Yesterday, theaters across the country brought the issue of marriage equality to the stage with a special one-night-only performance of Standing on Ceremony: The Gay Marriage Plays, a collection of nine one-acts by Neil LaBute, Paul Rudnick, Moises Kaufman and other playwrights.
Vignettes performed as part of the show included Joe Keenan’s “This Marriage Is Saved,” in which an evangelist decides his tryst with a hustler h
as actually strengthened his relationship with his wife, Kaufmann’s “London Mosquitoes,” where a widower tries to make sense of the loss of his partner, and Doug Wright’s “On Facebook,” which was adapted from an actual Facebook thread following a long debate on gay marriage.
Dozens of playhouses took part in the theatrical event, including Paper Lantern Theatre in Greensboro, NC, Brown University in Rhode Island, and the American Stage Theatre in St. Petersburg, FL. In Los Angeles., it was staged at the L.A. Gay Center‘s Renberg Theatre, with a cast that included Jean Smart, Peter Paige and Mo Gaffney.
While yesterday’s nationwide performance was a one-off, the play continues at New York‘s Minetta Lane Theatre with Craig Bierko, Harriet Harris, Richard Thomas, Polly Draper and Mark Consuelos. Opening night is November 13 and the play is scheduled to run through February 26.
Check out what the talents involved have to say below.
Michael
I love Harriet ive always loved her since The Five Mrs Buchanans which aired on CBS back in the mid 90’s .
Wonderful that they are doing this also .
JAW
Oh WOW… I will go just to see Mark… His smile makes me weak… I have always been sooo jealous of Kelly
J Reynolds
ZACH Theatre in Austin, TX staged this one night event to a sold out house. I was lucky enough to catch it. What a wonderful, diverse evening of plays that made everyone laugh and take pause about this important topic. The excellent cast of Austin actors really made the evening one well worth remembering. Bravo to the playwrights too!
scvjones
Your bickering is ridiculous. No one is accusing Karl Rove because (a) he has not outed himself as gay and (2) he is not the subject of this article. Ken Mehlman is human slime. He created his political career off the flayed backs of his brothers. He was living a happy gay life in D.C. at the same time he was endorsing a political strategy that relied upon demonizing and making life miserable for gay people across the country. He couldn’t have cared less.
I don’t know what elicited Ken’s “redemptive moment.” Maybe his boyfriend wanted to get married, which they now could in D.C. (no thanks to Ken). But at the end of the day, he needs to take responsibility for retarding the cause of equality by 5 or 10 years by convincing the Freaky Fundies that “the gay” is enemy number one. And for that he should pay. And celibacy seems a fine punishment 🙂