There's a strong possibility that there will be anti-gay protestors picketing Chicago's Center on Halsted the weekend of Sept. 29-30. That's because a celebrated tour of Terrence McNally's 1998 drama Corpus Christia.k.a. "the gay Jesus play"is coming to town.
Now, the fact that McNally's Corpus Christi is being staged in Chicago isn't new. Both the former Bailiwick Repertory and Ludicrous Theatre Company have previously staged the controversial drama that re-imagines the life of Jesus Christ as a gay man born in Texas circa 1950 with a following of out disciples.
Yet what makes this current revival stand out is the fact that it is part of an international tour by California-based 108 Productions that has been ongoing on-and-off-again for the past six years. The tour is also paired with an in-development film documentary called Corpus Christi: Playing with Redemption that looks at how McNally's drama questioning Christian anti-gay hatred affects the cast, audiences and protestors in the many places it has played.
Out actor James Brandon not only portrays the Jesus character (renamed Joshua in the play) in this tour of Corpus Christi; he's also a co-director and producer of the film documentary. Brandon and his fellow company members had little idea of the journey the play would take them when they became part of a production that was staged at the Metropolitan Community Church of the Valley (MCC) in North Hollywood, Calif.
"We started it in 2006 as just a quick little revival. Our director, Nic Arnzen, was asked by the reverend to do a production because he wanted to bring theater back to the church," Brandon said. "We thought it would be maybe three months out of our lives. But it certainly became a lot more."
This production of Corpus Christi was met with such a warm audience and critical response that it transferred to Los Angeles' Zephyr Theatre for an extended run, before going on tour to big cities like Dallas and San Francisco and to smaller, more conservative communities.
Some of the notable international touring locales include: the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2007, the International Dublin Gay Theatre Festival in 2008 and at the 2010 MCC General Conference in Acapulco, Mexico. It was at the Dublin engagement that McNally's partner and husband, Thomas Kirdahy, saw the production.
Kirdahy helped bring the tour to New York for a 10th anniversary engagement off-Broadway at the Rattlestick Theatre. That's when McNally personally saw this version, which is notable for its inclusion of women in the cast rather than the original production which called only for 13 young men.
"[McNally], from the very beginning, has always supported us," Brandon said. "In the movie, he says, 'It's the first time I've seen my play,' because when it was first staged in 1998, there was too much conflict happening and he couldn't enjoy it."
Indeed, the original Manhattan Theatre Club off-Broadway staging of Corpus Christi prompted death threats and intense security measures for audiences hoping to see the play. Yet the message of the play questioning anti-gay animus proved to unfortunately very timely, since Corpus Christi coincidentally debuted in the same month that gay college student Matthew Shepard was brutally attacked and killed.
The idea of 108 Productions creating a film documentary around the play wasn't originally planned, but just grew out of the actors deciding to bring along video cameras on their journeys.
"There was no real motive behind it other than we wanted to document it for ourselves," Brandon said. "We were experiencing changes of our own within our family of actorsall of us being touched in different ways through this play."
Brandon and his fellow cast mates also decided it was important to document the reactions Corpus Christi had on the various communities they played as well.
"We just started interviewing people along the way," Brandon said. "We tell our story through the lens of this play, how the audience responds and we've also had varied encounters with protestors along the way and we speak to them to find out where they're coming from, too."
Corpus Christi: Playing with Redemption isn't technically finished, nor has it been officially submitted for film festivals or distributors. But Brandon and his peers still want people to see it, especially in context with the play itself.
"The time is too important right now we believe to wait for distribution because it's too important to get the message out there," Brandon said. "LGBT people can no longer tolerate religion-based bias. That dialogue is happening very strongly in cultural and political discussions right now, so it's important that we're out there now and not waiting."
Corpus Christi and sneak previews of its film documentary, Corpus Christi: Playing with Redemption, are both presented at the Center on Halsted's Hoover-Leppen Theater, 3656 N. Halsted St. Performances of the play are at 8 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 29, and at 2 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 30. The film is screened at 2 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 29, and at noon Sunday, Sept. 30. The event is co-produced by Michael Leppen and the Center on Halsted, with sponsorship by the Windy City Times. Tickets for the play alone are $20 and $10 for the film alone. Tickets to both the play and film are $25. Visit www.corpuschristi-themovie.com for tickets and more information.