The Nance

April 4 - 21, 2024

By Douglas Carter Beane

Directed by Nick Olcott

This witty, Tony Award-winning play, filled with music, dance, and comedy sketches, introduces us to Chauncey Miles, a gay burlesque performer at the Irving Place Theater. The Nance recreates the naughty, raucous world of burlesque’s heyday and tells the backstage story of Chauncey and his fellow performers. At a time when it was easy to play gay and dangerous to be gay, Chauncey’s uproarious antics on the stage stand out in marked contrast to his offstage life. A “funny but bittersweet portrait of a vanished era.” -The Chicago Tribune