Over two hundred years, women must figure out how to adapt, evolve, and survive in a world where men have gone completely extinct.

High-concept absurdism: all men die abruptly in 1891, and what happens next? One scene in the immediate aftermath, one in a classroom 100 years later, one in a meeting of the futuristic high council 100 years after that. Playwright Melissa Maney waffles a bit, accusing men of unique gender barbarism while also appealing to an idea that the real division is between the powerful and the powerless. A new binary emerges between “working women,” who increasingly behave like men, and “housewives,” who have chosen or been drafted to carry children via the new all-XX process.

Not an unpromising collection of ideas on paper, but fairly grating to sit through in practice. Many characters suffer from mouthpiece syndrome, making jarring decisions and espousing academic viewpoints and revealing secrets more in the interest of an underlying lecture than for characterization. (I can’t recall any of their names two days on, but maybe I’m not meant to - the program lists the performers as “E track” and “V track,” etc.) There are several moments - but one particular whopper in Scene 3 - in which the playwright elaborately constructs an analogy only to turn and explain it to you. It lands somewhere between audience distrust and active condescension. Subjectively, a lot of the humor also didn’t really land for me, but your mileage may vary on this.