Shame or the Doomsday Machine

Shame or the Doomsday Machine
Written by Crystal Field
Directed by Mark Marcante
Theatre for the New City
August 5, 2018
Production website
๐Ÿ’‰ out of 5.

Here is where we are with this production. ย We entered the Theatre for the New City on 10th Street, and then were directed out back to the street where all was blocked off and a portable stage was erected. ย Music was blaring, sun barreling down, kids were running around screaming – my ideal theatre setting. ย  ย This was not going to be a good show, I get it, by almost any standard. ย The performers were lost – some seem totally unprepared as they were just offstage discussing their lines, movements, exits/entrances and on and on. ย Performers were spending more time socializing with the audience then focusing on the stage. ย Non-professional, community generated, we’ll-take-everyone-who-shows-up kind of theatre. Continue reading Shame or the Doomsday Machine

The Pattern at Pendarvis

The Pattern at Pendarvis
Written by Dean Gray
Directed by Joseph Megel
New Dog Theatre Company
August 3, 2018
Production website
๐Ÿ’‰๐Ÿ’‰ out of 5.

New York is full of gay theatre! ย That’s for sure. ย Gay men of the city love to hear themselves talk and talk! ย These stories are mainly set in Greenwich Village or Castro Street, in Fire Island or Provincetown. ย They are set in Boys Town in Chicago or on the beaches of Miami – but were there any gay folk outside of major cities? ย Were there any gay people in Rust Belt, Corn Belt, middle of America? ย Pattern at Pendarvis answers that question with a resounding or, perhaps, more quiet, “yes.” Continue reading The Pattern at Pendarvis

The Boys in the Band

The Boys in the Band
Written by Mart Crowley
Directed by Joe Mantello
BoothTheatre
August 1, 2018
Production website
๐Ÿ’‰๐Ÿ’‰๐Ÿ’‰ out of 5.

I have always had a morbid fascination with cutters.ย  Who in their right mind would pick up a sharp object and stab themself in the arm or leg over and over?ย  Crazy.ย  I mean seriously crazy.ย  As best I can tell the cutter wants to FEEL something and to be the one in charge as to why and when it will be felt.ย  The ORIGINAL Boys in the Band that I saw decades ago felt like that.ย  Why would gay men put themself in such places of self-hatred and why would they continue to remind themselves how ugly and unloved they are- – – or at least were in this revival of the classic from the gay theatre of the 1970โ€™s. Continue reading The Boys in the Band