What's good on the theatrical gaydar? Well, when it comes to theater, what ISN'T GLBT? Jonny can think of very few shows anytime, anywhere that don't have at least a secondary GLBT presence in terms of an out actor, designer, director, author, usher or wigmaster or mistress.
For example, one simply can't escape works by Stephen Sondheim or Claudia Allen this season. Their blips alone would just about fill our gaydar screen. Sondheim is up at Chicago Shakespeare Theatre and the Goodman Theatre ( see the Season Preview story ) and also at Porchlight Music Theatre Chicago Company ( March 7-May 6, 2003 ) . Claudia Allen will have world premieres at both Victory Gardens ( Unspoken Prayers, March 21-May 4, 2003 ) staring Tony Award winner Judith Ivey, and Bailiwick Repertory ( Dutch Love, April 24-June 1 ) .
Out Evanston author John Logan also will be highly visible. Best know these days for his screenplays ( Any Given Sunday, Gladiator, The Time Machine ) , Logan will have two of his early stage works revived: Never the Sinner ( now through Sept. 29, Heartland Studio ) and Hauptmann ( Feb. 4-March 10, 2003, TimeLine Theatre ) . Never the Sinner is about the infamous Leopold-Loeb 1924 murder trial, and is open about the pair's homosexual relationship which is suppressed in other treatments of the case.
GLBT stalwart Bailiwick Repertory is ending its long-standing summertime Pride Series in favor of a new producing policy dubbed Out All Year. Shows of GLBT interest will be produced year-round, and interspersed with mainstream offerings. The gay shows this year ( dates TBA ) include Strip/Tease, After Dark, Servicemen, and Altered Egos. Works staged through the ongoing Lesbian Theatre Initiative include the world premiere of Embracing the Undertoad ( Sept. 23-Oct. 27 ) , Dyke Mic, the All Girl Revue, Dutch Love and the second annual Lesbian Arts Festival.
And About Face Theatre Company, without a fixed address this year, will produce one less mainstage show than usual, with each show at a different location. They start strongly with the world premiere of Theatre District, a comedy by Richard Kramer, in a co-production with Steppenwolf Theatre Company ( Oct. 17-Nov. 17, Steppenwolf Studio ) .
Some other early season shows of interest by gay authors are: What the Butler Saw by Joe Orton ( Sept. 23-Nov. 2, Noble Fool Theatre ) ; Vampire Lesbians of Sodom by Charles Busch, starring Honey West and directed by Alexandra Billings ( late night Oct. 2-Nov. 2, Theatre Building Chicago ) ; the Chicago professional premiere of Time of the Cuckoo by Arthur Laurents ( Oct. 24-Dec. 1, Shattered Globe Theatre ) ; and Joe Orton's rarely seen Entertaining Mr. Sloane ( Nov. 7-Dec. 8, Next Theatre Company, Evanston ) , featuring a boy-girl-boy triangle.
As we roll into the second half of the season after Jan. 1, you might want to watch for Madam de Sade, the play by controversial gay Japanese militarist Yukio Mashima, at European Repertory Theatre; Homebody/ Kabul, with author Tony Kushner in residence to revise the work, at Steppwolf ( and directed by Frank Galati ) ; The Mystery of Irma Vep by Charles Ludlam, Northlight Theatre; and the Victory Gardens world premiere of The End of the Tour by Chicagoan Joel Drake Johnson, a family drama concerning a man who returns to his small hometown with his male lover.