Wednesday, August 24, 2011

The Play's the Thing

(an aside: we had a rare earthquake here yesterday.  5.9, nothing to you California Girls, but the largest in over 110 years here.  And the first one I ever felt!)

As I mentioned a few weeks ago, we went to the DC Fringe Festival.

The follow-up post was about our first visit, when we saw two shows.  One was a one-man show where he talked about his experience with a drag queen; the other was a play with  a crossdressing character.

The following weekend we saw three more fringe shows.  One had a flamboyant gay character (and they denied he was gay), and one was a boy-gets-girl musical.  At the end of the second play, everyone, it seemed, paired up, including two guys who didn't seem to know they were gay until they found each other.

The last one had no gay or trans character, but I'm pretty sure one of the guys (and possibly both) was gay.

A few days later, we saw a play called "Birds of a Feather" about a pair of male penguins which bonded, hatched an egg and raised the chick together.

I'm not sure what this means.  Is gay/trans still so shocking that it finds a place in theatre so much?  I would've thought gay would have made more progress than that.  Trans, alas, I could understand.  Or are they all trying to make a "we area everywhere" statement?

A few months ago, I saw a revival of the iconic '60s musical "Hair."  They talked about gay sex (and other sexual variations) because it was shocking then.  No mention of anything trans At All.

Sodomy, from the muscial Hair:

Sodomy
Fellatio
Cunnilingus
Pederasty
Father, why do these words sound so nasty?
Masturbation
Can be fun
Join the holy orgy
Kama Sutra
Everyone!

2 comments:

  1. I felt a slight shake sitting at my desk up here. When I learned that the epicenter of the earthquake was just south of 'Meg Central' I thought that perhaps your bride may have agreed to a joint outing with Meg or perhaps asked that Meg hang out a bit more. LOL.

    I think your point about culture is pretty accurate. A generation ago most gay activity was outside the mainstream of acceptable conduct and the gay lifestyle was limited and restricted in large measure. Today being gay is getting much closer to universal acceptance than many would have surmised. Of course, more understanding and acceptance is still needed.

    The "trans" thing is different and in large measure it means different things to different people. There is a lot of logic to the concept of the "trans spectrum". There are oceans of difference between the once a month partial dressing CD and a TS. Those of us floating around somewhere in the trans spectrum pay attention to these differences. To many outside the trans world we all may simply be viewed as just another 'guy in a dress'.

    While we can look at the gay community much like that old B&H cigarette commercial and comment that "You've come a long way baby", the same cannot be said of those who are 'trans'. For us there are still "...many miles to go before we sleep", but every day we do make some progress.
    Pat

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  2. How many same-sex couples do you see holding hands? They might walk together, but....

    In Provincetown (very gay community on Cape Cod), there were many. In Adams-Morgan (gay neighborhood in downtown DC), there were a few.

    Q: why do gay couples hold hands in gay neighborhoods?
    A: because they can.

    I plan to address this in an upcoming post.

    (and B&H was the 100mm ("7 minute") cigarette. Virginia Slims was the "you've come a long way" brand.)

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