The history of any socially oppressed community is a huge tapestry of events. It can be easy to get lost in moments. Terrence McNally’s drama Some Men brings together a series of moments in gay history in the US that could bring together a graceful overview of an often heartbreaking struggle.
The play investigates the link between individuals as 9 actors play 4 dozen characters breathing through parallel stories and linked histories. Scenes take place in a gay bathhouse in 1975, a Harlem night club in 1932, the Stonewall in Greenwich village in 1969, an AIDS hospital in 1989, an internet chatroom and more. This is 80 years of history in isolated moments that alternate humor with darkness. We begin and end with a gay wedding. It sounds like a remarkable script that would play quite well in an intimate setting. Director Mark E. Schuster grants the script just such a setting as he brings Some Men to the stage of the Soulstice Theatre courtesy of Theatrical Tendencies.
The production is billed as the Southeastern Wisconsin Premiere of the play, which debuted in Philadelphia in 2006. Theatrical Tendencies’ production of Some Men runs Apr. 29 - May 14 at the Soulstice Theatre on 3770 S. Pennsylvania Ave in St. Francis. For more information, visit Theatrical Tendencies online.