Cast members of “Mermaid Hour,” which opens April 26 at Arrow Street Arts.
“Mermaid Hour,” which flips a traditional coming-of-age narrative on its head by focusing on the parents, is coming to Arrow Street Arts in April.
The play follows Pilar (Monica Risi) and Bird (Phil Tayler) and their trans tween Vi (Brenny O’Brien). Vi is busy navigating her first crush on her friend Jacob (Nicholas Papayoanou) and obsessing over her favorite YouTube vlogger Crux Dumay (Alex Goldman) while her parents just keep trying to get it right – though they don’t always agree on what that means. Fast-paced, funny and heartfelt, the play explores the gaps between who we are and who we want to be.
“It is a beautiful story that celebrates identity while at the same time asking questions of the parents – how do you do right by your kids? How do you make decisions that are best for them while at the same time keeping them safe?” director Bridget Kathleen O’Leary said.
The play celebrates and showcases trans identity through Vi’s character, but is really about Pilar and Bird’s journey.
“It is set in 2010, a time when there was less information about gender-affirming care,” O’Leary said. “The answers and data aren’t as available to Pilar and Bird as they would be now, but Pilar still searches because she loves her daughter.”
She noted that this story isn’t centered in trauma; Vi is accepted, loved and validated by her parents.
“I don’t want to give away the ending, but I can say that there is joy throughout this play,” O’Leary said.
The Moonbox Productions presentation of “Mermaid Hour” will be its New England premiere. Written by David Valdes, directed by O’Leary and produced by Sharman Altshuler, it opens April 26 and runs through May 19.
“Mermaid Hour” will be performed in Arrow Street Arts’ Black Box Theater, which opens Thursday with the Boston Opera Collaborative’s “Carmen” (though it hosted resident company Moonbox Productions’ “Sweeney Todd” in the fall). Arrow Street, once occupied by the American Repertory Theater’s Oberon, has a Studio space open since January that hosted Moonbox’s “The Manic Monologues” in February.
For each show, Moonbox partners with a local nonprofit with a related mission. The partnership for “Mermaid Hour” is the Transgender Emergency Fund of Massachusetts, which provides help to low-income trans people in Massachusetts, hosting monthly drop-in groups in Boston and Worcester; providing rental, utility and food aid; offering rides to medical appointments; and helping with financial literacy and personal supplies. The group has been active since 2008; in 2023, it opened a Transitional Housing Program where eight transgender people who have been experiencing homelessness can live for up to one year.
All performances will be captioned; the May 18 performance will be audio described. Arrow Street Arts offers assisted listening devices for all performances.
Tickets are $45 for regular seating and $55 for premium center seating at arrowstarts.org. Pay-what-you-wish options are available.
