Did I mention

I'm doing this show? And that we have this crowdfunding campaign going on? 

And that we're in the 2nd week of rehearsals with a killer cast and it's going to be amazing and I'm insanely proud of it and I would love you all to buy tickets and/or contribute to help the show succeed because it means a lot to me and to my fellow writers at Fell Swoop Playwrights thank you so much happy Thursday!

Gay Magical Elves

Bret Easton Ellis writes in Out about the weird Jason Collins coming-out adoration news cycle. 

The Gay Man as Magical Elf has been such a tricky part of gay self-patronization in the media that you would by now expect the chill members of the LGBT community to respond with cool indifference. The Sweet and Sexually Unthreatening and Super-Successful Gay is supposed to be destined to transform The Hets into noble gay-loving protectors—as long as the gay in question isn’t messy or sexual or difficult.

[...]

 God help the gay man who comes out and doesn’t want to represent, who doesn’t want to teach, who doesn’t feel like part of the homogenized gay culture and rejects it. Where’s the gay dude who makes crude jokes about other gays in the media (as straight dudes do of each other constantly) or express their hopelessness in seeing Modern Family being rewarded for its depiction of gays, a show where a heterosexual plays the most simpering ka-ween on TV and Wins. Emmys. For. It?

Read the rest here. 

Except for his whole rationalizing away his past tacky Twitter HIV jokes, I'm pretty much on board with this. 

I wrote a little about this POV in a piece I read at MUSE on 8th earlier this year. I posted it on the page here. Here are the pertinent lines--

I’m tired of Queer advocacy

Sometimes.

Should I write about how

I feel kind of bad about that?

I’m sorry but it’s true.

And when I watch

Some Youtube video

Of some queen shouting down

A delusional fire-and-brimstone

Screamer on the subway,

My knee-jerk response is

“Why are you talking to him?

DO NOT ENGAGE!”

And I turn it off

Embarrassed by the absurdity

The emotionalism

The whole thing making me

Extremely uncomfortable.

And then championed on social media

As some kind of triumph

Of the Gay Rights movement?

Is my discomfort self-loathing?

Or can I invoke Fran Lebowitz here

With impunity?

These questions are still hard

For me to answer sometimes.

RIP Taylor Mead

I wrote about him here last year after seeing his movie, Queen of Sheba Meets the Atom Man, at Outfest.

Lambda Literary has a nice obit--

Taylor Mead, actor, Beat poet, performance artist, queer, died in Colorado on May 9th. Maybe in Denver, maybe not. Probably of a massive stroke. He had planned to return to New York where he had spent a flaming, fabulous youth. He was 88.

That’s the kind short, clipped, slightly oblique language and imagery that Mead liked. But it comes nowhere near describing the complex, intriguing, artistic, underground life Mead led as the first indie film superstar, leading actor in Andy Warhol’s Factory troupe and cross-dressing artiste.

See here for the whole article.

Oh, and guess what?

I'm reading Frank O'Hara's poems at Gay May Days this weekend! It goes on all weekend, but I show up on Saturday from 5-7pm. It's at Spirit Studio on 2601 Hyperion in Silver Lake.

Come check it out. I'm not sure what I'm reading yet but it will be hot. Here's a Tumblr with more info about the event.

I saw the LaBute Miss Julie

up at the Geffen Playhouse. I saw the show as research for our production of The Miss Julie Dream Project next month at the Hollywood Fringe, so my thoughts on the production seem relevant in this case. I'm also in producer mode, and since I haven't put up a meaty post in a while, I figure self-promotion's a good reason to do so.

I just saw that McNulty's review was up in the LAT, and he makes some points I can get behind -- I was especially unnerved by the occasional jokeyness of the production -- but he's a little hard on the actors, particularly the women in the play, who I thought both made really interesting choices.

Aside from my researchy interest in seeing the show, I had a fan's excitement at seeing Lily Rabe, especially in this role and in such an intimate venue. She didn't disappoint.

She makes especially interesting choices at the top of the play. Her condescension to Jean (or John, as the Long Island transposition requires) is so casual and effortless and makes perfect sense; as Julie she easily and comfortably dominates this space. She seems to flit between interest and disregard, even after the play suggests things are heating up. Complex female characterization is Strindberg's one attribute that's supposed to trump his misogyny, and I felt like I saw that in Rabe's layered performance.

It's refreshing after certain overtly sexualized performances I've seen of the role, with Julie brazenly toying with Jean from the start, testing boundaries and walking right into the foot-kissing scene baring her soles (sorry, couldn't resist). Ken Roht's recent Miss Julie(n) up in Highland Park in February was a gay example of the same delighted sexual aggression, given a queer bent with the aggressor as femme privileged male.

I get these takes too, but they prioritize titillation over characterization, and they feel like the dramatic equivalent of criticizing the rape victim for wearing a short skirt. Oh, I'm sorry little girl (or sissy, as the case may be), you didn't want to be stripped of your agency and have to be ordered to kill yourself? Then you shouldn't have danced, kid.

I liked Laura Heisler a lot as Kristine, too. Her righteous indignation the morning after was solid and felt right for the shift in period. I love that she, given the moment to absorb the betrayal of John and Julie's offstage rutting, had fully processed it off stage, just in time for her next entrance, full of superiority and disgust. It reminded me of Trudy's fabulous (if more pragmatic and less self-deluded) tirade at Pete Campbell a few episodes back this season on Mad Men. These women mady be flawed and limited by society, but they aren't weak.

And I guess that's what fascinates me most about Miss Julie, in spite of my frustration with the treatment of the title character. Strindberg's women aren't minimized by his disdain; if they're at all representative of the women in his life, I can't say I blame him for feeling threatened by them. They are not to be easily dismissed.

And another thing!

We've started our crowdfunding efforts for The Miss Julie Dream Project. Check out our RocketHub campaign here.

Also!

I've updated the Fell Swoop website and added a page for our show.

SO MUCH TO CATCH UP ON

Fell Swoop's Night of Dreams was a big hit last weekend. I don't even think I've posted that much about it since I've been so swamped with getting ready for it. And auditions. And casting. And being a producer. This producer business is a lot to do. But I'm actually enjoying it, so that's good.

Here's a cool pic of my playwright planning brunch in prep for the big party; I want to share just cuz I like it--

Here's a link to some nice pictures from Luke of the gorgeous performances from the party.

Oh, and he made me a gif again--

I got interviewed

on Adam's blog. Check me out.

Check out the artwork for our show at the Fringe!