Download or read book The Nance written by Douglas Carter Beane and published by Dramatists Play Service, Inc.. This book was released on 2016-05-16 with total page 69 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: THE STORY: In the 1930s, burlesque impresarios welcomed the hilarious comics and musical parodies of vaudeville to their decidedly lowbrow niche. A headliner called "the nance"—usually played by a straight man—was a stereotypically camp homosexual and master of comic double entendre. THE NANCE recreates the naughty, raucous world of burlesque's heyday and tells the backstage story of Chauncey Miles and his fellow performers. At a time when it was easy to play gay and dangerous to be gay, Chauncey's uproarious antics on the stage stand out in marked contrast to his offstage life.