12. GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE October

"What if you were a bright,

educated woman and you were in a job beneath your capabilities-which is the case for many womenwhat would you do in that circumstance?"

A new look at ancient morality

Play explores the virtues hidden

within the seven deadly sins

by Dawn E. Leach

Cleveland Curtis Proctor remembers exactly where he was when the catastrophic earthquake of 1989 hit San Francisco.

"I was on the East Coast, and I was frantically trying to reach a friend of mine who was near San Francisco," Proctor said. “It was one of those Kennedy things: 'Where were you when the earthquake hit?'

""

On the tenth anniversary of the quake, Proctor will be reliving that earthquake at the Inside art gallery during a production of Sin: A Contemporary Morality Play.

The play is set in San Francisco on the eve of the earthquake. Proctor plays the sin of Pride as Gerard, a gay man dying of AIDS. As the subtitle suggests, it is a contemporary response to medieval morality plays.

"The point of medieval morality plays is that everyone learned to be more perfect so they can be closer to God," explained director Roger Truesdell. "Sin is about a woman learning that it's okay not to be perfect."

In a traditional morality play, characters with names like Vice and Everyman demonstrate moral principals through an allegorical story. By the end of the story, each character gets what's coming to them. Justice is neatly and unfailingly meted out according to a rigid code of proper behavior. Everything is black and white-there is no room for gray.

During most of the first half of Sin, the play has much of the traditional style of a morality play. There is an Everywoman-Avery Bly, a traffic reporter at the center of the story, and each of people in her life personifies one of the seven deadly sins. There is Envy (Avery's resentful co-worker), Lust (a barfly who hits on her), Sloth (her estranged husband), Greed (a heartless businessman, Avery's blind date), Gluttony (her roommate from hell), Wrath (her boss) and Pride (Gerard, who is her brother).

Avery thinks that she is perfect, and she moves through the story with an aloof detachment, judging the other characters for the sin they represent. She considers herself above them all.

However, as the story progresses, things get more complicated. Avery comes to learn that she herself is guilty of perhaps the worst sin of all: pride. She has no patience for her alcoholic husband, no mercy for her hapless blind date, and nothing but disdain for her lonely, overweight roommate. She blames her brother for having AIDS because she doesn't approve of his promiscuous past.

Avery is in the hospital with Gerard, arguing with him about his sexual ethics, when the earthquake hits. In his weakened condition, Gerard doesn't survive, but his last words ring in her ears during the grief that follows: "You better lower your standards, girl. Sin a little. It's more fun, it's less lonely."

Avery's last conversation with her brother becomes the first in a series of lessons. As she begins to judge people less, her compassion grows.

"Each of the sins unexpectedly reveals some goodness,” said playwright Wendy MacLeod, "which is the way that people surprise us. We discover that we were wrong to dismiss them."

MacLeod is the playwright-in-residence at Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio, where she teaches playwriting and contemporary theatre. She is currently on a leave of absence because she is spending half of her time in Los Angeles writing for television.

MacLeod explained that Sin is a period piece about the 1980s. She set it on the eve of the earthquake because it "demarks the end of that decade nicely."

“We as a culture were behaving badly," MacLeod said, but "the person looking down on our culture behaving badly is guilty of the biggest sin of all."

Though in some ways she stayed true to

"How do I

his sister Avery

(Sarah Morton) visi, 4 asks Gerard

(Curtis Proctor),

him in the hospital.

the form of a morality play, she added her own touches to the idea.

"In medieval morality plays, God is taken for granted," MacLeod explained in a 1994 essay in the Chicago Tribune newspaper, “whereas in my play there is only humanity, and humanity is feeling particularly stranded in the middle of an AIDS epidemic-in the middle of an earthquake."

MacLeod also brought her feminist perspective to writing Sin.

"I was interested in writing about an Everywoman instead of an Everyman," MacLeod said. "What if you were a bright, educated woman and you were in a job beneath your capabilities--which is the case for many women-what would you do in that circumstance?"

When asked what she likes most about Sin, MacLeod responded: "I like the way that the ridiculous bumps up against the very moving, so people are laughing one moment and moved the next. It walks an interesting line."

There is some pretty un-medieval humor in the play.

"We have a gay character and he's Pride," said director Roger Truesdell, who is also gay. "Get it? Gay Pride. And how many times does Envy mention 'penis'?"

Truesdell expressed great admiration for MacLeod's talent as a playwright.

"This is one of my top dream plays to do. I love the writing of it," said Truesdell. “It took me a long time to figure out why I wanted to do the play so bad. It's because I feel I am Avery Bly. I really, really relate to the central character."

Proctor, a gay actor who is thrilled to be playing his first gay character, said MacLeod's writing intrigued him long before he saw the script for Sin.

"She tends to take things and portray things on stage that makes audiences very uncomfortable," Proctor said.

ANTHONY GRAY

As a long-time gay civil rights activist who has also fought for rights for people with AIDS, Proctor said the role of Gerard came with some personal challenges.

"Gerard is completely narcissistic," Proctor said. "That makes me uncomfortable because I don't like to think that someone who is gay and dying is unlikable."

However, MacLeod intentionally chose to portray Gerard with some qualities that are simply not pretty.

"I don't think illness and suffering always ennoble us," she said. "Sometimes it does the opposite. I wanted to portray a real person with AIDS, not a hero.”

Gerard also gets in a few zingers. When he hears that a big earthquake is predicted, he snaps, "Good. If everyone dies, I won't feel so put upon."

Proctor, who has a number of theatrical credits under his belt, is well equipped to handle the role. In fact, the whole cast and crew, while relatively young, is made up of people who already have solid backgrounds in theatre.

Truesdell said the actors are enjoying the intimacy of the space, where the audience sits close enough to the actors to be able to pick up all the subtle nuances of the interactions.

"A raised eyebrow gets a laugh,” Truesdell said.

Several cast members hinted mysteriously that the audience is in for some special effects, though they wouldn't elaborate much.

"It will be a physical experience," Proctor said. "You will feel the earthquake."

Sin will be performed by the Bad Epitaph Theatre Company at the Inside art gallery at 2393 Professor Street in Tremont. The show runs October 8-31, including a performance on the ten-year anniversary of the October 17, 1989 earthquake. Of course, because of the cozy performance space, there will be limited seating. For ticket information, call 216-556-4490.