14 GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE FEBRUARY 11, 1994

ENTERTAINMENT

A darkly funny satire exposes our prejudices

by Barry Daniels

Keith Curran's Walking the Dead combines savage wit with compassion in a drama about a transsexual and his community of gay and lesbian friends. It is one of the few plays in Cleveland's theater season to deal directly with issues in our community. It is the next production at the Cleveland Public Theatre, and the preview performance on February 17 will be a benefit for the Gay People's Chronicle.

Curran, who lives in New York City, developed the play in a series of readings at the Circle Rep in 1990, where it was subsequently given a full production. Curran's newest play, The Stand-in, opened last month at the Naked Angels Theatre. He is currently working on a screenplay about serial killers for director Oliver Stone.

The CPT press release calls Walking the Dead "an hysterically funny and provocative story about gay, lesbian and transsexual issues in our increasingly homophobic society. The play centers around Veronica Tass, a young lesbian who feels trapped in the wrong body, decides to undergo transsexual surgery, and becomes a man. The changes that her lover, friends and family go through as 'Veronica' becomes 'Homer' are a microcosm of society's varying levels of acceptance and revulsion when faced with lesbian, gay and transsexual issues."

I attended a working rehearsal of the play and spoke with director, Amanda Shaffer, about the work the following day. Shaffer was initially attracted to the play because of Curran's biting wit. "Although he uses stereotypes," she says, "he creates such positive human beings that it somehow transcends the stereotypical." Some of us will

be horrified at the way Curran represents us, but we will surely laugh, for as one character says, "Stereotypes are true." Curran's uncanny ability to blend stereotype with compassionate portrayal of character is a distinctive quality of this play.

Shaffer was also attracted to the experimental structure of the piece. It has the form of a performance art piece created by Maya, Veronica's lover, and incorporating her mother, two gay friends, her doctor and a filmmaker making a documentary about Veronica. Shaffer notes, "It cuts back and forth between what the main character describes as 'the past unvarnished by nostalgia.' The characters are forced to encounter themselves as they were, playing absolutely true to the text of the past." Another layer is the intervention of the filmmaker whose manipulation of the characters shows how the media exploits gays and lesbians. "The final documentary was unflattering to everyone involved," Shaffer comments, “but was a success because it fed into the very stereotypes Veronica and Maya wanted to explode."

The play includes some sharp satire of performance art, but Shaffer notes that Maya's performance art piece which frames the action "is very sincere and heart-felt. It works more as a memorializing or a ritualized installation." She stresses that Maya's piece has an improvisational aspect to it. "Maya wants to see these various portions of Veronica and her interactions with her mother, close friends, the film being made, and the doctor who continues the counselling that allowed her to have the surgery. But, although these characters were chosen by her, she doesn't have control over them once they happen. As she plays a scene,

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Cynthia Cupach, Tammy Shanley, and Patsy Benson (l to r) discuss gender issues in Walking the Dead.

she's often struck with the reality of the scene after she has played it."

Shaffer has assembled a talented and energetic cast which features Cynthia Cupach of the performance art duo emCee, as Maya. In terms of dealing with the different gay and lesbian issues in the production, Shaffer, who admitted to having a certain attraction to gay authors, has consulted with gay friends as well as with the gay people working on the production. Denajua, a transsexual who is designing the costumes, was also able to serve as a consultant on the process of changing gender.

It was interesting to me that, in the production where both straight and gay performers play gay men and lesbian roles, Shaffer found that, "The gay performers have been much more stiff and unwilling to take risks on stage. The straight people have been much more willing to take an actorly attitude. A gay man in my show has never performed a gay role. Gay actors spend all of their energies trying not to look gay. They have to act straight so they can get work."

Throughout our discussion Shaffer in-

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sists she "wants to call the play a comedy." When I quibble with this, she concedes that, "It is not just a comedy. It is very dark. It deals very sensitively with very delicate issues." The play does effectively make us laugh at ourselves as well as exposes the kinds of prejudices we confront. It is challenging stuff, but Shaffer points out that, "challenging stuff is interesting and funny, too."

Walking the Dead will be performed February 18 through March 12, ThursdaySaturday at 8 pm, Sunday at 7 pm. Tickets are $10 and $6 (students and seniors) and $2 on Thursday (except for March 3 which will be a benefit for ACT UP Cleveland.) For regular reservations telephone 631-2727. Cleveland Public Theatre is at 6415 Detroit Ave.

To attend the Chronicle preview night and Community Service Awards on February 17, starting at 7 pm, make phone reservations in advance to 621-5280; tickets are $10 ($12 if no reservations are made).

The March 3 ACT UP benefit night at 8 pm is a $15 ticket; call 621-2233 in advance for reservations.

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