10 GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE

August 24, 2001

MEN eveningsout

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Philip (Steven Carriker), Peter (Robert Christian Tyler), Ray (Stephen Needham) and Kevin (Christian Webb) share a moment in Party.

Eat drink and make merry

Party

by David Dillon

Cleveland Public Theatre

Reviewed by Anthony Glassman

There are seven naked men on stage. They're pretty cute, they're pretty funny, and like it's been said, they're naked.

They are the cast of Party, presented at the Cleveland Public Theatre by Elephant Productions, debuting August 23.

The play has been called a gay-positive version of The Boys in the Band, which is far from apt. First, Boys was not particularly gay-negative, it was simply a snapshot of a moment in time when being gay was not as accepted as it is today. Second, Boys revolved around conflict between the characters. While there is a small amount of conflict in Party, it is all good-natured, done in fun. The piece takes place over the course of a single evening, in a single place. It is, in fact as well as title, a party at Kevin's apartment. It seems all of his friends are there: Ray, the gay priest; Andy, a college student and a newcomer to the group; James, the leather man; Peter, Kevin's roommate; Brian, the dancer/slut, filling two archetypes in his role, and Philip, who in this cast is far and away the best-looking of the bunch (which is quite a feat) but doesn't have a specific "role" per se. To get the ball rolling, Brian brings out his deck of "fact or fantasy" cards, a more intricate version of Truth or Dare that serves as the mechanism by which the audience gains entrance into the minds-and eventually, trousers of the people at the party. It's a fun game which quickly gets out of hand as some of the men use their power for evil instead of good. Hence the line, "Strip down to your boxers and stay like that for the rest of the game!"

The play was first staged in Chicago and

was written by David Dillon, who has a flair for witty, twitty dialogue. At one point, it almost seems like what the American Queer as Folk could have been had its IQ been larger than its penis size.

Another newspaper used Party as a jumping-off point for a discussion on the trend of nudity in plays, asking, Is it gratuitous? Is it a cheap excuse to see some flesh?

Well, in Party it is not gratuitous, at least not until the last five minutes, at which point it might seem a little forced, a little meatmarketish. However, if anyone really wants to complain about seeing seven naked men, there is a simple solution: Don't see the play.

However, do see the play. It really is a marvelous way to spend an evening. Perhaps if the parties that a certain reviewer went to were more like this one, he would go to more of them. Alas.

There is one tiny problem with the play. There always is, and in this case, the flaw is really miniscule.

Some of the references seem designed for characters that are older than the actors portraying them. The play was first produced in 1992, not long enough ago for young gay men to still be talking about Liza, Babs, Judy and Audrey as much as these guys do. In fact, nobody under 35 seems to mention Liza at all now, despite that wonderful CD she did with the Pet Shop Boys in the late '80s. Oh well, a discussion for another day.

Overall, on a scale of one to ten, one being a scoop of octopus ice cream on a cardboard cone and ten being a huge serving of Godiva raspberry chocolate truffle ice cream with dark chocolate sauce, Party distinguishes itself with an 8, hard-won and much-deserved.

Party will run for four weeks at Cleveland Public Theater, 6415 Detroit Ave. For tickets, call the box office at 216-661-6332, or log on to http://www.partyontour.com.

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