Alec Butler Explained

Alec Butler
Birth Name:	Audrey Butler
Nationality:	Canadian
Notable Works:	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. 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 self-identifies as having Miꞌkmaq heritage, and as two-spirit.^[2]

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

Notes and References

1. Web site: Helkio. Raymond. January 18, 2017. Alec Butler's "Rough Paradise" – Living Life Shamelessly. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20200919212641/https://thebuzzmag.ca/2017/01/alec-butlers-rough-paradise-living-life-shamelessly/. September 19, 2020. The Buzz.
2. News: Butler. Alec. 2016-04-22. At 12 I grew a beard and had a period. en-GB. BBC News. live. 2020-12-26. November 8, 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20201108095741/https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-36092431.
3. Web site: Noyes. Jenny. 2016-04-25. Playwright on growing up intersex: 'At 12 I started growing a beard and had a period'. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20190713045445/http://www.dailylife.com.au/dl-people/playwright-on-growing-up-intersex-at-12-i-started-growing-a-beard-and-had-a-period-20160425-goe3p7.html. July 13, 2019. Daily Life.
4. Web site: September 8, 2005. Why be just one sex?. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20100613195234/http://www.macleans.ca/article.jsp?content=20050912_112043_112043&source=srch. 2010-06-13. Maclean's.
5. Web site: Announcements « The Centre for Women and Trans People @ University of Toronto. 2021-04-02. April 2, 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210402072917/https://womenscentre.sa.utoronto.ca/announcements/page/11/. live.