MEN IN UNIFORM
MEN IN UNIFORM: World Premiere of 8 short plays; Directed by Michael Mohammed; The New Conservatory Theatre Center (NCTC), BEING GAY IS NOT ENOUGH
Ed Decker, Artistic Director of the New Conservatory Theatre Center (NCTC) and staff, are committed to developing new work and five of the eight shows in their 2007-2008 Pride Season have received mostly good reviews with some being outstanding productions. For their last show of the season Decker has been encouraged to stage plays written by members of the Gay Playwriting Seminar headed by playwrights Tom Kelly and Garret Jon Groenveld, both of whom have received accolades for their plays produced locally and national venues. Along with plays written by Kelly and Groenveld, respectively, Head in the Clouds and Long Arm of the Law are ones written by (hopefully) budding authors Kenyon Brown (Pride Trash), Jamie Daniel (Liza’s Men), Bob Hayden (Montezumas’s Revenge), Brian Tognotti (Make Love Not War), BK Wells ( RU Ready 4 Some) and Christopher Wiley (Trapped).
The unifying theme of “gay men in uniform” is probably what you would not expect. Director Mohammed or dramaturge Kelly has added a semi-prolog parading the men in their uniforms on an elevated runway at the back of the stage of the intimate 50 seat
All the plays are quite well written with clever twists before the end that will not be revealed here. Jamie Daniel’s Liza’s Men brings on an auto mechanic, figure skater, movie usher and lawyer auditioning for roles as singing men in an upcoming Liza (with a Z Minnelli) musical revue. Not all is what it seems as an ulterior motive is revealed. Make Love Not War is a bittersweet dream/fantasy with a modern day youth and a Spartan warrior in a relationship that is not to be consummated. Madonna and Oreo cookies do not mix with chariot racing. The philosophical axiom about love and war is true in all millennia.
The U.S. Marines take their turn in the barrel when Bob Hayden’s Montezuma’s Revenge hits the stage depicting the Marine Corps instituting gay sensitivity exercises. Hayden has a wicked pen. BK Wells play, RU Ready 4 Some, takes a page from “Saturday Night Live” with TV announcers initially describing Fantasy Football degenerating into personal sexual fantasies enacted with a NFL Quarterback, an Oakland Raiders football player and a firefighter.
Long Arm of the Law, by Garret Jon Groenveld, who is a fine playwright, is meant to be played in the nude but self-consciousness of the two actors (not to be named) and the clumsy directorial touches interfere with some delicious lines.
As mentioned, all the plays have clever twists and Pride Trash by award winning Kenyon Brown display his winning up and coming ability. You will be amazed at what comes out of a trash bin as a sanitation worker meets up with a hung over gender illusionist and a wanna-be drag queen. In Trapped , Christopher Wiley explores the problems of a long term relationship going sour, further complicated by intrusion of a handsome, sexy pest exterminator (in uniform that he sheds) trapping more than a mouse. Kelly’s Head in the Clouds fantasizes that heaven is a gay heaven, with a capital G, into which hypocrite Reverend Lynch appears. It is a best choice to end the evening.
Unfortunately, the heavy-handed staging and Mohammed’s cumbersome direction detract from the story lines that could be an evening of light fun with a dollop of truisms. NCTC audiences are anxious to approve gay themes and often over-react to outright gay humor, occasionally blurting “Right on Girl!” There were no such responses opening night of “Men in Uniform” suggesting rather strongly that gay is not enough.
CAST: Carlos Barrera, Harry Breaux, Glenn Kiser, Ty Williams and Hector Zavala.
Running time: 1 hour and 40 minutes with intermission
Courtesy of TheatreWorld Internet Magazine