Mikki Gillette’s American Girl is a play based on the life of Nikki Kuhnhausen, a 17-year-old trans girl from Vancouver, Washington who was murdered in 2019. It’s performed by Fuse Theater Ensemble on SE Hawthorn through April. If you are trans or a trans ally, I recommend seeing this play and showing your support.
You might be a little confused when you get to this theater, as it’s in the backroom of Common Grounds Coffeehouse. The theater in the round-style seating helps to complement the story. You get that fly-on-the-wall feel, although the blocking could use some work. And the raised platforms for audience seating had me literally on edge.
It’s hard to tell if Naomi A Jackson’s performance of Nikki is shaky or authentic. She seems nervous, but she is playing a sort of neurotic teenage girl, after all. Some of the stand-out performances come from Maia McCarthy. She plays Lisa, Nikki’s conflicted, tragic mother. Her performance at the end during the funeral scene had me teary-eyed. The character is great too. You’ll love her supportiveness for her trans daughter and hate her for enabling Nikki’s drug addiction and codependence on her meth-addicted father, Kane.
Peter Schuyler, who plays Kane, also gives a powerful but less somber performance. Kane is a less-developed character. His whole personality is grumpy, argumentative, and sickly. Most of Schuyler’s performance is shouting lines in-between coughing fits.
Perhaps the most convincing, natural performance comes from Naiya Amilcar, who plays Stephanie, the main character’s drug dealer who runs the trap house where they spend most of their time. It’s a minor role, but Amilcar’s delivery is on point, and I can see her becoming a big name. As an ensemble, they all work well together.
The technical aspects are decent for a local play hosted in the back of a coffee shop. The sound and music work. Ambient sounds complement the location of the scenes. The musical choices start strong but become repetitive halfway through, especially for the transitions between scenes. Speaking of the transitions, they could also use a bit more planning. Most of them have Nikki skipping and pacing around the stage aimlessly without adding to the story. The lighting is surprisingly good but also a bit ambitious at times, and by that, I mean overdone or unnecessary for such a small venue.
American Girl is the 11th play by Mikki Gillette, but the first of hers I had a chance to see. Gillette is definitely not an amateur, but there’s still some fresh energy in this play. Overall I had fun seeing American Girl and hanging out in SE Hawthorn. Make sure to hit up some of the remarkable restaurants or bars in the area if you do go.
