Taylor Mac is an artist who has forever changed the way I view the world. Much like other plays in the genre of absurd realism have—Albee’s The Goat and Shepard’s Buried Child, to name a couple. “Hir” is a seldom used third gender pronoun pronounced “here,” for the double meaning of what’s happening here, in homes across the country. Mac looks at the American family and the traditional roles we are asked to play in a world whose rules keep changing. So many things we once took for facts have turned out to be nothing more than ideological rules that helped perpetuate the patriarchy. So what happens when our ideals are rendered impotent?

Taylor Mac, whose gender pronoun is “judy” (yes it is hard, and thats the point) asks us to take a look at what’s happening around us and decide whether we will be part of this new world in transition. Perhaps you can’t build a clearer future without making a mess of the past. Mac knows full well judy’s audience, the white cisgendered majority. Mac also knows what a regional theatre audience loves to watch—old forms; the family kitchen sink narrative.

This is a play about a revolution and how we deal with the repercussions. If we explode the patriarchy, how do we care for the pieces left behind? Where do the straight white men go? It’s clear that the world needs more estrogen in leadership, but perhaps that’s not enough— perhaps queering the world up will save us.

HIR runs though Oct. 28 at Cygnet Theatre. Buy tickets here.