Nimble performances explore personal evolution.

By David Berry

Though it’s expressly about transitioning into masculinity, Re:Construct should hit hard and true for anyone who has ever felt stuck trying to become. Even Gilchrist’s script features a transman (Émanuel Dubbeldam) and his cis ideal (Geoffrey Simon Brown) trying to sort out who exactly he is, condensing the messiness of meaning into its structure, which ping-pongs through a birthday party, a corporate slideshow, therapy-as-abuse, letters to your younger self and poignant confessions.

While the text is equally adept at drawing deep resonance out of slice-of-life snippets as it is twisting the knife into positivity platitudes—if maybe slightly too invested in drawn-out pauses for a 45-minute play—the nimble performances manage to capture the raw nerve emotions of the affair while giving the headier questions room to breathe. The combination is enough to make the last line—“How do I know if I’ve become the thing I’ve always wanted to be?”—lingers well after the confetti and crushed cake have been cleaned up.

Find tickets here