Gay activist and performer Jim Bennett was amazed when he saw the sketch-comedy show Whitney Houston, We Have a Problem back in 1996 at The Second City's Donny's Skybox Studio. It was the very first production of GayCo, which would go on to become Chicago's oldest and longest-running LGBTQ sketch comedy troupe.
"I was floored and I loved it," said Bennett, adding that, at the time, he was just starting to take improvisation classes with The Second City Training Center. "It was incredible to see this show that's completely done on gay themes and the talent that was in it, and it was really something that I wanted to do."
Bennett joined GayCo in 1999. He stepped away only a few years ago due to his full-time job as Midwest regional director for the Lambda Legal Defense Fund when the battle for marriage equality really started intensifying.
For GayCo's one-night-only 20th-anniversary show titled "GayCo XX: Gay for Play," a number of GayCo alumni like Bennett will be returning. Others include Martin Garcia ( Blackish, The Mindy Project ), Celeste Pechous ( Hot in Cleveland, Workaholics ) and Andy Eninger ( head of The Second City's writing program ).
"It's going back to the material over the past 20 years," Bennett said. "One thing that is interesting is the selection of scenes is based more on the funny rather than the political. Partly because a lot of the political scenes feel dated."
Not to say that GayCo was ever afraid to tackle controversial issues through the years. Bullying, the U.S. Military's former "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy and even the Iraq War's Abu Ghraib prison torture scandal provided fodder for GayCo sketches.
GayCo also dealt with issues that initially weren't on the front burner like marriage equality. Bennett pointed out that he wrote GayCo's first sketch about gay marriage long before they were legalized in the state of Massachusetts. The sketch was born out of headaches Bennett and his future husband faced in trying to get a mortgage as a couple who were not legally recognized by either federal or state governments.
"I was always considered 'the political gay' in our group, so for me to have a voice, to be able to bring the issues I care about but to be able to do it with humor was amazing," Bennett said. "With comedy you can slide so much through when people's defenses are down."
GayCo also allowed LGBTQ performers to develop their craft with their defenses down, too. Bennett mentioned that when he took comedy classes at Second City and i.O. in the 1990s, there often was a "frat element" that could intimidate others and push LGBTQ characters into the same old stereotypes. But that's not to say that wasn't friction within GayCo itself, especially when it came to disagreements among members of the LGBTQ community.
"The majority of our humor was found in the differences between lesbians and gays and sort of the odd way that our community is just put together," Bennett said. "It was always a perfect place to mine humor and it would both play out in rehearsals and in the shows themselves. We would have times when the guys would be talking about sex, what people did and what it was like at the Manhole [bar] that night, and if the women shared one story that was about something they did, the guys would go, 'Stop! That's gross.' And we would have huge fights over this double standard and then we would find that hilarious."
The 20th anniversary of GayCo is one for celebration, but also for much reflection and sadness. That's because original GayCo cofounder and ensemble member Judy Fabjance, passed away from cancer this past August.
Bennett credits Fabjance for playing a major role in the creation of GayCo. But also he stresses that Fabjance being out and open as a lesbian helped to make The Second City far more welcoming to LGBTQ performers through her long affiliation with the organization starting as a starry-eyed fan and later as a much-beloved improvisation instructor.
"Judy grew up at Second City. They knew her since she was a 15-year-old girl hanging around just wanting to meet everyone. So for Second City and certainly for us, they began to understand the issues of what it would like to be LGBT because they knew Judythey came out with Judy," Bennett said. "For Judy to struggle within Second City and not feel completely welcome, because they knew her so well, they as an organization realized that the LGBT community needs to feel that The Second City is their home and that's where their voice is. We owe a ton of their understanding and their willingness to bring us into the fold because of Judy."
Part of GayCo's 20th-anniversary show will play tribute to Fabjance's life and work by featuring some of her sketches. Bennett said one of Fabjance's strengths was writing relationship material that still holds up today.
"It's going to be very painful to do some of Judy's scenes," Bennett said. "Although I'm very excited that we're doing them."
"GayCo XX: Gay for Play" is at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 15, at Second City's UP Comedy Club, 230 W. North Ave. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. General admission tickets are $20; visit GayCo.com for more information.
Dueling lesbian dramatists
The five finalists of Pride Films and Plays' 2016 LezPlay Contest will have their works performed in staged readings from Friday, Oct. 7, to Sunday, Oct. 9. The LezPlay Contest strives to enhance the visibility and viability of women who write for the stage and screen in which lesbian characters and themes play a pivotal role. For example, this month Pride Films and Plays is producing the world premiere of last year's LezPlay Contest winner, Nancy Nyman and Heather McNama's Resolution.
The 2016 LezPlay Contest features Lena Wilson's Fraying Live Wires Tend to Give Off Sparks at 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 8. Performances on Saturday, Oct. 8, feature Rae Brinstock's Watch Me Burn at 1 p.m. and Geraldine Inoa's Bold as Love at 7 p.m. Performances on Sunday, Oct. 9, feature Ann L. Gibbs and Judith Allen's To Bury a Stranger at 11 a.m. and Corinne J. Kawecki's The Days are Shorter at 3 p.m. All shows are at the Center on Halsted's Hoover-Leppen Theatre, 3656 N. Halsted St. Pay-what-you-can admission, though $10 is the suggested donation. Visit PrideFilmsAndPlays.com for more information.