“First you give it away, then you sell it, and finally you buy it all back,” is the slogan of the new play Natural Born Hooker. We assume they’re referring to sex, because that’s what we assume every conversation is about. And we’re usually right.
Hooker is playwright Konrad Product’s one-man sleaze-romp though New York and L.A.’s seedy underbellies. It chronicles the AIDS crisis of the 1990s and one hustler’s coming-of-age as he shimmies his way from one soul-selling experience to another while questioning his value as a man. Are we only as good as the price that we fetch? Aren’t we all hookers, one way or another?
This is some graduate-thesis-level shit right here.
Hooker—produced by Queerty contributor Tomas Mournian and directed by Ramon Del Barrio—is expected to get a limited run in Los Angeles some time in late spring/early summer 2012. In a postmodern touch it’s being funded on Kickstarter.
How about we take this to the next level?
Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
A play about the free market and living on tips funded through crowd-sourcing? Life imitates art!
It’s almost intriguing enough to make us stop ogling the chiseled pecs prominently displayed on the promo materials.
Spike
“It chronicles the AIDS crisis of the 1990s and one hustler’s coming-of-age…”
OMG, are there advanced tickets for sale??? Good gawd, really, this is a storyline
that the community is interested in? Sounds more like an excuse for gay porn theatre.
Belize
@Spike: Nobody said that the community is interested in it. But of course, I wouldn’t be surprised that you assumed that given that you’ve already assumed much about a play you have yet to see. Good job showing other people how smart you are.
RD
Actually it chronicles the memoirs of a sex worker in the 90’s and includes topics like sex work, child abuse, HIV/AIDS , drug use and addiction and Homophobia! In the neighborhood there are still many of these elements in play so YES the question is “is the community interested in this” and no it is NOT gay porn theater but more so GAY/BI/Transgender/Str8 and homeless gay youth Theater! What we hope to do is open a dialogue with everyone who might be living in this world and address those who think it has nothing to do with them! Knowing your status, being mindful of your choices and basically not being blind or K&**TY about it all boys!
Tomas Mournian
@Spike: Hey, Spike, please let us (me) know vis Facebook when you’re in L.A. – if we fund the show, and it’s produced, I’d love to invite you as my guest to see the show for free. And then you can judge for yourself: gay porn theater? or, a human story that tells your own story & the story of so many others?
I really appreciate your comment, @Spike because it gives me a great opportunity to point out what Natural-Born-Hooker IS NOT (“gay porn theater,” as you write … I guess you’re thinking about the nude JEff Stryker standing by a theater exit, & shaking hands?)
Natural-Born-Hooker takes on all those issues the queer community clamors about – drug use, sex work, familial rejection – but doesn’t talk about, or really want to see because it’s the dark underside of the community people don’t want the world to see or know about.
I’m curious, @Spike, did you know that 40% of homeless youth are queer – even though they’re only 10% (or less) of the population? Natural-Born-Hooker deals with a fact like that but casts it in human terms: the sometimes brutal journey a lot of young people must travel, still, in order to claim an identity and a life that you, maybe, take for granted?
I hope you’ll reserve your judgement – or, it sounds like, contempt prior to investigation – and come see Natural-Born-Hooker (and you can make a contribution to the Kickstarter campaign too – just click on the link at the top of the article.)
Mike
I agree Spike. Stories about male prostitutes have been done before and are tiresome and pretty much a cliche now.
Tomas Mournian
@Mike: Thanks for your comment, Mike. Please (me) know vis Facebook (Tomas Mournian) when you’re in L.A. – if we fund the show, and it’s produced, I’d love to invite you as my guest to see the show for free. And then you can judge for yourself if it’s tiresome & pretty much a cliche. Maybe we’re the not pretty much part of not being a cliche?
Not this shit again
Another play or story about a male whore? Really? I agree that this has been done countless times better by other people and they did focus on HIV and did a better job of it than this stupid play ever will.
RD
@not this shit again Interesting how the K*NTY queers have something to say but nothing really relevant to add? Are you angry because you are Positive? Homeless? A Prostitute? A Meth Addict? Or are you just nasty homo who actually adds to the unfavorable light that homosexuals, lesbians, bisexuals , transgenders are seen in? Is it really the Heterosexuals ONLY who put this nasty spin on who the GLBT community is? This play is to educate all people while entertaining in a way that is common for the community. clubbing, partying, sexuality, stories and choices. This play seems like it’s the perfect vehicle to open your mind and actually provide you with words that have some meaning other than “look at me , I am a BITCH” That truly has been done and is over queen!!
TJ
Yawn, another silly cautionary tale. A story about some trashy mess and his personal journey? Oy. It would be more interesting if it were set in the 80s, when the AIDS crisis started and no one knew what was happening.
Not this shit again
@Rd-Actually I’m none of the above.
RD
@Not this shit again: Well then aren’t you just angry? I wish you well. Perhaps you will learn compassion which is also the whole point of trying to make a difference instead of spreading anger and disdain towards those who are trying to help those might be dealing with one or all of the issues addressed in Natural Born Hooker. Where did you learn to be so unhappy? I would be curious to know what you age is and what part of the country you live in? I expected adverse behavior from uninformed heterosexuals but seriously to hear it from anyone who might be gay, bi, lesbian or transgender is truly very telling and a testament to your contribution to society.
WhitneyRollOvah
I saw this in Australia a few years ago. I loved it. It’s not about the 80’s AIDS crisis but the 90’s. The character is a young person who goes through hell and comes out different better and changed. I didn’t feel cautioned I felt inspired. LMAO at these hater comments about something they have not seen an dwill not see because of closed minds and hearts.
RD
@WhitneyRollOvah: Well aren’t you refreshing and enlightened!!! It has been an amazing journey so far and truthfully part of the dialogue that we are interested in opening includes this undertone of sass and hatred that is out there amongst the love and support! We would love to have you here in America when we premier NBH ! Much love !!!
Edouard de Mas
Interesting comments. My first suggestion is that if you’re part of the LGBT community and you’re not interested in these themes, you should be. Many young people from far and wide end up far from home, by choice or because they were pushed out. Some, like me, went to private schools and lived in affluent communities, others fled Morocco in a makeshift boat and crossed the Med looking for freedom. I once met a Colombian who worked 2 years in coffee fields to save up for his ticket to Spain, where I live. Once we arrive in these new places, some penniless and without qualifications, prostitution is the only alternative.
I met rent-boys because I was once one of them. Being called a cliché, as someone did above, reduces our very real lives and experiences to something banal and unimportant. The gay experience is rarely as easy as we see on television today, whether it’s Glee, Modern Family or Desperate Housewives. AIDS is on the rise in the latino and black demographic of our community, and we can skip as many articles about it as we want, we can ignore it, but if history is anything to go by, ignoring things can have devastating effects.
I think the project is genius because it’s finally addressing issues we have relegated to the closet, in the hope that by doing so we become more socially accepted; But the truth is that at some point we have to face reality and work together to move forward, to a better place. Watching and supporting the play seems like a pretty good place to start.
RD
@Edouard de Mas: Edouard it is a pleasure to read your post and we thank you for your insight ! It is truly a personal journey, life, but as we are part of a community with greater purpose it is also our job to educate the less informed. What part of Spain? I have family in Seville and Madrid with a long line of Spaniards who migrated to Argentina. I would love to hear more about your experiences and truly Tomas and I are grateful for your support and backing of Natural Born Hooker. We hope to spread the message in as many languages as possible . It is imperative that our community and all the other communities understand that these issues are not only with the outcasts and less fortunates as it seems and that choice and self worth have a place in every aspect of every Human life!
Edouard de Mas
@RD: I’m on the southern coast, only a couple of hours directly south of Seville, living in a conservative gated community called Sotogrande (I know, WTF were we thinking). We’re one of only 2 “out” gay homes in a place with 2500 residences.
It’s interesting that you mention the “outcast” thing because it can happen to any gay teen anywhere, whether they grew up in Short-Hills, Palm Springs, Doral Sands or a slum in Rio de Janeiro.
Prostitution in people’s minds is often reduced to short sexual encounters. It’s a b/j in a car, 30 minutes or an hour in a private room and on to the next client. But that’s an illusion. There are real people and emotions guiding the protagonists of each encounter. It’s a life where every day you’re dealing with something as intensely personal as sex and the complexity of other people’s (and your own) expectations of it. There’s the client you hope falls in love with you, but doesn’t. There’s the one you don’t really like who actually does. There’s a burn victim who’s too embarrassed of his body to have sex with anyone but a sex-worker. A widower who feels 68 is too old to re-enter the gay dating world and you become his only physical human contact. It’s like spending your days at the movies, happy and sad stories all blending into each other, and you’re suddenly a character in all of them (maybe temporary, maybe not)- trying to figure out what your own role is in life and where you’re going to end up. The hooker is where the entire gay community intersects at some point or another, even if we don’t know we have- and it’s not just about sex.
BubbasBack
This sounds reaaaally boring. Please. Another story about a hot male hooker blah blah blah. How original. BURP.
GrowUp
Come on, does it always have to include a hooker? I mean, what is this fascination with hooker and porn stars in our gay culture that we elevate to standards that other communities would not even think of doing? Couldn’t the main character have been a regular gay Joe that contracted aids, like so many, from his asshole bf who didn’t tell him? It’s always the sleaze and the drugs. Thumbs down guys.
RD
@GrowUp: Why is it that your story includes a lie , deceit and
Anger ? You are important too ! NBH does not have HIV AIDS but encounters it in his work!
He is a bi- sexual full service hooker !
Thank you for brining up commitment and integrity and perhaps
In your, holier than hooker, world the lack of both !
NBH doesn’t lie , cheat and uses his street sense and condoms !
Everyone is selling something ! You sell high brow deceit and HIV transmission and denial!
SO important and vital to our message !
really?
@GrowUp: Dude, seriously, did you even read any of the comments? I mean, was it hard for you to come up with that and type it into your PC from the comfort and warmth of your home? I guess they’re right and gay people are just like everybody else, we can be real thoughtless jerks too. Man, if the compassion we get from each we’ve got along road ahead.
RD
@really?: Yes you are right!
One of the main components of change !
Heterosexuals are still dealing with the Controll of vagina’s , birth Controll , health care
and drug addiction. Let’s not forget rape , molestation and many other atrocities !
All wrapped in fear and a “male ego” driven concept
of global, religious lies and deceit !
God made Humans and “Free Will” , the “right use” of Will
is the conversation !
Edouard de Mas
“does it always have to include a hooker? I mean, what is this fascination with hooker and porn stars in our gay culture that we elevate to standards that other communities would not even think of doing?”
That’s a fascinating concept. We have a presumably gay man, who comes to a website named queerty, where there happen to be images of semi-nude men, then clicks on an article with the word hooker in the title- and then claims he isn’t a part of any of this.
I went out with a very cute guy once who was perpetually preoccupied with “acting-straight”, the relationship ended abruptly one evening. We were in bed and I made a silly joke, “You don’t look very straight with that part of me in your mouth…” He left, never to return my calls again.
If we really start buying into the christian right propaganda that says there’s something wrong with having sex and with gay sex and with being gay, we’re in trouble.
BTW “Holier Than Hooker” was the funniest line I’ve read in a long time, it should be on t-shirts.