Forty-one years ago, the Stonewall riots kick-started the gay rights movement. Around the same time, Dee Bradbury, the main character in The Rhubarb
Actor Chris Basso is appearing in "41," now showing at the Dark Horse Theater.
Trish Crist, Rhubarb’s artistic director and the writer and director behind “41," says the new work was inspired by the riots, but her own 41st birthday helped to give it a personal weight. And of the four plays she’s written, Crist says “41” holds a special honor.
“My current favorite is this one,” she said. “It just synchs up to where I am in my own life: Thinking about where you’ve been and where you thought you were going and where you are.”
Crist says she hopes that framing that soul-searching within the context of the Stonewall riots and zeroing in on the memories and reflections of a gay man will prove eye-opening for straight audience members and familiar to gay ones.
“I want straight audiences to turn out because Stonewall is an important point in history and not enough people know about it,” she said, noting that she only became aware of the riots when she started working with Rhubarb a few years ago. “If you say 'Rosa Parks on the bus' to anybody … they know exactly what you mean. And if you say 'Stonewall' to someone, that isn’t necessarily the case. I want gay audiences to turn out to see it because people tell me their stories aren’t portrayed on TV and on stage, and I’m trying to do that.”
That’s not to say that “41” is Crist’s dramatization of a political platform point. It blends levity, and a reference to “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” in with its ultimately serious themes.
“Given the heaviness of rights issues people assume it’s a big fat downer, but it’s not,” she said. “I like laugh-out-loud comedies with an aftertaste, and we’re about to serve one.”
The first act of “41” is a real-time conversation between Dee and his sister Lolly. After returning from a night out at some of Nashville’s bars, the siblings reminisce, as Lolly quizzes Dee on his life and how he’s changed since 1969.
Crist calls the second act a “sort of a magical-mystery- tour dream sequence where we revisit a party atmosphere from 1969.”
Dan McGeachy, who plays Dee, acted both locally and in New York, likes the way his character’s meditations on life are individually relatable while paralleling the evolution of the gay community as a whole.
“I thought that it would be predominately political, and it is more universal than that,” he said. “[We look at] what kind of compromises we have to make over the course of time and how those relate to who we are today versus who we expected to be … It’s funny and fun and moving at the same time, which is great.”
Crist hopes audiences will enjoy that cocktail of funniness and introspection.
“If you’re worried that it’s a sad show or a political rant, it’s not,” she said. “You’re going to laugh and you’re going to think some.”
“41” is playing at The Darkhorse Theater July 23 through Aug. 7. For more information, click here.
