LGBT

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This Space Between Us

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This Space Between Us

This Space Between Us contains the opposite of an 11 o’clock number. The nonmusical scene late in the play is a showstopper all right, though not in the rousing good sense. Rather, all action and dialogue literally stop while two characters stand over an air mattress as it inflates. It lasts ... well, however long it takes an air mattress to inflate, which may only be about a minute but seems a lot longer, since the audience has to sit there and wait out this unnecessary moment in a show that has already worn out its welcome.

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Wolf Play

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Wolf Play

There have been plays affirming LGBTQ people’s fitness as parents. There have been plays where child characters are played by puppets, and stories in which a child who feels different identifies as some type of animal. Boxing has been used as a metaphor, and there have been productions with lots of props and scenery that are upended by the final scene—one that comes to mind, Blasted, was staged at Soho Rep, whose new show, Wolf Play, includes all these things.

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LGBT pioneer is focus of new work

Dr. John Fryer, a seminal but little-known LGBT civil rights pioneer, is the subject of a the play 217 Boxes of Dr. Henry Anonymous, by Ain Gordon, to be presented May 3-9 at the Jerome Robbins Theater at the Baryshnikov Arts Center (450 West 37th St.). Gordon, an Obie award winner, will also direct. 

Before 1972, homosexuality was considered a mental illness in the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM). The classification was used by government to justify statutes and regulations that marginalized homosexuals. Fryer gave testimony at the 1972 APA annual meeting that led to homosexuality’s removal from the DSM.

Originally commissioned by the Historical Society of Pennsylvania and underwritten by the Pew Center for Arts & Heritage, the production is presented by Equality Forum, a national and international LGBT civil rights organization. For tickets ($40) and more information on Fryer, visit 217Boxes.com, or call Ovationtix at (866) 811-4111. All performances are at 7:30 p.m. and run for 70 minutes.

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