Theater and the Gays

This week’s conversation is all about everyone’s favorite topic:

Gays.

--And theater.

The interview is with one of my (gay) friends currently producing shows in 
the southern part of the country.  As is the tradition with these interviews,
 I’m keeping them anonymous.

Here’s the interview:

Me:  I want to talk about gays supporting theater.

Them:  Oh, do they support theater where you live?

Me:  Ooooooooooh--Shots fired.

Them:  Is it on record that we were talking about this before you started the
 interview?

Me:  It is now.

Them:  Sorry, I jumped the gun.

Me:  No, it’s fine.  So let’s talk--you, like me, have a little, uh, frustration--with
 the amount of support you feel you get from the gay community in your area 
regarding your theater.

Them:  Accurate.

Me:  So, I’m going to be playing devil’s advocate a lot here, because I doubt
 I’m going to disagree with anything you have to say, but total agreement 
wouldn’t make for a very good back-and-forth.

Them:  Okay.

Me:  Do you think it’s fair to assume that gays should have to support the arts?

Them:  Um, well, in my case, they’re the one group that isn’t, so--

Me:  I mean, not every straight person is coming to your theater.

Them:  Right. But that’s the bulk of our audience, and, um, like you, we do a
 lot of--we produce a lot of plays that deal with queer content, we hire LGBTQ 
artists, we produce the work of queer playwrights, and we’re not seeing
 ourselves, um…

Me:  Rewarded for that?

Them:  I mean as soon as you say you want a pat on the back--

Me:  You’re going to get criticized.

Them:  Right.

Me:  But you’d like to see it pay off in some way, because you’re making an investment.

Them:  Exactly.  And we’re not seeing it--and so, what I think gay people have to 
realize is, if you don’t show up, what happens it that the work changes.  I can’t 
justify creating work for an audience that isn’t there and seems to be making it 
clear that they don’t want to be there or they have no interest in it.

Me:  I know, for me, the frustration is that they do go to theater, but it’s like, the 
touring shows that come to town, and then they have the nerve to hashtag culture--

Them:  Yeah, for them, or for people like that, it’s about being seen and having
 these Instagram opportunities, not about actually supporting the arts.

Me:  And I’m doing the same thing, but I’m also going to see O’Neill in a school
 auditorium because I love theater so I feel like it evens out.

Them:  It’s okay if they don’t love it, but we, as gay people, have always been 
contributors to the culture, especially the theater culture, and it seems 
disappointing that we’re kind of--giving that up in some ways.

Me:  It’s also very gay-sic of them.

Them:  (Laughs.)  Here’s me with my boyfriend at the Dear Evan Hansen tour.

Me:  #Arts.

Them:  Aren’t you supposed to be playing devil’s advocate?

Me:  I’m horrible at that.

Them:  You didn’t last very long.

Me:  We also produce what I think is a fair amount of gay content at my theater 
and, in some cases, it’s work like The Normal Heart and Angels in America, and 
to see a lack of gay people supporting that is very--

Them:  And, you know, I think it’s fair to ask, um, any person--where it is they 
get their, um, you know, cultural fix.  Do they like a certain kind of music? Is
 there a genre of movies they’re interested in? If you’re not interested in theater,
 that’s okay, but what is your cultural identity?  Right now, um--So this would have
 to be where I really take advantage of the anonymous element of this--

Me:  Go for it.

Them:  I just wonder if gay life has become centered around going out to bars and clubs.

Me:  But club culture is something that’s been part of gay history for--

Them:  Club culture used to pull from and, um, be inspired by--art, different
 kinds of music, and even theater--not just going out to clubs.

Me:  I think going out to clubs is fine, but I don’t see why you can’t do
 that after you’ve done something else.

Them:  Because so much of it has become about drinking and drugs.

Me:  Ohhhh boy.

Them:  You don’t want me to go there, do you?

Me:  Uh, you can go there.

Them:  (Laughs.)  It’s my funeral, right?

Me:  I’m already wearing black so--

Them: So let's do it.

Me: To be clear, you're not saying all gay people or all gay people who enjoy
clubs or--

Them: I'm not saying all gay people anything.

Me: Okay.

Them:  All I’ll say is you’ve talked before about people getting comfortable
 in isolation and I agree with that whole-heartedly.  Drinks and drugs are
 part of that isolation. Theater is not. Theater is community. Theater is
 people. Theater is interacting with people.  And theater is in a way that--not
 even every other field can, um, claim that.  Or lay claim to that. You can still
 have a very isolated experience viewing art or listening to music.  Reading is 
an isolated experience. That’s why we have book clubs. It’s more difficult to
 do that with theater.  To be alone in it. It sort of asks for this--involvement.

Me:  Do you think maybe people, in general, are avoiding theater for that reason?

Them:  Because they don’t want to deal with other people?

Me:  To be fair, that’s usually why I avoid theater.

Them:  To avoid all people or specific ones?

Me:  I now request a list of everyone who will be in attendance at every event I go to.

Them:  How’s that working out for you?

Me:  Oh, it’s a real game-changer.  My anxiety is way down.

Them:  But back to gay audiences--

Me:  Right, thank you for keeping my interview on track.

Them:  You’re lucky I’m here.

Me:  Here meaning over the phone.

Them:  Yes.

Me:  What do you think we can do to get gay audiences more engaged?

Them:  I honestly don’t have a clue.

Me:  (Laughs.)  What a refreshing answer.

Them:  It’s odd, because in all other aspects of life, gay people really are
 drawn to content that seems made for them, but when it comes to theater, 
I still see this resistance where it’s like-- Oh, that theater is run by a gay 
person?  Let’s go to this other theater.

Me:  Let’s go to this theater where they’re doing Mamet.

Them:  We had that happen down here.  I’m competing with this theater 
that’s doing That Championship Season--a show that is literally falling all 
over itself with testosterone--and they’re doing better with gay audiences than I am.

Me:  Yeah, I don’t know what’s worse--the fact that they’re flocking to these
 musicals where they’re probably supporting at least a decent amount of
 gay people or that they’re attending theaters that never tell gay stories, that
 don’t hire gay artists, that don’t even feature gay characters in their plays--

Them:  And if they do they’re played by straight people.

Me:  Oh, you’ve been reading the other interviews.

Them:  I look forward to this every week.

Me:  So, yes, they’re not, like, going to some other theater that’s pro-gay
 and supporting it.  Sometimes they’re doing the exact opposite.

Them:  Yes.

Me:  And you think all that’s just this sort of--What would you even call it?

Them:  I’d call it bullshit.

Me:  It is bullshit.

Them:  But we’ve seen gay artists talk about that.  Somebody has a gay fanbase
 until they come out, and then there’s this pull-back, right?

Me:  So you think they don’t like that the company--your company, let’s say--is 
run by a gay man?

Them:  I think it’s more that creating work for them comes across--to them--
sometimes--as us trying too hard and that’s--unattractive.

Me:  This all seems like a--like an unwinnable war.

Them:  It really might be.  Is that why you set American Drag in a gay bar?

Me:  Yeah, I figured I could trick them.

Them:  Is it working?

Me:  No, it’s still mostly straight people.

Them:  But you’re going to keep at it?

Me:  I mean, regardless of who’s in the audience, I want to tell the stories
 I feel most qualified to tell--and those happen to be gay stories.

Them:  Maybe eventually they’ll show up.

Me:  I don’t want to be dismissive of the audience members we have who
 are gay.  We do value them. I just, uh--

Them:  You wish there were more of them.

Me:  I wish there were more of everything.

Them:  (Laughs.)  Don’t we all?

Them is an Artistic Director operating in the southern part of the country 
and they’re also gay--not that there’s anything wrong with that.