Welcome to Take Five, a column where LGBTQ+ creators list five things that shaped who they are today: a person, a place, an object, a moment, and a piece of media.
Abby McEnany says she feels “lucky.” After years spent working in the Chicago improv scene, she’s about to take a massive career leap, starring in her own Showtime series Work in Progress, executive produced by Lilly Wachowski of The Matrix and Sense8 fame and co-created by director Tim Mason. The semiautobiographical show, which premieres December 8, follows a “self-identified fat, queer dyke” named Abby (McEnany) who learns valuable life lessons from a new relationship with a younger transgender man (Theo Germaine). Work in Progress also promises to be a uniquely funny exploration of LGBTQ+ mental health: The trailer opens with Abby’s therapist dying mid-session while Abby admits her flagging will to live — but instead of going too grim, Work in Progress looks for the poignant human moments that often come at our lowest points.
Abby is “obsessed about why everything makes [her] anxious,” as the character announces in the trailer, but a friend tells her something that, frankly, a lot of queer people need to hear: “You are a much better person than you think you are.”
McEnany’s breakout is indeed a fortuitous one, the result of an independently-funded pilot that was accepted into Sundance and then picked up by Showtime. McEnany, who once wondered why she should bother spending $80 on a Sundance entry fee, now has the backing and budget of a premium cable network. But anyone familiar with McEnany’s heart and humor, her wit and her vulnerability would have to admit that luck is only one part of the equation. McEnany is so damn talented, and everyone outside of Chicago is about to find out. To help you get to know her, them. asked McEnany to select five things that have made her who she is today: a person, place, thing, moment, and piece of media. Her answers have been lightly edited and condensed.
Person: “The Tribe”
The nickname for a group of McEnany’s friends, some from the improv community, others from the queer community, all of them wonderful.
“When [Work in Progress] got into Sundance last year, we were not telling anybody. I’m kind of a rule-follower. I thought I couldn’t tell anybody because if I did, then they would take it away. So I told this group of friends the day before we were able to release it and they lost their minds and in two seconds, they were asking, ‘Can we come? Can we come? Can we come?’ I said, ‘I don’t know! It’s too expensive. Park City is so expensive I don’t even know how I’m going to pay for it.’ Then I went out for a cigarette because I make poor choices and when I came back in, four of them had already booked their tickets. About 14 friends flew in for Sundance to support me and it was just the most beautiful thing.”
