fainting couch:
a one woman show... with a butler

NY Fringe Festival @ The Rat NYC, April 2026

Creative Team

​Writer Kat Humes
Director/Choreographer Maya Quetzali Gonzalez
Producer(s) Thompson Street Productions, Safwa Ozair
Scenic & Props Designer Aryana Piros
Costume Designer Sofie Daley
Lighting Designer Kobi Masselli
Sound Designer Emma Mcaninch
Production Stage Manager Molly Litvin

Am I forcibly feminized by my sickness?

fainting couch: a one woman show… (with a butler) follows Lady K, an alias for the playwright, a well-to-do young woman in the late 19th century, struggling to find both a husband and a cure for her mystery illness. When she is struck by a debilitating episode of pain and hysteria following her presentation to society, she is sent to the seaside for her health, accompanied by her loyal butler. But the cure, the ocean, and the sickness itself, may not be entirely what they seem... Based on the lived experiences of a young queer woman coming of age in a disabled body, fainting couch devolves from a predictable portrait of perfection into an unashamed riot against the notion of the sick woman.

“fainting couch” is a love letter and a riot in the same breath, dedicated to the infinite sickness of the female body, and the strength we learn to hide behind.

– Katherine Humes, Playwright

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