Evenings Out

A hell of a play

Why do we always pick the bad boys?

by Anthony Glassman

Cleveland--Convergence-Continuum Theater is turning their Scranton Road space into a nightclub from September 3 to 25 so that Andrew can take clubgoers through his most recent relationship missteps in Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa?s Say You Love Satan.

Andrew (Scott Gorbach), a grad student studying Dostoevsky, is dating an angelic med student with a trust fund.

One dark and stormy night at the laundromat, he meets Jack (Lucas Roberts), a sultry, sexy bad boy with an interesting birthmark just visible near his hairline.

There?s something familiar about that mark. If you look closely, it appears to be numerals . . . 999? Nope, that?s upside down . . .

Jack has 666 on his forehead, the Mark of the Beast.

?Are you a Satanist?? Andrew asks.

?No,? replies Jack, ?but my father, he?s the Devil.?

The play runs the gamut from light-hearted gay romantic comedy through eerie and mysterious supernatural thriller, but if there is one man who can handle it, that would be Clyde Simon, Convergence-Continuum?s artistic director. He is helming the production with a cast of familiar faces at the theater.

In addition to Scott Gorbach, returning players include Tony Thai, Tyson Rand, Stuart Hoffman, Lauren B. Smith (as Andrew?s best friend Bernadette). Newcomers Roberts and Zac Hudak, a familiar face on Cleveland stages but a virgin to the boards of the Liminis, round out the cast.

Joining the actors onstage will be Sade Wolfkitten, the sound designer, who will be in a DJ booth at Club Liminis as Andrew weaves his tale. Cory Molnar handles lights, Mitch Domer costumes, and Tom Kondilas created the video clips used in the production.

Simon selected the cast and crew, the majority of whom are queer, to give the play an added layer of authenticity--a gay aesthetic for the gay play. He won?t say which members of the cast and crew are heterosexual, since some of them might not have come out to their families yet about their attractions to members of the opposite sex.

The same clever wit that infuses conversations with Clyde Simon also weaves through the play. Aguirre-Sacasa, while not the biggest name in contemporary theater, is a multi-faceted and much-lauded writer, having worked in the comic book industry, written for the HBO series Big Love, and penned over a dozen produced plays.

In the end, though, the cast, crew and writer are there simply to answer the big questions: Why are people drawn to the bad boys? Why would Andrew choose the son of Satan over a promising med student? And is Jack really who he says he is, or is he something far, far worse?

Say You Love Satan plays at Convergence-Continuum?s Liminis Theater, 2438 Scranton Rd. in Cleveland?s Tremont neighborhood, from Friday, September 3 to Saturday, September 25. Shows are 8 pm Thursday to Saturday, and tickets are $15, $12 for students and seniors. For more information, call 216-6870074 or go to www.convergence-continuum.org.

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