In Shakina Nayfack s world premiere play, a vibrant, international group of transgender women band together at a hotel in Thailand to confront the challenges and joys of gender confirmation surgery. Despite the group s warm welcome, Kina prepares for her life-altering operation all alone. But a caring nurse, a wise couple, and a karaoke-loving bellhop may be exactly who she needs to ignite her truest sense of self.
As the provided synopsis above suggests, this is not exactly light and common everyday subject matter. While there are moments of levity, the dialogue and the characters are tough and quite gritty. Some may have trouble coming to grips with the frank, rather graphic, no holds barred elements which are plentiful in this piece. It did not take much for me to envision audience members unable to sit in their discomfort giving up and leaving the performance early.