Sometimes new works that have LGBT characters or potential fan bases can escape my notice—especially if the LGBT angle isn't explicitly spelled out in advance. But two productions that are currently or have previously played in Chicago are definitely deserving of a second look.
Wasteland at TimeLine Theatre
Out director William Brown was amazed at the speed that it took Susan Felder's world premiere play, Wasteland, to go from being a staged reading this past January to receiving a full professional staging starting in October at TimeLine Theatre.
"A lot of logistical hurdles were jumped," Brown said, adding that at the time of Wasteland's play reading TimeLine Theatre has almost completed its 2012-13 season planning. "Susan and TimeLine wanted me to direct it, so it was a happy occurrence for me."
Set during the Vietnam War, Wasteland focuses on a captured American soldier played by Nate Burger who is literally imprisoned in a hole in the ground. In an adjoining cell is another American prisoner, who is never seen by the audience and entirely exists throughout the play as a voice (performed by Steve Haggard).
"Susan's motivations for writing this play came at a desperate point in her life when she felt removed from people and she said she felt like she was buried in the dirt," Brown said, adding that it became the physical and structural starting inspiration for Wasteland. Though the two soldiers in the play are on the same side, Felder wanted to "separate them as far as possible in terms of world views—so you have two people who probably wouldn't speak to each other in the regular world, but because they're the only two people they can possibly have contact with, they have to come to terms with their differences."
Within the first 10 minutes of the one-act play, it's revealed that the unseen soldier is gay, even though he doesn't specifically use that word.
"I don't think we need to be coy about it anymore," Brown said. "The other (soldier) has no experience with it, and I mean it is 1971."
Brown warns that there are streams of "fag" jokes in Wasteland, but he points out the voices in society to oppose such language and treatment at that time would only have just started galvanizing together in the wake of the 1969 Stonewall Riots. But in the course of the play, the two soldiers come to see how they need each other's support to get through the horrific situation they're in.
"It's a powerful stand of the play which is about our desperate need for each other as human beings," Brown said, adding that the play's message is vital in light of the very polarized political situation in this country. "We have to find common ground."
Although Brown directing career is largely focused on classical plays, he relished the chance to get his hands on a work by a living playwright. "It's so important to be a part of the process of creating dramatic literature and bringing it to life."
Wasteland continues through Sunday, Dec. 30, at TimeLine Theatre, 615 W. Wellington Ave. Performances are at 7:30 p.m. Wednesdays and Thursdays, 8 p.m. Fridays (also 4 p.m. on Nov. 23), 4 and 8 p.m. Saturdays and 2 p.m. Sundays (no show Nov. 22). Tickets are $32- $42. For more information, call 773-281-8463 or visit www.timelinetheatre.com .
Inspiration from Cabrini-Green
Actor/dancer/playwright Tramaine Montell Ford was always cutting up his friends with laughter whenever he would do imitations of people he encountered while growing up in the former Cabrini Green Housing projects. It was something Ford started doing while attending classes with Chicago's Free Street Theater and continued while attending Syracuse University in New York.
"They kept telling me, 'You should have your own show!'" Ford said.
Although Ford found film work in Hairspray and on tour as an early backup dancer for Lady Gaga, he thought it would be a great idea to write and perform his own material.
The resulting show eventually became The Tramaine Experience: An Urban Dramedy, in which Ford plays six characters (including some in drag) based upon a variety of outrageous people he met while growing up in Cabrini Green. These include "Jarvis" (the drunk), "Pookie" (the gangbanger) and "LaQuanda" (the ghetto-girl hairdresser).
When asked if he was worried about perpetuating stereotypes or potentially exploiting his former Cabrini-Green neighbors, Ford said, "the whole concept is actually playing on the stereotypes."
"My characters purposefully start off the show being very comically shallow as you would see in the media," Ford said. "But as the show goes on, I strip down those stereotypes so you see what these human beings are like and where they're coming from and what their real motivations and dreams and aspirations are. At the end of the show, I really hope that people see at the end of the day that these characters are just like you and me."
Ford said The Tramaine Experience has built a big LGBT following in New York, and that the show was sold out during its previous three-performance Chicago run at the Gorilla Tango Theatre. So he hopes his upcoming late-night Solo Jams performance for MPAACT will be just as popular—particularly if many of his previous Cabrini-Green neighbors come out to see the show.
The Tramaine Experience: An Urban Dramedy appears at 11 p.m. Friday, Nov. 23, as part of MPAACT's Solo Jams series at the Greenhouse Theater Center, 2257 N. Lincoln Ave. Tickets are $12; call 773-404-7336 or visit www.greenhousetheater.org for more information.
Photo caption: Tramaine Montell Ford as one of his many characters inspired by his time growing up in Cabrini-Green in The Tramaine Experience: An Urban Dramedy. Photo courtesy of Ford
