BY SCOTT STIFFLER | Known the world over for their sophistication, it comes as no shock to New York City audiences that our vibrant Broadway community has its share of those who identify as something other than strictly heterosexual.
This may seem like a recent trend — but scholars believe it can be traced all the way back to Neanderthal times, when long winter nights were enlivened by dramatic interpretations of the last successful hunt. A free thinker in the group (first to accessorize the ubiquitous fur pullover) suggested adding a musical number augmented by something he called “chor-e-oog-raphy.” His longtime traveling companion found a new use for the popular opposable thumb, by coming up with what we know today as “jazz hands.” Their two female besties (besties themselves) constructed the sets, and theater was born.
The show (“Mammoth Follies of 50,000 BC”) proved so popular, it was moved to a bigger cave. Audiences were delighted — although there were grumblings from those in the front row, who were required to pay three stones (at the time, an exorbitant amount) for premium seating.
Flash forward to modern times, and we see this publication contributing its own innovation to the presence of LGBTs in theater — an introductory paragraph, largely unrelated to the topic, used to help reach the required word count. As the bi-curious caveman said to his good buddy upon their court-ordered acceptance into a hetero-only hot springs steambath, “They’re throwing us a bone!”
THE QUEERLY FESTIVAL
On June 25, Horse Trade Theater Group premieres the Queerly Festival — a new Pride month tradition that hands its East Village stages (The Kraine Theater and UNDER St. Marks) over to comedians, storytellers, poets and playwrights, who inject queer identity into an already specific worldview (readhead, Southerner, sports fan, misfit).
Day 1 Queerly shows include “Lipsynk Karaoke,” in which sometimes drag king Stanley Epps (aka full-time performance artist Jennifer Nikki Kidwell) presides over the lip-synch-style elevation or slaughter of gay anthems by Cher, Barbra, Judy, Grace Jones and, yes, even Clay Aiken. Sign up at 7 p.m. — the trouble starts in another 30 minutes. At 8 p.m., “Queerly Canadian” stars our trailblazing neighbors to the north. Host Jillian Thomas and her cast of comics and burlesque performers deliver the highly advanced entertainment you’d expect from a country that enacted anti-discrimination laws in 1998, legalized same sex marriage in 2005 and has allowed gay adoption for decades. At 9 p.m., NYC drag leeeeeegend Flotilla “not on Facebook, bitches!” Debarge holds court with a cabaret show featuring old standards and new material.
Another modern classic, Molly “Equality” Dykeman, is among the June 26 festival highlights. Her 8 p.m. “Queerly Misfits” show has the foul-mouthed, pill-popping, girl-loving gal using sketch and song to praise outcasts of all persuasions. The guest performers are Melissa Gordon, Paul Hutcheson, Cara Kilduff, Alan Warnock and our favorite ukulele-playing, nun-marrying bi (lingual and otherwise) gal, D’yan Forest. On June 28 & 29 at 8 p.m., The BTK Band, which debuted in 2007 in the upstairs lounge at The Stonewall Inn, brings their “hard-drinking improvised storytelling” to Queerly, with a formidable contingent of go-go dancers in tow.
Take note, programmers of those dreadful Hallmark Movie Channel hetero rom-coms! Subcultures clash and hearts collide, when July 1’s “With You!” has a women’s rugby team struggling to save “the only sport and safe space on campus for queer athletes.” East Village native Una Aya Osato plays all of the parts. Same date, at 9 p.m., the Pride show from Horse Trade’s monthly “Ten-Foot Rat Cabaret” goes all lavender, with their operatic, glam-punk celebration of Otherness.
The “Trans Variety Show” at 7 p.m. on July 2 is a showcase curated, written, directed and performed by NYC-based trans dancers, comedians, actors and performance artists. “Queerly Southern,” 8 p.m. on July 3, celebrates the Great Gay South with storytelling from David Crabb and Lucas Womack.
The Queerly Festival happens June 25–July 3 at The Kraine Theater (85 E. Fourth St. btw. Second Ave. & Bowery) and UNDER St. Marks (94 St. Marks Place btw. First Ave. & Ave. A). For tickets ($8-$15), visit horsetrade.info.
QUEERCOM
LGBT just won’t cut it. You’ll need to deploy every color of the queer abbreviation rainbow and then some if you want to equal the types of comedy at this three-day Pride-themed festival hosted by the Peoples Improv Theater (PIT). QueerCom serves up a flaming hot menu of improv, stand-up, sketch, drag, storytelling, solo shows, musical acts, screenings, panels and full-length musicals. Take that, LGBTQIAA!
Among the highlights: the ladies of hard-hitting improv troupe Punch! share their June 26, 9:30 p.m. opening night bill with fellow female PIT regulars Buzz Off, Lucille — who deploy fake moustaches for “Buzz Off, Lucas,” a sketch show exploring gender and sexuality. At 11 p.m., color-queer hosts Bowen Yang and Joel Kim Booster’s “Ethnic Realness” show pours water on the homo-racial hellscape with the help of hand-picked comedians, musical acts and drag royalty.
Day #2 (June 27) ringers include a 2 p.m. “Straight People in Comedy” panel, whose professional LGBT comics, writers and actors ponder the role of gays as more than punchlines in a world of comedy that, like the world at large, is largely shaped by its heterosexual majority. A 5 p.m. event serves as the launch party for “Spooners.” Directed by Bryan Horch, this web series is based on his short film of the same name. Walter Replogle and Ben Lerman star as two likable goofballs in love, whose lives are frequently interrupted by intrusive visits from the incomparable Frank DeCaro, as meddling mom Goldie. The first two episodes will screen, along with stand-up by DeCaro, sketches from Murderfest (Replogle’s troupe) and funny songs by Lerman. Try not to hog the complimentary light hors d’oeuvres at the aftershow celebration, in PIT’s Love Bar. These boys are brilliant, on a budget! At 8 p.m., hip-hop troupe North Coast improvises an epic “Hip-Hopera” heavy on beat-boxing and comedy.
On June 28, drag your sunburned, post-Pride March mess to The PIT and get a second wind, with 7 p.m.’s double bill — featuring Molly Horan’s sketches about lesbian and bisexual women, along with the debut of Matt Smith’s sassy, self-deprecating tales of empowerment earned by escaping his small town and drawing on the wisdom of Golden Girl Dorothy Zbornak. At 8 p.m., “Street Behavior” screens its epic Season 2 finale. The web series soap opera focuses on urban gay characters who struggle to define themselves in a world that isn’t always compatible with their notions of religion, sexuality, and DL existence.
QueerCom happens June 26–28 at The PIT (Peoples Improv Theater), 123 E. 24th St. (btw. Park & Lexington). For tickets ($10), call 212-563-7488 or visit thepit-nyc.com.
THE PLANET CONNECTIONS THEATRE FESTIVITY
A mere handful of overtly queer shows populate this festival, but audiences of every persuasion can feel good about getting on board with its mission: to inspire social change by “showing meaningful work done in as environmentally responsible a way possible.” What’s more, each production selects a nonprofit to benefit with their work. God’s Love We Deliver and Gay Men’s Health Crisis are among this year’s recipients.
Playing five performances from June 26–July 7, “Taking Flight: Songs of Hope” is Unitarian Universalist musician and social activist Sarah Jebian’s combo of popular music and personal songs addressing gender equality, reproductive justice and LGBT equality. “Blanche on a Winter’s Eve,” playing four performances through July 11, is writer/performer J.P. Makowski’s one-man show about a woman who receives a heavenly vision the night before Christmas, then sets off on a romantic quest that takes her through the snowy city and into a den of hipsters.
Elsewhere in the festival, you’re invited to eavesdrop on a typical Chelsea gathering: The slut! The perv! The threesome-friendly couple who treat pets as if they were biological children! The uptight celibate who keeps everyone else in check!
These gay friends may be straight out of central casting, but the secrets they reveal when the drinks start to flow have more to do with basic human drives than their go-to gossip topics (like Grindr, Truvada, and which first lady was the best mom). That’s the biggest surprise, and the greatest strength, of “Women & Children” — which begins with increasingly isolated group leader Marcus favoring sober pursuits, such as handcrafting “non-snow” snow domes whose little people drown after the user shakes up a doomed Titanic.
Playwright Michael Boothroyd, playing Marcus, infuses him with just enough potential to outgrow the bitter shell he’s been wearing since surviving the plague years. “Without the struggle,” he wonders, “what do I do?” Other characters in this well-acted one-act are in hot pursuit of that question, as it applies to life beyond the next quickie, what constitutes cheating, and how to fill the void when designer dogs are the only gay adoption option.
“Women & Children” plays July 7 at 4 p.m. and July 9 at 6 p.m. All Planet Connections Theatre Festivity shows are at The Paradise Factory (64 E. Fourth St. btw. Bowery & Second Ave.). For tickets ($18), call 866-811-4111 or visit planetconnections.org. “Women & Children” info: facebook.com/MostPoliteProductions.
