Mikki Gillette is an award-winning trans woman playwright. She was named one of Portland, Oregon’s 25 Most Influential Artists by Willamette Week magazine. Her show American Girl was featured in American Theatre and voted Best Play in the Broadway World Portland Awards following its 2023 production. Other productions include The Queers (Fuse Theatre ’22), My Perfectly Valid Objections (Salt and Sage ’23) They Them Their (Fuse Theatre ’23), Blonde on a Bum Trip (Fuse Theatre ’24) and No More Candy (Salt and Sage ’24). Learn more at: mikkigillette.com.

Political Theatre

Characters:.

Dill: a trans woman, 19; idealistic and uncompromising, her self-belief outweighs any obstacles she might face in her mind.

Tosh: a trans man, 20; while naturally level-headed and pragmatic, he experiences exasperation when his views of things are challenged.

Setting:

A community center in Bonterra Heights . . . maybe?

Time:

Present day.

Synopsis Notes:

When Dill, a communist, and Tosh, a progressive, debate as city council candidates, they begin to question whether they actually exist. Soon after the laws of nature are defied.

Punctuation Notes:

A stroke (/) marks the point of interruption in overlapping dialogue.

A dash (-) marks the halting of a thought.

DILL and TOSH stand behind podiums onstage, addressing the audience.

DILL
Not only does Tosh openly advocate for
the continued existence of capitalism,
moreover, he thinks that, when the
police are abolished, its members should
receive blanket amnesty –

To TOSH..

Do you not agree?

TOSH
No. I’ve always advocated for officers to
be held accountable for any misconduct
they’re accused of by people they’ve
harassed or / abused

DILL
You’re a neoliberal, centrist shill.

TOSH
If you’d allow me to answer the / question
you

DILL
Why? . . . So you can defend insurance
companies next? . . . Or, maybe investment
bankers? . . . This election is not about
selecting the person who’ll most carefully
identify and operate from the midpoint
between actual justice and whatever
fascist hellscape the racists in MAGA land
are vomiting toward us. It’s about the chance
we have to realize our collective / liberation

TOSH
No, it isn’t . . . it’s not even an . . .election.
It’s . . . a debate.

DILL
What are you – of course it’s / an election

TOSH
For what? . . . Neither of us will actually
hold an office.

DILL
Have you . . . lost your mind? We’re opponents
for city / council

TOSH
What city?

DILL
Bonterra Heights.

TOSH
Show it to me on a map.

DILL
Are you . . . trying to distract everyone
from your milquetoast, moderate / stances
on

TOSH
What if . . . a giant flower burst through the
floor between where you and / I are

DILL
Tosh.

TOSH
You and I are standing? . . . What do you
think that means?

DILL
Nothing, because flowers aren’t stronger
than concrete.

TOSH
You can’t envision it, because you’re so
consumed with enmity for anyone who
disagrees / with

DILL
I can envision actual things – like every
child being fed, and trans people having
access to health care.

TOSH
Where?

DILL
Excuse me?

TOSH
Where does this progress supposedly /
happen?

DILL
From this spot I’m standing on and then
outward in every direction.

TOSH leaves the stage and walks to the back of the theater, where he faces her.

TOSH
I don’t see it yet.

DILL
There’s always a market for describing
things as “fucked,” isn’t there?

TOSH
You still haven’t proven either of us exists.

DILL
Aren’t I speaking?

TOSH
Right now, sure.

DILL
It’s pointless discussing this.

 DILL crosses to TOSH’S podium.

DILL (CONT)
(imitating him) I only know whatever propaganda I was
taught in school and what public radio tells
me, therefore radical, progressive change
isn’t possible.

 TOSH crosses back to DILL’s podium.

TOSH
(imitating her) Anyone one notch to the right of me– trans
woman Karl Marx – is literally Hitler, and
should be / locked away

DILL
I would lay down my life to preserve the
status quo, but, also, I compost and
recycle.

A giant flower bursts forth from the floor between the two podiums. The pair stare for a moment, stunned and confused.

DILL
Just because you . . . predicted that, doesn’t
mean / you’re correct

TOSH
What do . . . you think it means?

The pair inspect the flower.

DILL
Maybe it’s some extreme vegetative
accommodation to global warming.

TOSH
I wonder if it’s the anniversary of some . . .
foundational moment in Bonterra Heights?                                                                        

DILL
You said that place doesn’t exist.

TOSH
Should we name it?

DILL
Why?

TOSH
To commemorate what happened here.

DILL
You think that, because you were up here
when it appeared – that’s very typical male
behavior, to assume it’s / your right to

TOSH
I meant . . . should we ask the community
what . . . the flower should / be

DILL
(rolls eyes) Of course, you / did

TOSH
Fine. What do you think should happen?

DILL
When we’ve established universal childcare,
so that people who bear children can
contribute to society as they see fit, this spot
could be a pre-K space.

TOSH
It should probably be studied scientifically –
the flower, I mean – before kids are allowed
around it.

DILL
Standing at the back of the room earlier,
the way you did, was . . . a pretty shoddy
attack, you know?

TOSH
You’ve directly insulted me multiple times
since we’ve been up / here

DILL
How do I know you didn’t arrange –

(indicates ground and flower)

All this as some “trick” to make yourself seem
miraculous, or something?

TOSH
I don’t even believe we’re actually . . .
running for office, remember?

DILL
In that case, concede.

TOSH
What?

DILL
Withdraw.

TOSH
I can’t.

DILL
Why not?

TOSH
Well, because . . . –

 TOSH wanders the stage behind the podiums, confused, before coming back.  

TOSH
It feels like I . . . need to be here.

DILL
(to audience) Do you hear that? The only reason my
enemy here is taking part in our contest,
is to “block” actual progress from / occurring

TOSH
That’s not what I said. My / point was

DILL
If we’re not actually living in the city we
say we’re running to govern, which is what
you’ve been arguing, then what’s keeping
you from . . . not being here?

TOSH
A . . . flower just burst out of nowhere. Right
where you’re standing. Shouldn’t your
curiosity be . . . a little more / focused on

DILL
You’re avoiding my / question

TOSH
Fine. Maybe I think my ideas and positions
are . . . better suited to the challenges we’re
facing.

DILL
Who’s the “we” in that formulation?

TOSH
Our, um, community, / you know?

DILL
That you’ve repeatedly said doesn’t exist?

TOSH
Point toward City Hall.

DILL
What?

TOSH
Or downtown, even? . . . Name any point
of interest in Bonterra Heights, besides
this flower . . . you can’t.

DILL
That . . . doesn’t make my views . . .
irrelevant. It . . . / just means

TOSH knocks over his podium and walks to the front of the stage. 

TOSH
Dill is an unreasonable person . . . Her
ideas would upend every facet of people’s
lives, in the name of a progress only the
tiniest / population seeks

DILL
See?! You “are” a reactionary, / like I

TOSH
That’s not / true

DILL crosses to the flower.

DILL
If you’d had your way, this fearsome
plant friend would never have appeared,
would it? . . . Thorn here, would have
been stopped by your concerns over
“structural damage” / and

TOSH
I was the one who predicted their / arrival

DILL
I want everyone listening to remember
what they felt when Thorn burst through
the ground, not worrying about what
disruption their arrival might cause, or
waiting for permission . . . That sense of
wonder can be the compass for us as we
blaze our new path.

TOSH
The same “trail” that involves prosecuting anyone
who’s worked in law enforcement, finance,
property management, / and

DILL
(to audience) Pay attention to the types of people he’s
defending – the wealthy, and the powerful
. . . Is that you? Or are you someone those
people are exploiting?

TOSH
People crave order more than vengeance.

DILL
Really? Have you been following the news
lately?

TOSH
Those are . . . the ones on the / fringes

DILL climbs onto her podium.

DILL
Who wants to dream?

TOSH
This . . . isn’t China in 1949, / Dill

DILL
Who, in their hearts, wants to be free from
hierarchy, and scarcity? . . . To experience
actual / freedom?

TOSH
No one would vote for you . . . If there was
really an / election

DILL
You don’t know that.

TOSH
I’m . . . a little worried you’re going to fall.

DILL, annoyed, climbs down.

TOSH
People are greedy, lost in their own dramas,
and paranoid of everyone around them.

DILL
You’re just a cynic.

TOSH
Am I? So, the world has just accidentally
become the way it is now, with / no other
explanation

DILL
Should we go together to the bridge, where
you can tell the people living outside how
their circumstances are the product of
natural law, and there’s no use for their
government to remedy them?

TOSH
No.

DILL
(to the audience) If you needed help, which of us do you think
would care?

TOSH
Enough of this.

Pause, to DILL, confused.

The debate’s probably done, right? . . . Do we . . .
just leave, or –

DILL
What? . . . How will we know the outcome
of the, um –

TOSH
Well, I mean . . . we agreed we. . . aren’t
really / candidates

DILL
But . .  .Thorn is . . . here, so –

TOSH
Oh, right. I’d almost . . . forgotten about –

 TOSH crosses to the flower, touching its leaves.

DILL
Why do you think you said what you did
about a flower appearing?

TOSH
I was . . . tired of the conversation we’d
been having.

DILL
You sounded like you’d lost . . . your
fucking mind.

TOSH
You’re the one who - . . . never mind.

DILL
What were you going to say?

TOSH
Was screaming at a nonexistent audience
from on top of a podium.

DILL
I’m not sure what you’re . . . talking about.
Their faces are as plain as day, aren’t they?

End of play.