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Messy familial dysfunction handled adroitly in Woolly’s ‘Hir’

Resentment, sadness, anger and sadistic cruelty make for a memorable and often uncomfortable theatrical experience

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Hir review, gay news, Washington Blade

Mitch Hebert and Emily Townley in ‘Hir.’ (Photo by Scott Suchman; courtesy Woolly Mammoth)

‘Hir’ 
 
Through June 18
 
Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company
 
641 D St., N.W.
 
$35 and up
 
202-393-3939

Woolly Mammoth is never afraid to go there. In the company’s unsettling and exceedingly well-acted production of Taylor Mac’s dark comedy “Hir,” a hideously dysfunctional family becomes scarily relatable. That their resentment, sadness, anger and even flashes of sadistic cruelty are frequently recognizable makes for a memorable and often uncomfortable theatrical experience.

After serving an overseas stint in the Marine Corps assigned to Mortuary Affairs Unit, Isaac (Joseph J. Parks) returns home seeking the familiar but what he finds is anything but. The formerly orderly, modest house is a mess. His once despotic father Arnold (Mitch Hébert) has suffered a stroke and has lost the ability to hold the family in his abusive grip. Isaac’s mother Paige (Emily Townley), Arnold’s longtime punching bag, is now in charge and for her that means subverting the patriarchy. She dresses her disabled husband in a woman’s pink nightgown and feeds him smoothies laced with estrogen to keep him docile. He sleeps in a box in the living room.

Isaac’s 16-year-old sister Max is now a wispy, whiskered transgender anarchist who uses the pronouns ze and hir (pronounced here). Max is played as a precocious, though typically self-involved, teen by Malic White whose real life pronouns are they/them/theirs. With Arnold no longer able to push them around, Paige and Max are exploring arts, culture and shifting the paradigm. Paige has hitched her wagon to her son’s dreams. There’s humor here but it’s never too far removed from tragedy

We soon learn that Isaac was dishonorably discharged after caught doing crystal meth. Paige is more curious than angry. She loves her son and is happy to have him home, but she insists he follow her new protocol. Her rules are designed to make her husband miserable: No cooking. No cleaning. No TV. Keep the air conditioning on high. And no empathy whatsoever is to be shown toward Arnold.

While Isaac acknowledges his father’s failings and history of abusive behavior in a poignant monologue, he still longs for order and some sort of patriarchal structure. So inevitably a battle of wills ensues. And while Paige revels in her new-found liberty, she remains mired in a sick living situation. And she’s not afraid to fight dirty when her way of life is threatened. Adeptly and fearlessly led by director by Shana Cooper, the talented actors superbly convey the family dynamics and baggage that such a mother/son struggle entails.

Adding to the family’s general disappointment is their longtime home, a starter house built atop a landfill, marvelously realized by set designer Misha Kachman. After living in the house for decades, the interior is still unfinished. There’s exposed insulation and framing, and by Paige’s design, a colorful mess of colossal proportion comprised of assorted junk, toys, piles of laundry, a doll house made from toilet paper cardboard tubes and a Christmas tree.

Playwright Taylor Mac, who uses judy (lowercase) as a gender pronoun, began writing “Hir” years ago, yet the work is particularly timely. The playwright describes divisive politics and explores whether people with different politics can ever truly coexist. Are different opinions acceptable? Is it imperative to compromise to heal? After years of abuse is healing even achievable? “Hir” asks these questions and more.

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Music & Concerts

Underdog glorious: a personal remembrance of Jill Sobule

Talented singer, songwriter died in house fire on May 1

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Writer Gregg Shapiro with Jill Sobule in 2000. (Photo courtesy Shapiro)

I’ve always prided myself on being the kind of music consumer who purchased music on impulse. When I stumbled across “Things Here Are Different,” Jill Sobule’s 1990 MCA Records debut album on vinyl in a favorite Chicago record store, I bought it without knowing anything about her. This was at a time when we didn’t have our phones in our pockets to search for information about the artist on the internet. The LP stayed in my collection until, as vinyl was falling out of fashion, I replaced it with a CD a few years later.

Early in my career as an entertainment journalist, I received a promo copy of Jill’s eponymous 1995 Atlantic Records album. That year, Atlantic Records was one of the labels at the forefront of signing and heavily promoting queer artists, including Melissa Ferrick and Extra Fancy, and its roster included the self-titled album by Jill. It was a smart move, as the single “I Kissed A Girl” became a hit on radio and its accompanying video (featuring Fabio!) was in heavy rotation on MTV (when they still played videos).

Unfortunately for Jill, she was a victim of record label missteps. When 1997’s wonderful “Happy Town” failed to repeat the success, Atlantic dumped her. That was Atlantic’s loss, because her next album, the superb “Pink Pearl” contained “Heroes” and “Mexican Wrestler,” two of her most beloved songs. Sadly, Beyond Music, the label that released that album ceased to exist after just a few years. To her credit, the savvy Jill had also started independently releasing music (2004’s “The Folk Years”). That was a smart move because her next major-label release, the brilliant “Underdog Victorious” on Artemis Records, met a similar fate when that label folded.

With her 2009 album “California Years,” Jill launched her own indie label, Pinko Records, on which she would release two more outstanding full-length discs, 2014’s “Dottie’s Charms” (on which she collaborated with some of her favorite writers, including David Hadju, Rick Moody, Mary Jo Salter, and Jonathan Lethem), and 2018’s stunning “Nostalgia Kills.” Jill’s cover of the late Warren Zevon’s “Don’t Let Us Get Sick” on “Nostalgia Kills” was particularly poignant as she had toured with him as an opening act.

Jill was a road warrior, constantly on tour, and her live shows were something to behold. My first interview with Jill took place at the Double Door in Chicago in early August of 1995, when she was the opening act for legendary punk band X. She had thrown her back out the previous day and was diagnosed with a herniated disc. To be comfortable, she was lying down on a fabulous-‘50s sofa. “I feel like I’m at my shrink’s,” she said to me, “Do you want me to talk about my mother?”

That sense of humor, which permeated and enriched her music, was one of many reasons to love Jill. I was privileged to interview her for seven of her albums. Everything you would want to know about her was right there in her honest lyrics, in which she balanced her distinctive brand of humor with serious subject matter. Drawing on her life experiences in songs such as “Bitter,” “Underachiever,” “One of These Days,” “Freshman,” “Jetpack,” “Nothing To Prove,” “Forbidden Thoughts of Youth,” “Island of Lost Things,” “Where Do I Begin,” “Almost Great,” and “Big Shoes,” made her songs as personal as they were universal, elicited genuine affection and concern from her devoted fans.

While she was a consummate songwriter, Jill also felt equally comfortable covering songs made famous by others, including “Just A Little Lovin’” (on the 2000 Dusty Springfield tribute album “Forever Dusty”) and “Stoned Soul Picnic” (from the 1997 Laura Nyro tribute album “Time and Love”). Jill also didn’t shy away from political subject matter in her music with “Resistance Song,” “Soldiers of Christ,” “Attic,” “Heroes,” “Under the Disco Ball,” and the incredible “America Back” as prime examples.

Here’s something else worth mentioning about Jill. She was known for collaboration skills. As a songwriter, she maintained a multi-year creative partnership with Robin Eaton (“I Kissed A Girl” and many others), as well as Richard Barone, the gay frontman of the renowned band The Bongos. Jill’s history with Barone includes performing together at a queer Octoberfest event in Chicago in 1996. Writer and comedian Julie Sweeney, of “SNL” and “Work in Progress” fame was another Chicago collaborator with Sobule (Sweeney lives in a Chicago suburb), where they frequently performed their delightful “The Jill and Julia Show.” John Doe, of the aforementioned band X, also collaborated with Jill in the studio (“Tomorrow Is Breaking” from “Nostalgia Kills”), as well as in live performances.

On a very personal note, in 2019, when I was in the process of arranging a reading at the fabulous NYC gay bookstore Bureau of General Services – Queer Division, I reached out to Jill and asked her if she would like to be on the bill with me. We alternated performing; I would read a couple of poems, and Jill would sing a couple of songs. She even set one of my poems to music, on the spot.

Jill had an abundance of talent, and when she turned her attention to musical theater, it paid off in a big way. Her stage musical “F*ck 7th Grade,” a theatrical piece that seemed like the next logical step in her career, had its premiere at Pittsburgh’s City Theatre in the fall of 2020, during the height of the pandemic. The unique staging (an outdoor drive-in stage at which audience members watched from their cars) was truly inspired. “F*ck 7th Grade” went on to become a New York Times Critic’s pick, as well as earning a Drama Desk nomination.

In honor of the 30th anniversary of Jill’s eponymous 1995 album, reissue label Rhino Records is re-releasing it on red vinyl. Jill and I had been emailing each other to arrange a time for an interview. We even had a date on the books for the third week of May.

When she died in a house fire in Minnesota on May 1 at age 66, Jill received mentions on network and cable news shows. She was showered with attention from major news outlets, including obits in the New York Times and Rolling Stone (but not Pitchfork, who couldn’t be bothered to review her music when she was alive). Is it wrong to think that if she’d gotten this much attention when she was alive she could have been as big as Taylor Swift? I don’t think so.

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Music & Concerts

Tom Goss returns with ‘Bear Friends Furever Tour’

Out singer/songwriter to perform at Red Bear Brewing Co.

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Singer Tom Goss is back. (Photo by Dusti Cunningham)

Singer Tom Goss will bring his “Bear Friends Furever Tour” to D.C. on Sunday, June 8 at 8 p.m. at Red Bear Brewing Co. 

Among the songs he will perform will be “Bear Soup,” the fourth installment in his beloved bear song anthology series. Following fan favorites like “Bears,” “Round in All the Right Places,” and “Nerdy Bear,” this high-energy, bass-thumping banger celebrates body positivity, joyful indulgence, and the vibrant spirit of the bear subculture.

For more details, visit Tom Goss’s website.

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Music & Concerts

Kylie brings ‘Tension’ tour to D.C.

Performance on Tuesday at Capital One Arena

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Kylie Minogue visits D.C. on Tuesday.

Aussie pop icon Kylie Minogue brings her acclaimed “Tension” world tour to D.C. next Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. at the Capital One Arena. Tickets are still available at Ticketmaster.

The show features songs spanning her long career, from 1987 debut single, “The Loco-Motion,” to “Padam, Padam” from her album, “Tension.”

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