When I visited recently, a piano and small stageremained in the room from an open-mic event sponsored by the social club GAMMA. The wallsheld prints by Madisonartist James R. Reinke. Titled “Mad Man in the Mil,”the show runs through Sept. 10 and offers gently eroticized and idealized malenudes, more decorative than provocative. MGAC hangs six to eight shows per yearfeaturing local and international artists. In October, an annual Gay Youth Art Show willfeature work by students from Milwaukee Alliance School.
Paul Masterson is the center’s volunteer director. Masterson,in his 50s and with a background in visual art and antiques, founded MGAC withtheater artist Don Hoffman in 2005. Hoffman soon left, and Masterson continued with the help of a smallboard whose current president, Alan Piotrowicz, now organizes the liveperformances. Thecenter’s name poses questions. What constitutes gay art? Aren’t such labels controlling and part of the problem? One ofonly a few independent LGBT art centers worldwide, MGAC proposes answersthrough its presentations.
The mission is to promote and present visual andperformance art that is relevant to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgenderedpeople; but as Masterson says, you don’t have to be Chinese to eat in a Chineserestaurant. Hebelieves there is a queer aesthetic, an LGBT culture, however fluid andindividualized, built at least partly on our outsider status and the experienceof persecution. These can certainly foster a critical perspective on mainstreamculture while firing the imagination, sense of humor, sensitivity, perhaps evenan eye for beauty. But processes of identity formation, feelings of isolationand exclusion, and struggles for human and civil rights are subjects relevantto every human being. I am grateful to have seen the sublime performance artistTim Miller at MGAC in 2008. His exemplary work hides nothing of his experienceas a gay man while broadly dissecting life in the United States.
MGAC just settled a lawsuit against the city of Milwaukee for closing itsproduction of the musical Naked Boys Singing in 2005. It’s agenuine David and Goliath story of a tiny volunteer organization and its unpaiddirector, supported by the ACLU, in a five-year battle against the vice squad’sprejudicial tactics. “We didn’tgive up,” Masterson said, “because of the historical treatment of the LGBTcommunity here. That wasthe point.” The money will help pay rent.
Exciting New Productions
The center is the first LGBT organization to receive agrant from the Milwaukee Arts Board. The money will support the development andpresentation of a new play by Wisconsinplaywright Neil Haven about homeless gay youth, dryly titled Pink Champagne.A public reading of the play by important local actors inspired matchingsupport from the Johnson and Pabst LGBT Humanity Fund of the Greater MilwaukeeFoundation and from PrideFest, where a second reading was given this summer. The playwill open in 2011 in collaboration with Uprooted, the African-American theatercompany. Performances will be followed by talk-backs with relevant serviceorganizations: Diverse and Resilient, and Pflag.
In September the center will host Thrill Me,a musical account of theLeopold and Loeb murder case. It’s the maiden production of TheatricalTendencies, a new theater company dedicated to LGBT-relevant plays.
On Oct. 30, Goats and Monkeys, a reader’s theatercomposed of members of the former Milwaukee Shakespeare, will present“classical readings from the macabre” for Halloween. Shaia Fahrid of the AstorStreet Dance Studio organizes MGAC belly dance parties featuring male andfemale dancers from near and far. These are not primarily LGBT events.
MGAC boasts a string of real achievements. Itscontinuing importance really depends on the use the town makes of it. Mastersonwelcomes ideas.
