You're Just Like My Father

You're Just Like My Father (1993)

In You’re Just Like My Father Shaw pieces together the challenges of growing up butch in the 1950’s with a combination of both toughness and vulnerability. Using male role models such as an army officer and Elvis, Shaw explores the controversial relationship between a butch and her mother, offering both affirmation and criticism. 

The performance was created when Lois and Peggy were invited to Hampshire College to do a performance, but Lois couldn’t come. On impulse Peggy wrote back and said she had a new solo performance that she could bring, and asked them what kind of event it was. They said it was a Parents Weekend for students and their families, so Peggy came up with the title You’re Just Like My Father. Women at WOW used to say this phrase to her because they thought she was too butch or bullying or made them scared, so Peggy used it as a starting point for this autobiographical exploration. You’re Just Like My Father was Peggy’s first foray into solo work, and with it she began to develop her own signature rhythm and cadence.

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You’re Just Like My Father was developed at Dixon Place in New York and produced by the ICA in London and La MaMa Theatre in New York. You’re Just Like My Father was first published in O Solo Homo: The New Queer Performance, edited by Holly Hughes and David Román, Grove Press, 1998.

Special thanks to Stormy Brandenberger, Stafford, Karena Rahall, Rose Sharp, Jill Lewis, Meryl Vladimer, Howard Thies, La MaMa Etc., Rachel Shipp, Gay Sweatshop London, Lois Weaver, Hampshire College, WOW Café, Dixon Place, and New York Foundation for the Arts.

Footage of the performance can be found here.