synopsis
XY is an original musical that follows Chris, an intersex man navigating his first romantic relationship while he is haunted by memories of his eleven-year-old female-presenting self, Christine.
When Chris, a guarded gym instructor, falls in love with Nuni, his fitness student, Chris is forced to confront the painful memories of his past as he and Nuni become intimate. Meanwhile, Chris struggles to reconnect with his estranged mom, whom Chris blames for the mistakes she made while raising him.
As Chris becomes increasingly vulnerable in his relationship with Nuni, he must decide whether opening his heart is worth the risk. XY is an intimate piece about family, forgiveness, and the painful but liberating journey of becoming and embracing who we are.
my story
Not only has it been meaningful to see XY have a profound impact on audiences, writing the piece has changed my life.
In 2011 I started writing XY, an original musical about an intersex man learning to heal his shame about his identity and accept his authentic self. Five years into working on the piece, I discovered that an anatomical variation I was born with and received surgery for in infancy is on the intersex spectrum. In a breakthrough therapy session in 2021, I finally unearthed parts of myself I had been ashamed of since childhood, most of all my identifying as intersex. All at once, I realized I had written a musical about my own life.
Writing and presenting XY has been a deeply healing journey. I have been moved to witness audiences from all walks of life connect to Chris’s journey of self-acceptance, all while developing a newfound awareness for the intersex community and the unique challenges we face. I hope XY will continue to inspire forgiveness, self-love and healing for many in the years to come, all while being the first mainstream musical to feature an intersex protagonist.
history of development
I have presented and developed XY through readings at Chicago Shakespeare Theatre and the Village Theatre, and a developmental production at the Village Theatre Beta series in 2020. I presented XY at the 2018 NAMT Conference, and developed the piece in the ASCAP Musical Theatre Workshop, the Dramatists Guild Fellows Program, the Writers Grove at Goodspeed Musicals, the Ball State University Musical Theater Festival, the Musical Theater Factory Writers Group, a residency at the Ucross Foundation and through a grant from the New York SongSpace. Aria Entertainment produced the first public staged reading of XY at The Other Palace Theatre in the UK, and the show was selected for the 2018 "Bound for Broadway" concert at the Kaufman Center in New York, and the 2023 American Theatre Wing "Pitching Your Show" Master Class with Barbara Whitman and Jacob D. Padrón. XY was a finalist for the 2019 O'Neill Musical Theater conference, and one of three finalists for the 2022 Relentless Award, the largest prize presented to an unproduced musical.