Alec Butler (born Audrey Butler; 1959) is a Canadian playwright and filmmaker.

Life and career

Butler was born in 1959, and is

non-binary Non-binary or genderqueer Gender identity, gender identities are those that are outside the male/female gender binary. Non-binary identities often fall under the transgender umbrella since non-binary people typically identify with a gende ...

and

intersex Intersex people are those born with any of several sex characteristics, including chromosome patterns, gonads, or genitals that, according to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, "do not fit typical binar ...

. Butler uses ''they''/''them'' and ''he''/''him'' pronouns.

Assigned female at birth Sex assignment (also known as gender assignment) is the discernment of an infant's sex, typically made at birth based on an examination of the baby's external genitalia by a healthcare provider such as a midwife, nurse, or physician. In the ...

, he initially presented as a butch lesbian before

coming out Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBTQ people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity. This is often framed and debated as a privacy issue, ...

transgender A transgender (often shortened to trans) person has a gender identity different from that typically associated with the sex they were sex assignment, assigned at birth. The opposite of ''transgender'' is ''cisgender'', which describes perso ...

the late 1990s. Before he came out, his work was published under his birth name. He was a nominee for the

Governor General's Award for English-language drama The Governor General's Award for English-language drama honours excellence in Canadian English-language playwriting. The award was created in 1981 when the Governor General's Award for English-language poetry or drama was divided. Because the awa ...

in 1990 for his play ''Black Friday''. He has also worked on artistic projects with The 519 Church St. Community Centre as their first artist-in-residence. He was named one of Toronto's Vital People by the Toronto Community Foundation in 2006. He identifies as

two-spirit ''Two-spirit'' (also known as ''two spirit'' or occasionally ''twospirited'', or abbreviated as ''2S'' or ''2E'', especially in Canada) is a umbrella term used by some Indigenous North Americans to describe Native people who fulfill a trad ...

and has

Miꞌkmaq The Mi'kmaq (also ''Mi'gmaq'', ''Lnu'', ''Mi'kmaw'' or ''Mi'gmaw''; ; , and formerly Micmac) are an Indigenous group of people of the Northeastern Woodlands, native to the areas of Canada's Atlantic Provinces, primarily Nova Scotia, New Bru ...

heritage.

Plays

* ''Shakedown'' * ''Cradle Pin'' * ''Radical Perversions: 2 Dyke Plays'' (1990) * ''Black Friday'' (1990) * ''Claposis'' (1990) * ''Hardcore Memories'' (1993) * ''Medusa Rising'' (1996) * ''Trans Cab'' (2005) Books: * ''Radical Perversions: two Dyke Plays by Audrey Butler'' published by

Women's Press The Women's Press was a feminist publishing company established in London in 1977. Throughout the late 1970s and the 1980s, The Women's Press was a highly visible presence, publishing feminist literature. Founding In 1977, Stephanie Dowrick cofo ...

, 1991 * Novella called ''Rough Paradise'' published May 31, 2014 by Quattro Books

Films

* ''Trans Mission: Get Yer Motor Runnin''' – One-man show at A-Space, Toronto, 2003. * ''Misadventures of PussyBoy: First Love / Sick / First Period'' – Screened at many queer film and video festivals, ''First Love'' won the Charles Street Award for emerging video and film makers in 2002 at the InsideOut Festival. * ''Audrey's Beard'' – Named one of the top ten films about transitioning by Curve magazine. * ''5 Seconds of Fame'' – Commissioned by Toronto's Pride Committee for Pride Toronto, 2007. * ''My Friend, Brindley'' – Works in progress; experimental doc about human rights activist and painter, Kathleen Brindley. * ''Darla's Goodbye'' – Short film based on a short story of the same name published in ''Red Light: Superheroes, Saints and Sluts''. * ''Trans Cabaret: The Video''

References

1959 births 20th-century Canadian dramatists and playwrights 21st-century Canadian dramatists and playwrights Film directors from Nova Scotia Canadian LGBTQ dramatists and playwrights Living people Canadian non-binary writers Intersex non-binary people Writers from Nova Scotia 21st-century Canadian LGBTQ people Non-binary dramatists and playwrights Canadian intersex people {{Canada-playwright-stub