knockout
Image 1: graphic done by Lawson Hannaford
Image 2: Meg (Haylea Dollimont) leans against Blair (Maude McInnis)
Image 3: Tim (Michael Kamras) and Steve (Guido G. Furlani) point towards the camera
“Sometimes your worst critic is the man named Steve who lives inside your head.”
knockout
“Welcome to BFFtv, the only broadcast network that follows the nail-biting and soul-destroying competition of female friendship. We’re your hosts, Tim Mann and Steve Guy, and tonight we’re continuing to track the career of one Meg “Panic Attack” Warren in her final showdown against fan-favourite Blair “Chaotic Bisexual” Turner. This match is not one to miss, folks! There will be overanalyzed text messages, drunk girl conversations, and (maybe) even some sexual tension. One thing is for sure, there is no possibility that either competitor will make it out of this unscathed. On your marks, get set…”
knockout was first performed at Page 1’s 2025 Outfest, where it won the Artist’s Choice Award and received many incredible reviews. It was produced by Unnatural Disaster Theatre Co.. It is a show I wrote about sapphic love and complicated queer breakups, about losing yourself in others, and loving yourself in your worst moments. The sports announcers are a physical manifestation of Meg’s worst anxieties and meant to represent the aggressiveness of intrusive thoughts. The show received an Ontario Recommender Grant from the Ottawa Fringe Festival, which aided in it’s creation. knockout is very dear to me, as it a tender and humourous look at young sapphic heartbreak, which I feel is not often represented. I think it offers an accurate look into my own brain: weird, funny, anxious and gay!
I hope to keep working on this show and take it on tour soon so look out for updates 🙂
(graphic by me, photos taken by Stoo Metz)
Something Missing
Image 1: graphic done by Lawson Hannaford for the 2025 tour
Image 2: Lynn (Nancy Kenny) hugs Chester (August van Meekeren)
Image 3: Abby (Emma Davidson) hugs Lynn (Nancy Kenny)
“You are so beautiful Chester, the way you go about the world wanting to be see exactly how you are. I’ve always thought that, and I’ll always think that.”
Something Missing
“Chester has been dreading this Christmas dinner from the very 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 exactly as it always has been, which is to say happy and light with an insane amount of underlying tension. In Something Missing, Chester muddles through this raw and chaotic evening by repeating the many lists they have written for themselves as a way to organize the consistent disorder of their world.”
Something Missing was first performed at the 2024 Halifax Fringe Festival as part of the Unnatural Disaster Fringeship Program, which mentors one theatre creator in putting on their first Fringe show. It then won five Audience Choice Awards at this festival, including Outstanding Dramedy and Outstanding Performance. Unnatural Disaster Theatre Co. and I decided to take it on tour across Nova Scotia, and we went to Chester, Antigonish, Annapolis Royal, and back to Halifax. We received an Arts Nova Scotia grant, which allowed us to fund this tour.
This show is about living in a trans and queer body, about complicated familial relationships, about hard conversations, about the power of understanding and community. I wanted to show a positive representation of queerness and family, one that shows joy and love and acceptance. I wrote this show in my last semester of undergrad, and it was the first show I ever wrote and directed. To have it become so successful was an absolute dream come true, and cemented in me my love for queer theatre. The message is one I needed to hear as a young queer trans person, one of hope and love and joy. I am so grateful for all this show taught me and for everyone who interacted with it. I had many lovely conversations with people who felt seen by this work, either as the children or as the mother, and that is a really special amazing thing. Something Missing and all it’s characters hold a special place in my heart and I’m excited to bring them forward with me.
lookitslawson 