Alec Butler

Alec Butler
Born	Audrey Butler 1959 (age 66–67)
Occupations	Playwright filmmaker
Notable work	Black Friday (play)

Alec Butler (born Audrey Butler; 1959) is a Canadian playwright and filmmaker. ^[1]

Life and career

Butler was born in 1959, and is non-binary and intersex. ^[2] Butler uses they/them and he/him pronouns. ^[3] Assigned female at birth, he initially presented as a butch lesbian before coming out as transgender the late 1990s. ^[2] Before he came out, his work was published under his birth name. ^[4]

He was a nominee for the Governor General's Award for English-language drama 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. ^[5]

He identifies as two-spirit and has Miꞌkmaq heritage. ^{[2] [4]}

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, 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

1. Helkio, Raymond (January 18, 2017). "Alec Butler's "Rough Paradise" – Living Life Shamelessly". The Buzz. Archived from the original on September 19, 2020.
2. Butler, Alec (April 22, 2016). "At 12 I grew a beard and had a period". BBC News . Archived from the original on November 8, 2020. Retrieved December 26, 2020.
3. Noyes, Jenny (April 25, 2016). "Playwright on growing up intersex: 'At 12 I started growing a beard and had a period'". Daily Life. Archived from the original on July 13, 2019.
4. "Why be just one sex?". Maclean's . September 8, 2005. Archived from the original on June 13, 2010.
5. "Announcements « The Centre for Women and Trans People @ University of Toronto". Archived from the original on April 2, 2021. Retrieved April 2, 2021.