By Hailey Murphy
“Max, come explain your gender ambiguity to your brother!” Paige calls out, amidst the old pizza boxes and strewn pieces of laundry.
She’s tried explaining Max’s pronouns to Isaac– they’re even mapped out on the fridge with children’s alphabet magnets.
But Isaac’s just been dishonorably discharged from the marines, and the home he’s arrived to is completely unfamiliar.
His father, Arnold, has had a stroke, leaving his mother– Paige– to run the home.
Free from Arnold’s abuse, Paige lives in constant defiance of her old life. Which means keeping the home in disorder, never eating fried chicken and dressing Arnold up in nightgowns to chip at his masculinity.
On top of that, Isaac’s sister Max now identifies as transmasculine, using the pronouns ze and hir.
Isaac struggles to understand Max and quickly tries to restore order, yet Max and Paige are unwilling to slip back into their painful past. The result is a conflict between tradition and family, between doing what’s humane and doing what’s deserved, between the old and the new.
“Although Isaac is a stern, masculine and brute man, he is also tender and really cares for his family,” junior Christian Seavey, who plays Isaac, said. “[It’s] been really interesting to try and play those opposites and let the love come into the show, despite all of his confusion and anger.”
Don’t be fooled by the dark backdrop of the show. HIR is full of absurdity and humor. Witty one-liners and dramatic monologues carry you through it’s bleak– albeit accurate– view of the American family.
“The humor makes the play bearable. It makes it human and near… It helps anyone identify with this family,” Bellamy Ridinger, who plays Max, said. “Parts of the show might seem extreme, but in the end I think this is a very organic representation of something that is all too regular. Humor helps us see how this family is everywhere, and it shows us how we all cope and try to solve problems.”
If you’re looking to have all the answers wrapped in a neat little bow, Hir probably isn’t the show for you. The situations are complex and there’s lots of grey. Don’t search for the all-virtuous protagonist, because you won’t find one.
Instead you’ll find characters who are flawed, who may be justified in their viewpoints but rigid within them, who have both good and bad inside themselves. The characters embody the complexity of human nature.
“Although it’s an absurd-like play, there’s a lot of relevance and relation within these characters. I hope audiences can see themselves in that, and think about how they might be affecting their lives and the lives around them,” William Eames, understudy for the role of Arnold, said.
HIR comments on a variety of issues such as drug addiction, post-traumatic stress and domestic abuse. But it’s commentary on transgender experience is most prevalent, particularly due to the contrasting viewpoints involved. Isaac represents folks who struggle with the idea of nonbinary identities, while Paige, in Max’s words, is accepting to the point of appropriation.
Max’s experience in HIR informs audiences about the spectrum of gender identity. It’s presence at Western is particularly important, as this is Western’s first mainstage production that features a transgender character, according to the director’s note.
Ridinger himself is transgender, and this is the first transgender character he’s played.
“This American family is at once a product of the recent past and near future, and [HIR] bridges the gap between,” Ridinger said. “It reminds me to hope for the world that we are creating, but to also stay present and conscious about the lives around me. In Max’s words, ‘gender is an everyday occurrence.’”
HIR is playing in the DUG Theatre from Wednesday, April 18 through Saturday, April 21. Shows are at 7:30 p.m. with an additional 2:00 p.m. showing on Saturday. Tickets are available online or at the PAC box office.