The Nance

The Nance is a play written by Douglas Carter Beane. It involves the lives of burlesque performers during the 1930s. A "nance" was a stereotypical camp homosexual. The play is a production of Lincoln Center Theater that premiered on Broadway in 2013. It received five Tony Award nominations, and won three awards. It starred Nathan Lane as Chauncey.

The play premiered April 15, 2013, at the Lyceum Theatre, in a Lincoln Center Theater production. The limited run was extended to August 11, 2013. Directed by Jack O'Brien, the play starred Nathan Lane as Chauncey Miles, and featured Jonny Orsini, Cady Huffman, Andréa Burns, and Lewis J. Stadlen. Sets were by John Lee Beatty, costumes by Ann Roth, and choreography by Joey Pizzi. The play contains music written by Glen Kelly. A revolving set showed the stage of a burlesque house, its backstage area, and Chauncey's apartment.

The play was taped live in August 2013 for the PBS series Live from Lincoln Center. Before the play's broadcast, it was screened in movie theatres beginning June 23, 2014. The play was broadcast October 10, 2014, and was made available to view on their website immediately after the broadcast.

The play alternates between the scenes of the characters' real lives, and sketches played at the Irving Place, which reflect on the situation. The play opens at an automat in Greenwich Village in 1937 where gay men congregate and arrange meetings. Chauncey Miles is a star the Irving Place theater, a burlesque house in New York City, playing a "nance", a "stock character who was a flamingly effeminate homosexual". Chauncey is gay and looks for men at the automat, but he must be careful or risk being arrested. There he meets Ned, newly arrived in New York and homeless. Chauncey invites him to his apartment for a sexual encounter, assuming him to be a curious heterosexual. In the morning, however, Ned confesses that he is also gay, and has recently left his wife hoping to find out more about himself. Though Chauncey is hesitant to begin a serious relationship, they become lovers.

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