Know Theatre Announces LGBT Theatre Series

In wake of the demise of the New Stage Collective -- something that I still see as one of the great losses to the city out of the economic recession -- the Know Theatre has announced its "ambitious" 2009-2010 series... including the creation of an LGBT Theatre Series.

From the Enquirer:

Know Theatre is in the early planning stages of a biennial, national LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) theatre festival, with events scheduled during the run of "Angels in America."

Bruffy says the closing of Columbus' LGBT performing arts festival, which went dark two years ago, gave Know management the idea of "filling the void."

Bruffy says Know will meet with leaders in the LGBT community later this month to assemble a steering committee to help define the parameters and style of the festival.

He adds that Know will reach out to local troupes like Cincinnati Men's Chorus and MUSE, and put out a national call inviting artists with performances and productions in the realm of LGBT themed works, pending funding.

"Know Theatre is known for giving voice to a diverse spectrum of performers and audiences," Bruffy says. "It is entirely in our mission, and we feel a sense of duty toward giving this community a chance to express themselves and be entertained by a festival created for LGBT works."

The 2009-2010 series will also include a showing (possibly the first professional regional premiere of) Angels in America, which was recently shown here in town by the Xavier Players.

As of right now, there has been no announcement about what will be part of the LGBT Theatre series, but you better believe I've got an email into them to ask for more information -- how exciting!!! I don't know if OUTReels is still around (Cincinnati's LGBT movie festival -- another email to write!), but I definitely think having both in town will be great. Any opportunity to showcase the amazing talents and new views on the queer experience is a great boon for this city.

Thanks to @KnowTheatre for the heads up on Twitter!!!!

The Know is also currently showing Vigils, which is a show I meant to go see but ended up getting called into work for. I haven't had a chance to look into reviews, but, if I get a chance to go, I'll be sure to keep you updated!!! Check out their webpage for more information -- and check out their YouTube preview of the show! If you would like free tickets, their Twitterite has announced that they are hosting a free giveaway contest. Click here for "the rules." :-)

Flaming Sally!

Miss Jackie and I had the pleasure of going to the Know Theatre for a preview of the regional premiere of Eurydice, the retelling of the story of Orpheus through the eyes of his wife in a modern context. 

To sum it up: the story of Orpheus is a classic Greek tragedy and one of the most beautiful and horrible love stories of all time. When told through the eyes of Orpheus, the story can be breathtaking and beautiful and heartbreaking... which is, likely, why it's usually told through the eyes of Orpheus. Apparently, the tale of his wife is far less interesting.

In Eurydice, I kept waiting for some emotional climax ... or buildup ... or any emotion at all, and was left disappointed. It felt vapid and melodramatic. Unlike New Stage Collective's Dead City, where I enjoyed the acting and was bored by the story line, I got the story line this time. I understood completely what was going on (I get it, I get it, water=forgetfulness, string=remembrance), but that doesn't mean I enjoyed it. Miss Jackie and I spent most of the time trying not to turn to each other and make jokes about the absurdities on stage, but they were too close and there were few too people in the theatre that they would probably hear our jokes.

The two most interesting roles -- the nasty, interesting man/lord of the underworld and the chorus of stones -- were not on stage to actually enjoy them. The poor actresses who played the stones were on stage for 80% of the show and had probably 50-75 total lines though you wished they kept up their commentary. There were only a few times when you were uncomfortable with their delivery. The actor who played the nasty, interesting man/lord of the underworld, Daniel Hines, proved that there really are no small parts, only small actors. Hines was the most memorable out of the whole cast and was the most interesting. 

The remainder of the cast was passable and they, no doubt, perform marvelously in other shows but this was clearly not their strongest bit. Courtney Brown (Eurydice), I think, needs to play stronger roles and not simpering would-be brides who takes every opportunity to tear up. And she definitely does not need to be in any love scenes -- in fact, the introductory scene between her and Orpheus (Fang Du) was just damned uncomfortable for all the forced acting. Du's acting of Orpheus's growing hysteria for the loss of his bride was simply unmentionable except to mention that it was forced. And the role should, I think, be played by someone with a singing voice and/or an ability to play the violin. Eurydice's father, played by Robert Pavlovich (I've seen him somewhere before -- where?), was not all that awful, just completely forgettable. 

I did love, however, the set. I have kind of a bit of sympathy for the techies who had to clean up afterwards -- all that water everywhere, and all those wet costumes!!! The set was well thought out and masterfully pulled off, though I wanted too scream when Eurydice's father started pulling apart his daughter's "room." As Jackie turned to me and said, "We saw him put that shit together -- do we have to watch it come down, as well?" I think that was a fair assessment. Each time was three or four minutes of absolutely no action and absolutely nothing interesting coming except reinforcing the damn string motif. The elevator was a stroke of brilliance. The only major draw back was the dripping shower heads into the pools long after the water was "turned off," though I enjoyed the effect as a set piece.

Per our scale, the full price ticket is $12 for the showing of Know Theatre's Eurydice, and you will probably only get $6 of enjoyment out of the experience. 

What follows is the preview as put out on YouTube by the Know. The preview is focused almost completely on Orpheus, which I think is telling of how the show was done ... without a real point and definitely off track. Overall, there was absolutely nothing ground breaking about the performance, and I definitely didn't feel that it was the greatest love story ever told as the preview suggests. 

GLSEN Prom 2009!

I was given a heads up via a Facebook Event Invite that the date had been announced for GLSEN's annual prom -- which is always a blast. :-)

I was asked to post on in last year, and, since this posting was actually linked to about three other blogs, I thought it might bear repeating. This becomes one of a few annually posted blogs.

Join GLSEN this year:

Saturday, April 18th, 7:00pm+
Contemporary Arts Center (downtown)
http://www.glsenprom.com/

I think I might show up again :-). I need a date though, preferably that won't dump me two weeks later via Facebook. HA! Oh, but he was cute, wasn't he?

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To be fair, I was asked to post about this, but I was planning on it anyways. I just thought I'd give a heads up so that I remain, as much as Fox News, fair and balanced.

A few years ago, I read a great article -- back when they had good articles -- in OUT magazine about gay kids going to prom with their same-sex date. (This is not the article, but I think it's fairly well done and it originally appeared in OUT's sister magazine, Advocate.) It made me kind of sad because this was one place I never really "acted out" in high school. I came out at the age of 12 as bisexual, and then again at 14 as homosexual to my entire school. Both attempts were supposed to be on the small scale... however, I ended up rocking my high school and being the out gay kid that everyone knew.

When I was a sophomore, I made a half-assed attempt at starting a GSA with me and a few friends. Approaching the principal, who was on his way out, he refused it, saying he was concerned about the community reaction. Knowing what I know now, this was illegal and I could have challenged it and won, which left me with a great deal of guilt in the coming years. Regardless, except for being the out kid and a few minor explosions here and there (my newest readers from my high school will remember a few), my high school activism ended there. I think, to this day, I wish I had done more, but there were moments I was glad for what I did. I have gotten called over and hugged at Charleston's one gay bar... a few mumbled thank you's or notes have been passed to me. I've taken them with a grain of salt as people would have come out anyways, but I know the feeling. Welcome to the life, I tell most of them.

My high school prom experiences were disasters -- my junior prom was spent at someone else's school, and my senior prom was coming off a disastrous social explosion that ended many many long term relationships but began many many more (it was probably for the better, in the end) and I ended up going with this gal who ditched me. But I didn't really date in high school -- in fact, the entire four years, despite being heavily involved in theatre, were only marked by a handful of quasi-relationships with inappropriate partners and a boat load of inappropriate sexual relationships with otherwise appropriate partners (this, of course, is prelude to a lot of what has happened in the rest of my life).

Fast forward to senior prom, as there is an interesting story there. I asked a boy out... he would, btw, eventually come out as gay later in life, and he later followed me around the 2000 SC pride festival like a puppy. He refused at the time, but his girlfriend (then) would later take my mother's history class at Trident Tech and tell her that I had asked him out. This marks my mother's final acceptance of who I was (and it's only been uphill since then -- even though we disagree on when I came out).

There is not a lot for gay kids in Charleston, SC. At least, there weren't at the time. It was small community and the one outlet I had -- We Are Family Foundation, though still running, struggled at best, though I would later get back involved and find myself amongst friends I never knew I had -- was really really weak and far away and in a bad neighborhood to boot. I wished there was something like gay prom or some sort of young gay outlet where we could learn to be gay together. Where we could learn the social coding and the dating and the cultural contexts that are so important in growing up to be a health human being; these things, I believe, straight people take for granted but are missing in so many young gay people's lives.

Cincinnati has offered a great wide open world for me. I know, many local disparage our home town, but I have to say this: what we have here is heads and shoulders above where I was. More gay bars than I know what to do with, more openly gay people everywhere, so many social outlets. It really is amazing here, and I don't think we give it enough credit.

But a lot of our local organizations and events are being ignored because they are so commonplace here. It's an interesting trend -- and there is a sociological theory behind all this -- where, in its infancy, movements and events start small because people are afraid to join. They grow and they grow and they grow every year, until they start to make an impact, and then they start dwindling off again. Few movements or events die suddenly -- the suffragette movement, for example, did die suddenly, but the overarching feminist movement, I think, is in this very decline and has been for at least two generations.

Cincinnati has a gay prom. No, really. And, from my brief experience with it, I believed that it was in this very decline, but I will hand it to the current organizers that they are breathing life back into it. The current leadership of the Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network (GLSEN) here in Cincinnati has done very smart things to bring back the life to this amazing event that has benefited so many and could continue to do so, so long as it changes with the time. What did they do? Open it up to adults. It becomes not only an activism/fundraising event for a great organization, but they have been able to separate out space for adults so that there can be that safety, and so that the "kids" can have their own special prom and the rest of us can have a great deal of fun in a health environment. They've also been intelligent enough to not only put in social networking sites like Facebook (but not Myspace, though Myspace events are not paid attention to as much, I think), and they've tagged people to make sure others are coming. I'm 100% supportive of the event, but I have to say this: getting a phone call from a friend (and from someone I dearly respect) and asking why I haven't bought my ticket is far more effective than a generic invite on Facebook. I mean, the only thing I'm really unhappy with about the whole approach and advertising thing is that it's referred to as an alternative prom, but I can understand where it comes from (and I'm not really upset about it, I am always amused about how the LGBTSQI community refers to itself, and how seriously we take referring to ourselves as if being queer isn't campy enough, we have to fight over how campy we get to be when talking about ourself).

And now? I'm really excited about going -- which, I'm sure, has nothing to do with having a date :-). I mean, really excited.

I have been before, but only as an exhibitor. I've never been as a participant, so I am a little nervous, but I'm finding myself thinking of all the little things I get to do that are going to make it a great prom for someone else -- where do I buy a boutinierre (sp?), should I rent a limo, and will anyone spike the punch. Of course, this time around, we can drink alcohol (being over 21 is nice), but I've given that up, so that will still be an experience I'll miss. I'm reverting to my 17 year old self and wondering if I should rent a tux, as well, and my roommate is asking if we get to do the whole pre-prom picture thing in someone's back yard.

I've narrowed the reason I'm so giddy down to one thing: this time, it's on my terms. I'm choosing to go -- the last times, I felt like I was being forced to because that's something you do. I'm choosing my own date -- the last times, I was the gay kid that would be ditched at the chance a girl got an actual date. And, it's going to be a real date... not the silly "these are the conventions, now follow them." I've done a lot of growing since the last time around and though I appreciate the prom conventions we are expected to follow and understand they are the basis for a heterosexist dating community, they aren't me.

So, as an adult, I get to go to prom and really enjoy myself. Yea, yea, it's a little pricy -- $50 a ticket for us old people over 21 -- but it's going to a good group. And I'm encouraging all of you to join me, too. We'll dance, we'll listen to bad music, we'll take goofy pictures, and we'll have a whole lot of fun.

And, btw, we don't have to hang out with the kids all night long. We get our own dance floor. :-)

(Old information deleted.)

Oh, and I promise I'll bring the camera and we'll post something fabulous about it the day or so after :-).

A quick story about GLSEN that ties into all of this: Once upon a time, I had a volunteer who was in high school and was trying to start a GSA at Boone County High School. He asked me if I could, possibly, get a couple of people at one of the school admin's meeting to support him after a few months of being stonewalled. I put in a lot of phone calls, as Nick had done so much for me and for AVOC, but there were two organizations that turned out people like you wouldn't believe. One was the, at the time, nascent Kentucky Equality Federation run by the fabulous Jordan -- whose blog, you'll note, has now been added to my blogroll -- and the other organization was GLSEN. In a city where the usefulness of certain organizations can be called into question many many times, GLSEN is admirable in their dedication to purpose. Check out some news reels on that event two years ago here and here and here. Personally, I had said that this was my opportunity to right the wrong for not fighting the lack of a GSA in my high school so many years ago.

And this also should be noted, a list of how to take your same-sex date to your prom. It's short and to the point, but it's a good survival guy.

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You'll note this, along with a Black Monday's Show and (shortly) an opening to a Know Theatre play, have been added to the Community Events Calendar to your right.