Playwright: Evan Linder. At: The New Colony at Dank Haus, 4740 N. Western Ave. Tickets: 773-413-0862; www.thenewcolony.org; $20. Runs through: March 30
Yes, the show-within-a-show in Evan Linder's play features a drag act and a guy wearing a furry mask in a playhouse located on a military base, but there's nothing "camp" about entertainment during wartime in an army depot where soldiers prepare to ship overseas. The sobering knowledge that their vaudeville might be "the last laugh these men will ever have" spurs the four enlistees assigned the task of delivering itmeek Pvt. Norman, brainy Cpl. Frank, gloomy Pvt. Woody and cheerful Cpl. Tomto risk their safety, their careers, and their futures in the pursuit of their mission.
In 1943, homosexuality not only led to less-than-honorable discharges impairing the recipients' re-entry into civilian life, but could also result in imprisonment or hospitalization. Ironically, men dressing as women for theatrical purposesa practice dating from ancient Rome (where Caesar's legions likely guffawed as loudly as GIs watching Jerry Lewis cavort with a mop-wig in countless Fort Dix comedies)was encouraged as a means of affirming the collective masculinity necessary to male bonding. Whatever the source of their opportunity, the four comrades bolster their resolve with the consolation that, "As long as they're laughing, we won't get into trouble."
These circumstances put a different spin on the traditional backstage drama, however: as the players become increasingly immersed in Woody's fanciful tale of princesses, magic animals and tragic romance, they also grow more comfortable in their identities as what Frank calls "divine mutants" destined for an "impossibly hospitable" world. The dream comes to encompass even het Tom, whose love of musical fantasy renders him accepting of his co-artists' sexual orientationup to a point.
Assisted by Allen Bérubé's definitive history of gays in the military, Coming Out Under Fire (credited in the playbill), Linder explores the conflicts associated with covert lifestyles in close quartersan environment suggested by the New Colony's performance space in the catacombs of the Dank Haus German-American Cultural Center. Its occasional stylistic affectationse.g. a fourth-wall solo turn that belongs in another playare redeemed by the quartet of Ryan Jarosch, Michael Peters, Andrew Hobgood and Patricia Coakley, who, under the direction of Sean Kelly, lend their often hyperliterary musings a colloquial rapport that quickly earns our effortless support. When our forlorn bruin weeps glitter-tears, the whole room vibrates with the audience's tacit chorus of "It gets better."