Hail, Mary: Performing as/by Gay and Disabled Jocks

Thomas Gorrebeeck (center) in Andrew Henderaker's Colossal at SF Playhouse.

The intersection of sports, disability and gay love is not an easy balance in art. Few have tried. 

Having taken on this trio of themes a few times (to some good notices, thank you), I was quite interested to see Andrew Henderaker's Colossal at SF Playhouse, which succeeds quite well in this triple-play subgenre.

A three-piece drum corps appropriately accompanies the scene shifts from practice to games, to personal moments in this four-quarter drama. Director John Tracy has assembled a brisk spectacle of heightened drama on a vast Astroturf stage.

Younger Mike, played by the handsome Thomas Gorrebeeck, has strong vigor in his depiction of the hunky football quarterback we wish was gay, and who, it turns out, is. 

Colossal's Thomas Gorrebeeck and Jason Stojanovski

While his deeply closeted on-team affair is hindered, his older self replays his on-field injury while resisting physical therapy and his sardonic trainer. Gorrebeeck leads a tightly choreographed team of actors, a Greek chorus in compression pants and shoulder pads.

Colossal should also be enjoyed for the empathetic yet mostly somber Mike, played by Jason Stojanovki. That he is both disabled and Australian are of note, and fulfill a goal of real representation, even in such a designed style.

PINS print and Kindle giveaways

Spring into action for a free copy of my debut novel, PINS.
Gay grapplers. Get a grip.

I'm currently giving away a few free Kindle Editions of PINS, for who have yet to read it.Two more weeks.

For a signed personalized print edition, check out the GoodReads giveaway. 
That's open until April 6. 

Gaily Forward: on the Theatre of Writing

So, do we write best with what we know, or what we discover while performing as if we know?

Gay author Garth Greenwell discusses the roots behind his breakaway hit, What Belongs to You, in a Gawker feature, "This is Just a Great Sermon on the Desperate Urgency of Public Gay Identity."
He discussed the urgency of drawing on out gay lives to be honest, and a lot more.

Here's just one great quote:

I would also say that stigma about gay novels, which I do think is often expressed by gay writers who say, “I’m not a gay writer,” or, “This isn’t a gay novel—this might be a novel with gay characters,” or, “I’m a writer who happens to be gay, but that’s not the identity.” I would never want to put any pressure on anyone to identify in any way in any aspect of their lives, but to me it feels kind of desperately urgent to identify as a queer writer, and to say that this is a queer novel. And I think part of that is because of the political moment we’re in.