The Unnatural Disaster Theatre Co. presents Lawson Hannaford’s Something Missing as part of the 2024 Halifax Fringe Festival.
I want audience members to feel all the underlying tension and discomfort of reconnecting with family as a queer person while also showing the love and safety that family can bring. – Lawson Hannaford
Something Missing tells the story of Chester, who has been dreading this Christmas dinner from the moment their mother invited them. Not only have their parents recently divorced, but both their mother, Lynn, and their older sister, Abby, are hell-bent on keeping this dinner precisely as it always has been, which is to say, happy and light with a huge amount of underlying tension.
We learn more in this Q&A with playwright and director Lawson Hannaford.
Something Missing plays as part of the 2024 Halifax Fringe Festival at Neptune Theatre’s Imperial Studio (1593 Argyle St, Halifax) on August 30 and September 1, 4, 5, 7 & 8. Visit halifaxfringefestival.ca for tickets and information.
This interview has been edited.
Q. Tell us about your show. What can audiences expect?
Something Missing is a show about coming home to your family for the holidays and all the chaos and conflict that brings. My main character, Chester, just had top surgery, and this is the first time they’ve returned home to see their mother since then. Their parents also recently divorced, so the family dynamic has shifted.
Chester has a book of lists they’ve been writing since middle school to organize the world in a comforting way that makes sense to them. These lists will be projected upon Chester and the other characters throughout the show to show how much Chester tries to fit everything into lists.
In the end, though, this show is really a love letter from Chester to their family. Even if their relationship is complicated, it is so full of love and joy as well. I want audience members to feel all the underlying tension and discomfort of reconnecting with family as a queer person while also showing the love and safety that family can bring.
Q. What was the inspiration for the show?
When I came up with this show, I was thinking about what society views as a lack in someone’s life. Our society prioritizes a lot of things, such as being cisgender, adhering to gender roles, having children, getting married, etc. Each character in my play is coming up short on one of these things. Lynn just got divorced from her husband, Abby is on the asexual spectrum, and Chester is transmasc nonbinary who just got top surgery. I wanted to show that the things society views as missing in these people’s lives benefit the characters and make their lives better and more fulfilling.
Q. Why this particular show now?
I think a lot of time, the representation we see about queer people interacting with their bio families is usually heartbreaking. There’s homophobia or transphobia or violence or rejection. These stories are very real and very important, but I think we should also show positive stories about queerness in families. I didn’t want to minimize the conflict and misunderstanding that can still happen in these loving family environments. Still, I also wanted to show a family of people who really do love each other and are trying (and sometimes failing) to be good to each other.
Q. What do you hope audiences leave talking about after seeing your show?
I’m hoping people will want to have more difficult conversations with their families in a constructive way. I hope parents see how much power their love has for their children, especially queer children who might feel isolated in the world.
On a lighter note, I hope people are intrigued with the list projections and the visuals of the play. I hope people see that we can’t organize people and make them act exactly as we want them to. The world is so much more fluid than that. We have to be willing to be wrong, to own up to our mistakes and move forward with kindness.
Q. Why should someone come to see your show?
This is my first play, and I’m incredibly proud of it. Our actors are amazing, and my producer is awesome. Also, even if the play handles serious topics, it does so in a funny way that will hopefully make you laugh. I think this play is a really real look into family as a queer person, and I hope people come to see it and enjoy it.
Something Missing plays as part of the 2024 Halifax Fringe Festival at Neptune Theatre’s Imperial Studio (1593 Argyle St, Halifax) on August 30 and September 1, 4, 5, 7 & 8. Visit halifaxfringefestival.ca for tickets and information.