New Play “The Mermaid Hour” Is Less About its Transgender Protagonist Than Her Parents
A few scenes into The Mermaid Hour, transgender preteen Vi (Jaryn Lasentia) watches an inspirational YouTube channel helmed by Crux, a genderqueer social worker. Dressed as a mermaid and wearing massive, blue-glitter stilettos, Crux (Michael Cavazos) emerges into a spotlight on Milagro’s dark stage. “I am not of land or of sea, I am of heavens,” Crux tells the audience, while Vi sits at the foot of her bed at the far side of the set, silently beaming in the glow of her iPad. “The secret of our kind is that we’re not in between, we’re above.” It’s a brief, touching moment of contentment—in the previous scene, Vi’s parents argue in the kitchen about their daughter’s future.