SURREY — Gender Failure was originally conceived as "a show for us, a show that gave us a place to talk about everything we kept to ourselves most of the time, a show that directly addressed trans issues and realities, a show that wasn't meant to make anyone comfortable or nostalgic."
So writes Ivan Coyote, a Vancouver-based storyteller and musician, in the introduction of the new book version of Gender Failure (Arsenal Pulp Press), co-written with Rae Spoon.
Together, they came up with the first ideas for Gender Failure in a truck parked in a hotel lot, after performing their first collaborative show, You Are Here, at a suburban theatre in the spring of 2012.
The stage production of Gender Failure, which debuts at Surrey Arts Centre this Friday and Saturday (Feb. 7 and 8), explores their "gender failures" in highly personal detail, with music, storytelling, video and animation.
"I definitely have one dress shoe planted firmly outside my comfort zone with this show," the Yukon-raised Coyote told the Now.
Gender Failure has been described as "equal parts hilarious and heartbreaking."
Tickets for the weekend shows in Surrey range from $15 to $35 via 604-501-5566 and tickets.surrey.ca.