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Ravenous鈥揻or debate, for the potential of a win, for the love of women鈥揻our teenage boys writhe, thrust, twerk, and strip to a mind-numbing base-drop and technicolor pulse. Though the sights and sounds of a high school house party are, perhaps, sickeningly familiar, these boys are actually in a classroom. Between popped buttons and collars, they are frantically scribbling, brainstorming their (as they will assure you) extremely impressive arguments to their high school debate grand finals topic: feminism has failed women鈥攁ffirmative.

These are some of the first moments of Trophy Boys, which began performances earlier this month at MCC Theater. Australian playwright and performer Emmanuelle Mattana鈥檚 (ABC鈥檚 MUSTANG鈥檚 FC) debut work will run Off-Broadway until July 27, having already been extended before it even opened. With Tony winner Danya Taymor (John Proctor is the Villain) at the helm, Mattana is joined by Louisa Jacobson (HBO鈥檚 The Gilded Age), Esco Joul茅y (Wolf Play), and Terry Hu (Netflix鈥檚 Never Have I Ever).

Despite portraying high school-aged boys, each of Trophy Boys鈥� actors identify as either female, gender non-conforming, or non-binary. They perform in drag. Casting outside of these identities is a 鈥渘on-negotiable鈥� for Mattana, whose primary curiosity is what it means to explore gender as a performance. How might audience members understand gender to be 鈥渟omething that can be learned, taught, put on, or taken off?鈥�

The performativity of gender, for Mattana, is heightened during teenage years, when boys are coming into their physical and societal power, testing the limits of what they can get away with, and with whom. There鈥檚 a grotesqueness to puberty and all of its sudden, seemingly uncontrollable changes and urges. The boys of the play exist in an uncomfortable, ever-shifting space between childhood (where their tussles can simply land them in a time out) and manhood (where their crimes can land them in handcuffs). Mattana, who identifies as nonbinary and uses she/they pronouns, finds a comedic richness in non-cis-male bodies inhabiting the absurd, and sometimes disturbing, masculinity of teenage boys.

鈥淭here's something about having female and queer bodies on stage that lets the audience know that we鈥檙e in on the joke with them,鈥� Mattana says. 鈥淚t's also a real reclamation of the way that we, as women and queer people, have been treated by a lot of men. There's something about being able to, quite literally, step into the shoes of our oppressors and poke fun at them that is part of the joy of the show.鈥�

And Trophy Boys is joyful. Raucous, even. From the hand-on-heart assertions that they love women, and therefore could not possibly argue that feminism has failed, to the sudden gasps and moans of a pornographic ringtone, the audience is both laughing at and with the boys. Until they鈥檙e not. As sudden as a pimple can erupt onto a pubescent face, an allegation pops onto the internet that threatens both the outcome of the debate and the boys鈥� futures.

鈥淚t sort of sucks the air out of the room,鈥� Mattana gleefully admits of the tonal shift. 鈥淗ow tuned in are you to the people [in the audience] around you? What are they laughing at? What are you laughing at? How might that rock you by the time you get to the end of the play?鈥�

Trophy Boys had its inspiration in a variety of sources, including Mattana鈥檚 own experience as a high-school debate participant.

鈥淭he way the play is structured really mirrors the way that I felt writing it,鈥� Mattana says. 鈥淚 found myself really reluctant to go [to a dramatic place] as a writer. That speaks to something societally we鈥檙e all feeling. We don鈥檛 know how to deal with this behavior.鈥�

As Mattana graduated high school, 2021 rape allegations against Christian Porter, then Australia鈥檚 Attorney General, set the country alight鈥攁nd diminished Porter鈥檚 chances at becoming the country鈥檚 next Prime Minister. Porter鈥檚 accuser alleged their encounter occurred at a national debating tournament that had taken place when Porter was 17.

鈥淸The allegations] made me reflect on the sorts of men, the sorts of boys that I knew,鈥� Mattana explained. 鈥淚 had always joked with friends from debating that we probably knew the person who was going to be the next Prime Minister. It reached a point where we thought that was not a very funny joke.鈥�

In a case of self-diagnosed 鈥淐OVID Lockdown Playwright Syndrome,鈥� Mattana wrote themself into Trophy Boys as one of the teenage boys, Owen. Described as 鈥渆arnest, but self-important鈥� in the play鈥檚 notes and as a 鈥渢ool鈥� by his peers, Owen dreams of being President.

鈥淗e鈥檚 profoundly annoying,鈥� Mattana laughs. 鈥淚 realized Owen is the playwright stand-in. There鈥檚 something really specific about him and about the boys who inspired him that I felt empowered by taking him on.鈥�

There鈥檚 also empowerment to be found as an audience member of Trophy Boys. In reflecting on the feedback received from Australian audiences during last year鈥檚 sold-out tour, Mattana said what struck them most was how some audience members tried to guess the city, the school, or the allegation that had inspired the piece. Oftentimes, though they were incorrect as to the specifics, they had nailed something far more important.

鈥淓very place has these issues,鈥� Mattana says with equal parts acceptance and resignation. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 what鈥檚 really exciting. The more specific you get, the more truthful you become, universally. That鈥檚 really the goal of the show.鈥�

The New York theatre community has tried to reckon with these truths in recent seasons, with a revival of How I Learned to Drive, and premieres of Prima Facie and John Proctor is the Villain on the Main Stem post-pandemic. There have also been attempts at greater reckonings, with a cast member in the 2019 revival of West Side Story and producer Scott Rubin facing assault allegations and subsequent backlash. In Trophy Boys, by bringing queer voices into the ever-growing discourse on the problem of sexual assault, Mattana hopes not only to try to figure out how to answer lingering, confounding societal questions鈥攂ut also to highlight that the heteronormative, misogynistic system doesn鈥檛 currently benefit anyone.

鈥淎ll these stories are coming up because we鈥檙e trying to figure out what to do with the mess we found ourselves in,鈥� Mattana states, citing a particular affinity for John Proctor Is the Villain (also directed by Trophy Boys鈥� Danya Taymor). 鈥淥kay, the system we have right now is terrible for women. It鈥檚 terrible for men. Maybe queer people, who are brave enough to reject the whole thing, have some hope for where these conversations might be able to go.鈥�

These are conversations we are learning to have, to debate. It鈥檚 a debate that is increasingly-relevant, entangled in emotion, and can sometimes, not unlike the prompt the Trophy Boys receive, feel like a game lost before it has even begun. But Mattana does not argue, as her characters must, that feminism has failed women.

鈥淒anya said something great,鈥� Mattana replies to the inevitable question. 鈥淸Feminism] can鈥檛 have failed because it hasn鈥檛 finished. Feminism isn鈥檛 over. So as long as we continue to try, it will continue to succeed and fail in a million different ways. But it will continue.鈥�

And as feminism continues, how do men and women, girls and boys, move forward? Mattana considers her experience in high school debate, where she was taught to diminish her feminine traits and present as emotionless鈥攎ore masculine.

鈥淪omething women and girls get told a lot in high school debating is that they鈥檙e too shrill or too emotional,鈥� Mattana reflects. 鈥淲hat鈥檚 really important to me now are the human aspects of argument. You have to have your heart and your empathy and your capacity for emotion right at the forefront. If we choose to lead with heart and [femininity] and care, then maybe that benefits us all.鈥�

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Photos: Trophy Boys at MCC Theater

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