Questions of research, morality, and gender expression intertwine in D.A. Mindell’s new play On the Evolutionary Function of Shame, presented by Second Stage’s Next Stage Festival. It is a quirky work, containing sibling relations, varying forms of gender expression, and ethical questions surrounding medical research. These are interspersed with scenes taking a speculative look at the lives of a post-Eden Adam and Eve. The result is an intensely wild ride through old resentments, new fields of research, and the question of “If something can be done, should it be done?”
We start off in Eden, just after a certain apple has been eaten. (We know it’s Eden, because there is a big topiary “Eden” like a road sign on the stage.) The world’s first people are trying to figure out what’s going to happen next, all the while trying to figure out why their bodies are different — and what are some of those parts for, anyway?
The play shifts to the Atlanta-based Eden Project office of Dr. Eve, a genetics researcher and OB/GYN. She is providing free medical assistance to Adam, her trans brother who was once her identical twin sister. Adam is undergoing his second pregnancy after suffering a miscarriage and has accepted Eve’s services in exchange for using him in her research.
The siblings explosively fall apart when Adam learns the subject of Eve’s research: the search for and discovery of a genetic marker for gender dysphoria. Adam sees this as the first step to eliminating gender dysphoria by eliminating trans people prenatally. Eve sees it as eliminating the suffering she saw her own twin going through as a teenager and saving other trans youth from it. Adam feels betrayed, Eve feels misunderstood, and decades of past resentments arise again to turn their relationship into an emotional bloodbath. Adam’s sense of betrayal extends to his partner Fox who is not so willing to condemn Eve; Eve’s discomfort is not helped by her research assistant, the autistic Margot, who tries to reassure her by saying their company’s ethics committee saw nothing wrong with her research project.
Mindell, who is himself trans, in his off-Broadway debut shows a talent for presenting a multi-faceted argument without making any side obviously right or wrong. His characters have come to their positions through the focus of their own experiences and fiercely defend the “rightness” of those positions. His is a career that shows promise, and I will be interested in seeing his future works.
The playwright is supported by the skillful direction of Jess McLeod, who guides her cast through both the rocky course of modern-day scientific research and the offbeat humor of the first humans, not knowing what to expect or how to handle it. As for the actors, they make up an ensemble that is very, very good at what they do.
Jordan Barbour and Elizabeth Ramos portray the first Adam and Eve, feeling their way through life, learning to cope with the expulsion from Eden, the birth of their first-born son, and the death and burial of their second son. As the second Adam and Eve, Cody Sloan and Kayli Carter provide an in-depth portrayal as twin siblings who know each other best yet can hurt each other deepest. Imani Russell’s Margot is extremely self-aware yet emotionally cut off, delivering her lines with a hidden touch of snark, while Ryan Jamal Swain’s Fox provides a calm, emotionally subdued support for Adam that at times makes one wonder if Adam’s verbal hysteria isn’t a basic component of their relationship.
With the current increase in attempts to erase trans people from all facets of life, even from history, and with the meteoric rise of AI encroaching on all levels of human creativity, On the Evolutionary Function of Shame presents its audience with much to consider. D.A. Mindell skillfully presents his characters’ viewpoints without giving an edge to any of them — a perfect example of “fair and balanced” that is in painfully short supply these days.
I strongly encourage you to take the advantage of seeing this play before its limited engagement ends. You might find your own viewpoints challenged while thinking On the Evolutionary Function of Shame!
On the Evolutionary Function of Shame is presented by the Second Stage in the Irene Diamond Stage at the Pershing Square Signature Center, 480 West 42nd Street in New York, through Mar. 9, 2025. For more information or to purchase tickets, go to 2st.com.
