PRIDE GUIDe 1997 GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE B-5
Tale of runaway libido to premiere at Center
by Eric Hunter
Cincinnati "There is no point in doing a 2,000-year-old classic unless it has something to say about today," Michael Blankenship told me when we discussed his adaptation of Petronius' Satyricon.
Blankenship and 12 actors from the Ensemble Theater of Cincinnati will read Act One of Satyricon for the first time on Tuesday, June 3 at 8:00 pm at the Cincinnati Gay and Lesbian Center.
The reading of Blankenship's work will be given in conjunction with a poetry reading by local poet and independent filmmaker Aralee Strange. Both performances
are part of a series of cultural events which the Gay and Lesbian Community Center is hosting as part of the 1997 Pride and Cultural Festival.
According to Blankenship, Satyricon is a work that had been limited to "professors' top bookshelves." Blankenship reconstructed the famous comic, porno-
graphic epic as he calls it, from story fragments which are thought to be part of the 14th and 16th volumes of Petronius'
work. The entire Satyricon is believed to
have been 20 volumes.
The original work was meant to be recited. Adapting the work to the stage has been a silent process until now.
Strange to read poetry of changing human spirit
by Thony Peregrin Cincinnati-There's something a little "Strange" happening at Cincinnati's Gay Pride '97 celebration. The festivities will include everything from a BB Riverboat cruise to the World's Gayest Office Party, but this year, Pride '97 will also feature poetry written by poet and independent film maker Aralee Strange.
A poetry reading may seem a bit odd and even, um, strange to gay party boys who prefer to exhibit their pride under the disco
"The last time I was at one of her readings, the audience was so moved they gave her a standing ovation—something you don't often see in the subdued atmosphere of a poetry reading."
lights, but Strange's keen insights on life, love, and androgynous angels have produced quite a loyal following in the Queen City.
Strange's film biography reads like a who's-who in Hollywood. She's been in production management in films starring such talent as Susan Sarandon, Christopher Walken, and Morgan Freeman. Her latest project is an independent film called The Train which she wrote and plans to direct this year using Cincinnati talent. The Train is about an androgynous vagabond poet named Michael who travels from place to place on a mysterious black steam train.
After being struck by lightening, she is
convinced that she is the Archangel Michael. Her travels take her to the Sad Cafe, a bookstore and bar where she meets up with Love, Vincent, John and a bartender who speaks through a black drag queen ventriloquist's dummy. Through Michael's intervention, these characters discover that faith in goodness can be a transforming force in an ugly and violent world.
The transformation of the human spirit is a key element in Strange's poetry, a theme many gay men and women can identify with as they struggle with living, loving and growing in a part of the country famous for its intolerance of homosexuality.
"The human spirit gives me hope," Strange has said. "When you sit down and talk to anyone, you find they're not totally oblivious to what is going on. Good is there. We just don't act on it as a group."
"Aralee Strange is pure, raw talent," says Laura Smith of Crazy Ladies Bookstore. "When she gives a reading, her energy vibrates the room. She definitely stands out. I remember the last time I was at one of her readings, the audience was so moved they gave her a standing ovation-something you don't often see in the subdued atmosphere of a poetry reading.”
Strange gets inspired by sitting at her window in Over-the-Rhine and observing the activity on the street below. It is a unique neighborhood, home to trendy coffeehouses and pool bars, to prostitutes and drug dealers, to children playing on the street. What she observes from her window acts as a personal mirror to her own uncertainties about social injustice and oppression. Look into her mirror and you will find startling reflections of yourself.
Aralee Strange will be reading her poetry on June 3 at 8 pm at the Cincinnati Gay and Lesbian Community Center, 214 East Ninth St.; 513-651-0040.
Blankenship believes that it is time to actually hear his work spoken by actors. "When you hand your work over to 12
The story is an adventure and a satire of Roman society, which Blankenship says compares to modernday society quite well.
other people you have to be flexible," Blankenship said. "The way in which other people will interpret what you have written becomes clear. I want to hear the work before we get into production, so I can
work it out and be clear with what it means."
Satyricon is the story of god versus man. The tale's main character Crotchus is a man whose sex drive rules his life. Unfortunately for him, his libido is also the source of all his problems. Crotchus offends Priapus, the god of erections and fertility, which brings around his ruin.
The story is an adventure and a satire of Roman society, which Blankenship says compares to modern-day society quite well. The epic also pokes fun at people who have nothing better to do than follow their libidos.
To Blankenship's knowledge, his is the only stage adaptation of Satyricon in existence. Federico Fellini adapted the work for the screen in 1968, but Blankenship consciously chose not to see the film.
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