The true story of David Peter Reimer was the playwright’s inspiration for BOY. In 1966 Reimer suffered a botched circumcision as an infant; on the advice of psychologist and gender identity specialist John Money, Reimer’s parents raised him as a girl. At age 14, learning of his past from his father, Reimer decided to accept a male identity. But Reimer’s actual story serves only as a jumping off point for the playwright. BOY focuses in on the complicated inter-dependent relationship between a doctor and a patient; and Ziegler is most interested in how parents can be blinded by love to the true needs of their children. 

Performance History The world premiere of BOY was produced Off-Broadway by the Keen Company, in co-production with Ensemble Studio Theatre and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation in 2016. BOY was originally commissioned by the Manhattan Theatre Club, with funds provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. BOY was nominated for the 2016 John Gassner Award for a new American play by the Outer Critics Circle. ABOUT THE PLAYWRIGHT ANNA ZIEGLER is an award-winning playwright whose plays include Actually (2017 at The Williamstown Theatre Festival, The Manhattan Theatre Club and The Geffen Playhouse and winner of the Ovation Award in Los Angeles for Playwriting of an Original Play); Photograph 51 (2015 West End starring Nicole Kidman, and previously produced at Ensemble Studio Theatre, Seattle Repertory Theatre and Theater J); The Last Match (The Old Globe Theatre, Roundabout Theatre Company); Boy (Keen Company/Ensemble Studio Theatre); A Delicate Ship; Another Way Home (2012 at The Magic Theatre), Dov and Ali; The Minotaur; and BFF. Her plays have been developed at The Sundance Theatre Lab, The O’Neill National Playwrights Conference, The Williamstown Theatre Festival, among others, and are published by Dramatists Play Service. Anna is a graduate of Yale College and holds an M.F.A. in dramatic writing from the Tisch School of the Arts.

ABOUT THE DIRECTOR Cynthia Lagodzinski hails from Livermore and works as an actor and director all around the SF Bay Area. Most recently, she directed As You Like It at Silicon Valley Shakespeare, and Laughing Stock at Role Players Ensemble. Up next she'll be back on stage in Eugene O'Neill's Ah, Wilderness! at Douglas Morrisson Theatre and Sojourn at The Pear Theatre.