a gorgeous look at giving oneself to their partner and carving out a new life.

    ”
  • Maximillian Gill: this is a face by J.C. Pankratz
    “

    Beautiful and enigmatic. This piece operates in mythic, poetic, and dreamlike spaces, but it is also purely theatrical and the characters' journeys vivid and intensely rendered. How Pankratz manages to pull all of this off in a single play is frankly astonishing to me. The use of personified dreams as aspects of consciousness is a masterstroke. A wonderful play that keeps you thinking.

    Beautiful and enigmatic. This piece operates in mythic, poetic, and dreamlike spaces, but it is also purely theatrical and the characters' journeys vivid and intensely rendered. How Pankratz manages to pull all of this off in a single play is frankly astonishing to me. The use of personified dreams as aspects of consciousness is a masterstroke. A wonderful play that keeps you thinking.

    ”
  • Shaun Leisher: this is a face by J.C. Pankratz
    “

    K wants so badly to have a new face. They want so badly to no longer look like someone that has deeply hurt them. B is asked to help them. They are reluctant but their love is greater than their hesitance. A love story featuring trans characters that's not about coming out or solely about trauma. The dialogue in this play is so fucking good. I loved the moments where these characters got to dive into memories and give voice to their pasts. I hope this play gets produced all over.

    K wants so badly to have a new face. They want so badly to no longer look like someone that has deeply hurt them. B is asked to help them. They are reluctant but their love is greater than their hesitance. A love story featuring trans characters that's not about coming out or solely about trauma. The dialogue in this play is so fucking good. I loved the moments where these characters got to dive into memories and give voice to their pasts. I hope this play gets produced all over.

    ”
Cast: Two trans masc performers, and one trans and/or non-binary performer.

B (bee), a potter, mid-thirties.
K (kay), their partner, mid-thirties.

Three Dreams:
Delight, a cosmic childhood housecat
the Devil, a chicken-devil
Disaster, an owl

K is a trans man, or a trans masc individual who is masculine of center enough to like being called a boyfriend sometimes.

B is also a trans man or trans masc individual. It’s important that B and K share this experience.

One performer plays all three dreams. They should be trans too. This is a trans story.

Development History

  • Reading, Ten Toes Collective, 2025
  • Reading, National Queer Theatre - Cherry Picked at Fire Island, 2025

Awards