Natalie Meisner - Speed Dating for Sperm Donors

Natalie Meisner Playwrights Canada Press Toronto Speed Dating for Sperm Donors 2020 by Natalie Meisner First edition: April 2020 Cover artwork provided on behalf of Lunchbox Theatre from the world premiere of Speed Dating for Sperm Donors during their 2014 / 2015 season. Author photo D. Mounsef Playwrights Canada Press - Richmond St. W., Toronto, ON M V X No part of this book may be reproduced, downloaded, or used in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher, except for excerpts in a review or by a licence from Access Copyright, www.accesscopyright.ca . For professional or amateur production rights, please contact: The Playwrights Guild of Canada - Richmond St. West, Toronto, ON M V A Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication Title: Speed dating for sperm donors / Natalie Meisner.

Names: Meisner, Natalie D., 1972 - author. Description: First edition. | A play. Identifiers: Canadiana (print) 20200189964 | Canadiana (ebook) 20200189972 | ISBN 9780369 100825 (softcover) | ISBN 9780369100832 ( PDF ) | ISBN 9780369100849 ( EPUB ) | ISBN 97803 69100856 (Kindle) Classification: LCC PS 8576 . E S 2020 | DDC C /. dc Playwrights Canada Press operates on Mississaugas of the Credit, Wendat, Anishinaabe, Mtis, and Haudenosaunee land.

It always was and always will be Indigenous land. We acknowledge the financial support of the Canada Council for the Arts which last year invested $ million to bring the arts to Canadians throughout the country the Ontario Arts Council (OAC), Ontario Creates, and the Government of Canada for our publishing activities.

For my wife and two sons,
who make every day a great adventure. The beginning of the play you are about to read begins with the real-life story of my wife and I as we went about trying to make a family. It was important to her, as an adoptee and a woman of colour, to be able to provide knowledge of their lineage to any children we might create. In Canada most sperm bank donors are anonymous. Even those who indicate they can be contacted later still have an opt-out clause.

So the seemingly smoothest route was closed to us. This was a deal breaker for her and we had to honour it. This meant finding a known donor to be a member of our extended family. Not full-on co-parenting with financial or day-to-day duties, but we were offering a spot as one of those other important adults in our childrens lives should we be successful. We also did not want to unnecessarily over-medicalize the process (you will see what this entails as you read on). This very intimate favour we were asking set us on a two-year journey of sit-downs with friends, friends of friends, other queer couples, and finally strangers that we contacted expressly for this purpose.

My wife and I jokingly called this time Speed Dating for Sperm Donors and so now you know where I got the title. We had to cross so much unknown terrain with every new man we met, but also with the health system, legal documents, and socially about what we were trying to do. The world was not quite yet ready to welcome a family like ours. We would tell stories of things that happened along with way to friends and they urged me to write about it. Indeed, when I looked into the literature there were a couple wonderful entries, but queer family making was certainly a field crying out for new work. I began making the notes for Double Pregnant: Two Lesbians Make a Family even as we were trying to get pregnant.

As I did so, I took the oath of fidelity that I feel makes good non-fiction: to stick as close to the truth as I possibly could in that book. So no wincing away from the parts that hurt... but also no embellishing. Even if a situation was screaming out for me to crack my dramatic knuckles and give it a bit of mustard... I did not. At least not on purpose.

Enter stage left: Lunchbox Theatres amazing Stage One Festival for new play development and the wonderful director and dramaturge, Pamela Halstead. We had a coffee sit-down on a wintery Calgary day in the downtown and I pitched an idea that had been brewing. What if I slightly fictionalized the characters from Double Pregnant (my wife and I!), thus allowing creative licence to really work with the comedy embedded in the situation. What if it were a big-hearted shaggy-dog biracial queer love story? Pamela leaned forward. A happy ending story for families who dont fit the mould? Doesnt the world need more of that? We decided it did. As I described some of the scrapes my wife and I got into, and some of the real characters we met along the way, Pamelas brilliant laugh filled the coffee shop.

That electric twinkle that so many of us in Canadian theatre will know by now told me we might have something. And we were off. A successful debut as a one act at Lunchbox was soon followed by the full-length version in Halifax staged by DMV Theatre for Neptune Theatre, and then it was on to Ruby Slippers Theatres Advance Theatre: New Works by Diverse Women in Vancouver. We are so happy to bring it to you here in book form. Natalie Meisner Spring 2020

Speed Dating for Sperm Donors was developed as part of Lunchbox Theatres Stage One Festival and was first produced as a one-act play by Lunchbox Theatre in Calgary on January , 2015 , with the following cast and creative team: Helen: Julie Orton Paige: Janelle Cooper Evan and others: Mark Bellamy Trent, Tim, and others: Christian Goutsis Director and Dramaturge: Pamela Halstead Stage Manager: Megan Gurnsey Assistant Stage Manager: Cale Thompson Costume Design: Rebecca Toon Sound Design: Dewi Wood Set and Lighting Design: Dave Smith and Terry Gunvordahl The play was later expanded into a full-length play produced by DMV Theatre and Neptune Theatre in Halifax on September , 2016 , with the following cast and creative team: Marty Burt Kevin Curran Micha Cromwell Kathryn McCormack Directed and Dramaturge: Pamela Halstead Assistant Director: Emily Pettet Stage Manager: Kate Redding Apprentice Stage Manager: Robyn Gallant Set Design: Garrett G. Barker Lighting Design: Ingrid Risk Costume Design: Jordyn Bochon Sound Design: Ellis Lalonde Helen: A teacher in her thirties from the east coast.

She wants to have a baby with her partner, Paige. Paige: A builder, also in her thirties, and a person of colour. She moved to Canada from France several years ago to be with Helen and also wants a baby. Trent: Helens best friend from her undergrad days. Worldly, a bit of a scamp, but big-hearted and hilarious. He comes from Calgary but has worked abroad for over a decade.

Tim and Evan: A couple who meet up with the women. Evan would like to be a donor for them. Tim... less so. Waiter, Physicist, Lawyer, Hugger, Missionary Man, Louie, Kind Stranger, Various Men: A series of men who Helen and Paige go on dates with, in hopes that one of them will be a known sperm donor for them and help them start a family.

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