ABOUT THE PLAY

“So, you don’t want to do this?” Nir asks. “I don’t know…do you?” George answers.

 

This exchange is how the play No Kids by George Mann and Nir Paldi begins. The “this”, George and Nir, a real-life couple who developed this play together in 2019, are referring to is parenthood. Specifically gay parenthood. What ensues is an exploration of the very visceral fears couples looking to expand their families must face. Should we get a surrogate? How will bringing a new life into the world impact the environment? Maybe adoption is the best option? What if we screw them up? What if having a child destroys our relationship? Could we ever forgive ourselves if something goes terribly wrong?

 

Intercut with Madonna fantasy sequences, flashbacks, and flash-forwards, No Kids tackles these questions and more head-on. On their journey to find out if parenthood is right for them, George and Nir encounter (and transform into) a host of other characters from their past, present, and future—an adoption recruiter, a potential surrogate, a homophobic bully, a closeted priest, and even their imagined teenage son, to name a few. While No Kids focuses on many issues specific to queer parenthood, this metatheatrical play about a play will resonate with anyone thinking about becoming parents. What will George and Nir decide?