Summerworks 2012: My Pregnant Brother

Johanna Nutter in My Pregnant Brother. Photo by Pam Price.

Barefoot, with a smile that lights up the entire room, a young woman named Johanna paces about a chalk-covered stage. The streets of Montreal have been drawn as a grid beneath her feet, and a mountain topped with a cross (Mount Royal) is drawn on the wall behind her next to a child-like drawing of the sun. This is the opening scene of My Pregnant Brother, a deeply moving, personal story that has been adapted for the stage and is now being presented as part of the 2012 SummerWorks Performance Festival.

A gifted storyteller, Johanna Nutter is also the founder and artistic director of Freestanding Productions, as well as the acting president and concierge of The Freestanding Room. In this production, however, she is merely a young woman who first has to come to terms with the fact that her beautiful young sister has become her brother, and then that her brother is pregnant. In the opening lines of My Pregnant Brother, Johanna alludes to the fact that the audience has probably heard of “The Pregnant Man” from The Oprah Show, which immediately struck a familiar chord among all in attendance.

The entire production of My Pregnant Brother consists of Johanna speaking directly to the audience, detailing what it was like for her growing up with a single mother on welfare, moving from place to place, and her close relationship with her sister. Fiercely independent, with a strong work ethic, Johanna always supported herself and lived in several different apartments in Montreal, one of which she was living in at Christmas in 1997 when her sister decided she no longer wished to be female. Although her mother was horrified, Johanna knew that this change would make her sister happy, so she was happy as well. Johanna’s story progresses to almost a decade later, when her brother is living in Vancouver, and she discovers that he is pregnant. She stands by him throughout his pregnancy, and is there at the moment he gives birth, falling completely in love with his daughter and exercising her “motherly” role towards both her brother and niece.

My Pregnant Brother is a beautifully told story about the bonds between siblings, presented by Nutter with a great deal of heart and love. Memorable moments in the production include her raw, joyful reaction at the birth of her niece, as well as the dialogue between her and her brother, told entirely from her point of view. An unusual tale to tell, but Nutter is the kind of storyteller one can relate to under any circumstance.

My Pregnant Brother runs until August 19 at the Theatre Passe Muraille Backspace. Visit SummerWorks.ca for more information and to buy tickets.

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