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YEAR IN REVIEW 2015: theater (A highly royal year)

Out actors shine in wide spate of area productions

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theater, gay news, Washington Blade

Jefferson Farber shows off his wares in Arena’s hit ‘Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike.’ (Photo courtesy Arena)

The year in theater was rife with firsts and reprises, political intrigue, laughs and strained relations. And a lot of it was LGBT related.

Last winter, acclaimed out actor André De Shields played Stool Pigeon, a street preacher, in Arena Stage’s compelling production of August Wilson’s “King Hedley II.” At 69, De Shields was finally acting in one of the late great Wilson’s plays.

“Because we were contemporaries and both African American, people are surprised to hear it took so long. I’d wanted to, but had simply been given the opportunity,” De Shields said.

The story of an ex-con who against all odds returns to his old neighborhood attempting to rebuild his life by selling stolen refrigerators to finance a business venture, “King Hedley II” is the ninth play in Wilson’s 10-part play cycle set in Pittsburgh’s hardscrabble Hill District. De Shields who created the title role in “The Wiz” on Broadway in 1975 enjoyed playing Stool Pigeon.

“He is the fool. And like the fool in ‘King Lear,’ Pigeon is the conscience of the king and an outlier. I love to play an outlier.” He also noted an absence of gay characters in Wilson’s cycle. “I’m not condemning him. I’m reporting. His plays are relentlessly heterosexual, and that’s cool.”

Another out actor found a great role on D.C.’s waterfront this year. Long before playing Hollywood boy toy Spike in Arena’s production of Christopher Durang’s Chekhov-inspired comedy “Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike,” Jefferson Farber had his sights set on the showy role, seeking out new productions and auditioning when he could. Ultimately cast in his own back yard, Farber was terrific as the self-absorbed, frequently shirtless aspiring actor.

The year offered up varied crown heads. In the cold of winter, Folger Theatre presented Peter Oswald’s sharp and celebrated new translation of German playwright Friedrich Schiller “Mary Stuart” (1800), the enthralling drama about the decades-long rivalry between England’s Queen Elizabeth I and her ill-fated cousin Queen Mary of Scotland. The compelling production was helmed by esteemed director Richard Clifford (the longtime partner of actor Sir Derek Jacobi). Out actor Holly Twyford superbly assayed Elizabeth in all her vain but insecure and wily glory.

And in the heat of the summer, Synetic Theater, the award-winning movement-based company located in Crystal City, remounted its playful, sexy and silent adaptation of Shakespeare’s comedy “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” Painted blue from top to toe, out actor Alex Mills reprised his memorable turn as mischievous sprite Puck. And Helen Hayes Award-winning actor Philip Fletcher played Oberon, the Fairy King, locked in sexually charged battle with his queen, Tatiana (Irina Tsikurishvili).

The year included some Broadway royalty too. In February, Chita Rivera brought her fabulous one-woman show to Mclean’s Alden Theatre. The 80-something triple threat seriously wowed audiences with the songs (and dance) she made famous in shows like “West Side Story,” “Bye, Bye, Birdie,” “The Rink,” “Chicago” and “Kiss of the Spider Woman.”

The politics on stage imitated life, well, sort of. Woolly Mammoth premiered gay playwright Robert O’Hara’s “Zombie: the American,” a wild and convoluted new dark comedy inspired by an after-hours visit to the White House. Part science fiction and part Jacobean drama, “Zombie” is set in America 2063 — the East has been lost to great floods and the White House has relocated to Mount Rushmore where its residents are America’s first openly gay president (Sean Meehan) and his unfaithful first gentleman (James Seol) who’s having an affair with a complying clone. Out actor Sarah Marshall played the president’s glowering secretary of state.

Signature Theatre’s out artistic director Eric Schaeffer staged “The Fix,” a reworked but still predictable pop-rock musical chronicling the woes of a fictional American political dynasty.

The Book of Mormon’s” Mark Evans played the family’s square-jawed prodigal scion at odds with his mother fiercely ambitious mother (Christine Sherrill) and closeted gay uncle (Lawrence Redmond).

Gala Hispanic Theatre mounted a searing, modern-feeling of out playwright Federico García Lorca’s “Yerma” helmed by out Spanish director José Luis Arellano García. Mabel del Pozo passionately assayed the title character, a childless Andalusian peasant raging against the oppression of a loveless marriage and repressive society. Handsome out actor Eric Robledo played Juan, the cold husband that Yerma’s father chose for her.

This year introduced the ambitious and successful Women’s Voices Theater Festival, designed to spotlight the scope of new plays being written by women and the range of professional theater being produced in the area with more than 50 local professional companies presenting at least one world premiere of a play by a female playwright throughout September and October. Shakespeare Theatre Company contributed “Salomé” (more royal strife!), adapted and gorgeously staged Yaël Farber. Farber drew on ancient biblical and pagan texts, as well as Oscar Wilde’s landmark mystery play to create her provocative, exceedingly watchable piece.

Olney Theatre Center’s offering was the dramedy “Bad Dog” by out playwright and TV writer Jennifer Hoppe-House. Out actor Holly Twyford played flawed but likable Molly Drexler, a writer who after 10 years clean and sober falls off the wagon and drives her Prius into the home she shares with her wife. When her fairly dysfunctional family gathers with suggestions on how Molly might fix herself, things go from bad to worse. Imagine that.

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Theater

Theatre Prometheus spreads queer joy with ‘Galatea’

Two girls dressed as boys who find love despite the odds

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Cate Ginsberg as Phillida and Amber Patrice Coleman as Galatea (Photo by Charlotte Hayes)

‘Galatea’
Through May 10
Theatre Prometheus
Montgomery College Cultural Arts Center
7995 Georgia Ave, Silver Spring, Md.
$27
Theatreprometheus.org

In a timely move, Theatre Prometheus thought it would be a beneficial thing to spread a little queer joy. And since the company’s mission includes engaging audiences and artists in queer and feminist art, there was nothing to stop them. 

Co-artistic directors Tracey Erbacher and Lauren Patton Villegas, both queer, agree they’ve found that joy in John Lyly’s “Galatea,” an Elizabethan-era comedy about Galatea and Phillida, two girls dressed as boys who find love despite some rather slim odds.  

Now playing at Montgomery College Cultural Arts Center on the Takoma Park/Silver Spring campus, the upbeat offering is a mix of contemporary and period, and strives to make audiences happy. Galatea’s cast includes Amber Coleman and Cate Ginsberg as the besotted pair. 

Erbacher, also the production’s director, adds “queer joy is something that I prioritized in casting actors and interviewing production people. I asked them what it means to them, and resoundingly the reply — from both them and the play — is that queer joy is the freedom to be yourself without having to think about it.

“Galatea” was first brought to Prometheus’s attention by Caitlin Partridge, the company’s literary director. Erbacher recalls, “she strongly suggested I read this very queer play. I read it and fell absolutely in love. And because it’s a comedy — I really like directing comedy — I knew that I could lean into that while not neglecting its universal themes of young love.” 

Villegas, who’s not ordinarily drawn to the classics, was also instantly smitten with Galatea.

“Usually with classics, the language doesn’t jump out at me the way modern works do,” she says. “But not so with ‘Galatea.’ The first time I heard it read aloud, I found it easy to follow and entirely accessible in the best way.”

Whether Lyly deliberately wrote a queer play isn’t known. What’s definitely known is the play was written with an all-boy performing troupe in mind; that’s partly why there are so many young female roles, the parts 10-year-old boys were playing at the time. 

There’s not a lot known about Lyly’s personal life, mostly because he wasn’t wildly famous. What’s known about the times is that there wasn’t a concept of “gay,” but there were sodomy laws regarding homosexual activity in England geared toward men having sex with men; it was all very phallocentric, Erbacher says.

She categorically adds, “Women’s sexuality wasn’t considered in the equation. In fact, it was often asked whether women were even capable of having sex with other women. It just was not part of the conversation. If there wasn’t a dick involved it didn’t count.

“Perhaps that’s how the playwright got around it. If there were two male characters in the play he could not have done it.”

Prometheus has done adaptations of ancient myths and some classics, but in this case it’s very faithful to the original text. Other than some cuts winnowing the work down to 90 minutes, “Galatea” is pretty much exactly as Lyly wrote it. 

And that includes, “girls dressed as boys who fall in love thinking girls are boys,” says Erbacher. “And then they start to clock things: ‘I think he is as I am.’ And then they don’t care if the object of their affection is a boy or a girl, the quintessential bisexual iconic line.” 

And without spoiling a thing, the director teases, “the ending is even queerer than the rest of the play.”

Erbacher and Villegas have worked together since Prometheus’s inception 11 years ago. More recently, they became co-artistic directors, splitting the work in myriad ways. It’s a good fit: They share values but not identical artistic sensibilities allow them to exchange objective feedback.

In past seasons, the collaborative pair have produced an all-women production of “Macbeth” and a queered take on [gay] “Cymbeline,” recreating it as a lesbian love story. And when roles aren’t specifically defined male or female, they take the best actor for the part.  

With Galatea, Prometheus lightens the current mood. Erbacher says, “the hard stuff is important but exhausting. We deserve a queer rom-com, a romantic sweeping story that’s not focused on how hard it is to be queer, but rather the joy of it.”

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Timely comedy ‘Fake It’ focuses on Native American themes

Arena Stage production features two out actors

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Eric Stanton Betts (standing) and Brandon Delsid in ‘Fake It Until You Make It.’ (Photo by Daniel Rader)

‘Fake It Until You Make It’
Through May 4
Arena Stage, 1101 Sixth St., S.W.
Tickets start at $59
Arenastage.org

A farce requires teamwork. And Larissa FastHorse’s “Fake It Until You Make It” now at Arena Stage is no exception. 

The timely comedy focuses on Native American nonprofits fractiously housed in a shared space. Friction rises when rivals River (Amy Brenneman), a white woman operating in the Indigenous world, goes up against the more authentic Wynona (Shyla Lefner) to win a lucrative Native-funded grant.   

While Brenneman (best known for TV’s Judging Amy) is undeniably a big draw, it takes a group collaboration to hit marks, land jokes, and pull off the well-executed physical comedy including all those carefully timed door slams.

As members of the six-person “Fake It” cast, Brandon Delsid and Eric Stanton Betts, both out actors of partly indigenous ancestry, contribute to the mayhem. Respectively, Delsid and Betts play Krys and Mark, a pair of two-spirited Native Americans who meet farcically cute and enjoy one of the play’s more satisfying arcs. 

For Krys, every attractive man is a potential next fling, but when Mark, handsome and relatively reserved, arrives on the scene, it’s something entirely different. 

Both onstage and sometimes off, Betts plays the straight man to Delsid’s waggishness. But when it comes down to real life business, the friends are on the same page: not only are the L.A.-based, up-and-coming actors intensely serious about their film and stage careers, but they’re also particularly engaged in the themes of Indigenous People found in “Fake It.” 

On a recent Wednesday following a matinee and an audience talkback, they were ready for a phone interview. 

In establishing whose voice was whose, Delsid clarified with “I’m the one who sounds a little like a Valley girl.” 

WASHINGTON BLADE: Brandon, you’ve been with the show since its early work-shopping days in 2022 and through its debut in Los Angeles and now Washington. Have things evolved? 

BRANDON DELSID: Definitely. I’ve grown up in the last couple of years and so has my character; it’s hard to know where I end and Kry begins. There’s been a real melding.

Eric and I are both queer, and to get to play these roles that are so human, imperfect, sexy, and interesting is really joyful.

As queer artists you don’t always get the chance to do work like this. So many stories are queer trauma, which is incredibly important, but it’s liberating to feel joy and ride it off into the sunset, which, without revealing too much, is kind of what we get to do.

BLADE: There’s some race shifting in “Fake It” particularly with regard to “pretendian” (a pejorative term describing a person who has falsely claimed Indigenous status). 

ERIC STANTON BETTS:  The last few years I’ve been on a journey with my cultural identity and place in the world. I’m a mixed BIPOC artist, my dad is Black and Native American by way of the Cherokee tribe and my mom is white. 

Since 2020, I’ve tried to figure out where I belong in this cultural history that I haven’t had a tie to throughout my life; it’s gratifying to find my way back to my indigeneity and be welcomed. 

In the play, race shifting is introduced through farce. But it’s never in a disrespectful way; it’s never mocked or done in a way to take away from others. The playwright parallels race shifting with gender fluidity. 

DELSID: But in life, there are people posing as Indigenous, actively taking grants, and the play goes there, we don’t hold back. Larissa, our playwright, has made it clear that she’s not trying to figure it out for us. With that in mind, we hope people leave the theater interested and curious to learn more. 

BLADE: Mark arrives kind of the middle of some crazy drama, bringing along a jolt of romance. 

BETTS:  Yeah, when I show up, we’re all sort of shot out of a cannon, struggling to keep up with the initial lie. 

DESLID: A very gay cannon. 

BLADE: What’s up next for you two?

BETTS: Both Brandon and I are up for the same part in a TV pilot, so one of us may be getting some very good news. I also have a Tyler Perry film coming out soon [he plays a model, not an unfamiliar gig for Betts]. 

DELSID: Coming up, I have a recurring part on HBO’s “The Rehearsal,” and a supporting part in “June and John,” a John Besson film. But doing “Fake It Until You Make It” in L.A. and now D.C. has been a special time in our lives. It’s 23/7 togetherness. There’s that hour for sleep. 

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‘Bad Books’ a timely look at censorship in local library

Influencer vs. conservative parent in Round House production

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Holly Twyford (The Mother) and Kate Eastwood Norris (The Librarian) in ‘Bad Books’ at Round House Theatre. (Photo by Margot Schulman)

‘Bad Books’
Through May 4
Round House Theatre
4545 East-West Highway
Bethesda, Md.
Tickets start at $43
Roundhousetheatre.org

While a library might seem an unlikely place for a heated contretemps, it’s exactly the spot where adults go when they’re itching to battle out what books minors might be allowed to read. 

In Sharyn Rothstein’s “Bad Books,” two women, The Mother (out actor Holly Twyford) and The Librarian (Kate Eastwood Norris), swiftly become mired in a quarrel that comes with some weighty repercussions. 

The Mother is a popular conservative influencer on a mission. She’s furious that the local library has overstepped its bounds and she blames The Librarian, a woman who adheres to the “it takes a village” method of child rearing and is dedicated to the young people who approach her reference desk. 

There’s some background. It seems The Librarian who dresses young (tight jackets and Doc Martens) and curses a blue streak, forged a friendship with Jeremy, a teenage library regular. 

While the details are a bit hazy, it seems the troubled Jeremy confided in The Librarian regarding some personal issues. In return, she suggested a helpful book – Boob Juice.

Unsurprisingly, based solely on its title, the book has thrown The Mother into a pique of outrage. After finding Boob Juice in her son’s bedroom, she made a beeline to the library; and not incidentally, The Mother hasn’t read the recommended work and has no plans to do so. 

Set in a suburb with lax gun laws, the story explores facets of division and conciliation. The Mother insists she isn’t so much about banning books as she is keeping some books away from young people until they’ve obtained parental approval. 

“Bad Books” is performed in the round. Built on a rotating stage, Meghan Raham’s set is simple, pleasingly serviceable, and easily transforms from the library into a small corporate office, and later the assembly room of a church. Overhead floats a circular glass shelf filled with a cache of banned books. Things like a rolling book cart and a goldfish bowl add some flavor to the different locations. 

The Mother wasn’t always a popular conservative warrior with an enthusiastic horde of followers. 

Her past includes penning a book that later filled her with guilt and regret. She refers to that early questionable literary accomplishment as her bad book. And while over the years, she has persevered to find and destroy each and every printed copy, she hasn’t entirely succeeded.  

Norris plays three women who figure meaningfully into the arc of Twyford’s mother character. In addition to The Librarian, Norris is The Manager, a broadly played piece of comic relief, and The Editor, a warm woman who reveals things about Jeremy that his own mother never knew. 

Smartly staged by Ryan Rilette, the production is part of a National New Play Network Rolling World Premiere. While Rothstein’s script offers two strong roles (skillfully performed by celebrated actors Twyford and Norris), its ending feels too neatly resolved.  

In the past, Twyford and Norris have successfully joined forces for numerous DMV productions including Studio Theatre’s production of David Auburn’s two-hander “Summer, 1976,” the story of a longtime and unlikely friendship between two women who meet as young mothers during the Bicentennial summer. 

Though different, both The Librarian and The Mother share a strong and ultimately hopeful relationship with words.   

There’s a quote from E.B. White’s classic “Charlotte’s Web” that pops up a couple of times in the briskly paced 80-minute play. Charlotte, the wise spider, says, “with just the right words you can change the world.”

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