Driven to Distraction

I have dreams and goals and stuff to do around the house. These are the things this week that kept me from getting to any of it.

Long Live Theater Queens!

March 05, 2007

Page 1 | Page 2

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Tyler Christopher and Jamison Jones in "Bent"

Back in the glorious 90’s, the theater producers motto seemed to be, ‘If you show penis…they will come.’ My friends and I used to joke about this phenomenon, saying we ought to start a ‘Gay Nude’ rep company where we’d produce shows like "Gay Nude Our Town," "Gay Nude Nunsense" and, of course, "Gay Nude The Most Happy Fella."

I read an article somewhere recently that said that gays aren’t turning out for gay-themed theater like they used to. I believe this article sited the current B’way comedy "The Little Dog Laughed" as an example. It said the gays ain’t showing up like they used to, presumably because in the age of Will and Jack and Noah, we aren’t as starved for representations of ourselves as we used to be. Maybe "Queer as Folk" made us sick of ourselves and we’ve still not recovered.

Anyway, I’m happy to report that I’ve seen two gay-themed plays in the last two weeks here in L.A. and both houses were packed to overflowing. Last weekend, I saw a revival of "Bent" playing at the divey-on-the-outside, spacious-on-the-inside Theatre 68 in Hollywood. In addition to the strong performances by Tyler Christopher ("General Hospital") and Jamison Jones ("24") as the rock-toting concentration camp lovers who never get to touch each other, I was impressed with how well Martin Sherman’s play, originally produced in 1979, held up. It runs through March 4. For info, visit www.68centcrew.com

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Steven Fales in "Confessions of a Mormon Boy"

Then this last Sunday, I took in "Confessions of Mormon Boy," Steven Fales one-man show about his journey from devout Mormon husband and father to crystal-addicted New York hustler. Even if you weren’t raised Mormon, as I was, it’s a quick-moving, well-written and expertly performed show. Fales has been doing the show for quite a while I was impressed with how immediate and deeply felt his performance was. If you’re in LA and want to check it out, visit www.mormonboy.com for info.

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Comments

Kevin wrote:

Well the gays really support the local theatre down here in O-Town. At least come Orlando Fringe Festival time. All you need is a drag queen or an exposed wang and you'll pack the house, even if the show is crap (you can even win best of venue that way).

Some of them were actually good (but some were not), and unfortunately a lot of really good theatre got missed last year because it wasn't gay, or even naked.

I'm torn. I mean, it's Fringe, so I should be there to support new and upcoming theatre, but I gotta say I don't mind seeing some hot, naked people running around.

posted at March 8, 2007 09:52 AM

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