The gay connection to theater?- Page 4

[wizard2joe]

Posted: 6/28/09 at 11:36pm

SporkG,Oh yea I forgot but you get my point?

[yay_gerb]

Posted: 6/29/09 at 1:57am

can someone pass the popcorn?

[Rudy2]

Posted: 6/29/09 at 2:55am

^ Is this really that theatrical? To me it just seems like lively discussion. That said, I've never been one to buttery popcorn and sno caps.

Speaking of sno caps, you know how those little crunchy dots on them are called nonpareils? To me, the unanswered question is, if those are nonpareils, what are pareils?

But now I'm way off topic. :)

[BobbyBubby]

Posted: 6/29/09 at 3:16am

This is an utterly stupid questiont hat comes up ever so often on these boards,

What bothers me most is how the straight theatergoers get offended at being thought of as gay, Like it's a disease or something.

Honestly, you wouldn't have a majority of the great theatre works if it wren't for the talented, dedicated GAY theatre ppeople behind your favorite shows.

[Rudy2]

Posted: 6/29/09 at 4:41am

^ Bobby, I believe I have read every single posting in this thread. It seems you have not; fair enough, there are plenty.

Absolutely no one here articulates or suggests that he or she finds some sort of shame or horror in being seen as gay. Because of my tastes, and many other guys' on here, being taken for granted as gay is par for the course. If I go see Liza, it's gonna happen. It matters and it also doesn't. It depends on the circumstance.

Let me put it this way. I don't care one iota what other men think of men. At all. With women, it's different. I don't want them to think I'm gay. You can see why I wouldn't, right? I'm sure after I get married, if I ever do, I won't care about that either. :)

So, really, we're just waxing and waning, and I think surprising one another a little bit on this thread. And for practical reasons, at least oftentimes, it pays to be perceived as what you are, or rather, not what you aren't.

And just to touch upon your last comment - yes, no doubt about it. Imagine if there were no gay playwrights. I'm going through Williams' "Night of the Iguana" for the third time now and it still absolutely rivets me. And don't forget Albee and McNally. Scores of indispensible writing ripe for creme de la creme actors and actresses to sink their teeth into and make magic.

Updated On: 6/29/09 at 04:41 AM

[darquegk]

Posted: 6/29/09 at 10:52am

"Nathan Lane" has proposed the most original, some might even say controversial, point of thought so far, in his claim that if he didn't do theater he would not be gay. That brings up several competing questions.

1. Is one's sexuality really a choice?
2. Is the theater inherently gay simply by its development over time?

I'm going to say "no" to both of those, but that's just from my perspective and learning, not from everyone's. And as far as Question 1, we all know it's the Scarf of Sexual Preference that really makes the choice for us...

[SporkGoddess]

Posted: 6/29/09 at 11:39am

wizard2joe: Yeah, I get your point. Like I said, I've always found it strange that straight men tend to avoid musical theatre like the plague.

Actually, though, it depends. Most straight guys I know have at least one show that they like. It's usually Jesus Christ Superstar or Avenue Q or, in my brother-in-law's case, West Side Story.

[FlyingMonkey1223]

Posted: 6/29/09 at 3:22pm

Most men in theatre ARE gay. Half of them speak and a purse falls out of their mouth.

[Pippin]

Posted: 6/29/09 at 3:26pm

sort of like when you speak and Satan babies come plunging.

[FlyingMonkey1223]

Posted: 6/29/09 at 3:28pm

What?! In my experience the majority of the males in theatre are in fact gay. Not stereotyping, there are straight men in theatre, but they are usually fewer and far between then some may like to think.

[ghostlight2]

Posted: 6/29/09 at 3:32pm

Why would they like to think that?

and

Gay men keep purses in their mouths?

eta: not to mention, just putting the words "Not stereotyping" in front of other words doesn't make the words following that phrase less stereotypical.
Updated On: 6/29/09 at 03:32 PM

[FlyingMonkey1223]

Posted: 6/29/09 at 3:34pm

You'd be surprised at SOME of the homophobia in some men (and women!) who perform in theatre.

[ghostlight2]

Posted: 6/29/09 at 3:37pm

I swear the more you talk, the more obvious it is that you don't know anything at all about theater.

And for the record - very little surprises me.

[FlyingMonkey1223]

Posted: 6/29/09 at 3:38pm

LOL. Right. But I love you.

[ghostlight2]

Posted: 6/29/09 at 3:39pm

Yeah, sure - back under your bridge, now.

[FlyingMonkey1223]

Posted: 6/29/09 at 3:41pm

RAWWWRRR!!!! ::goes back under the bridge::

[jrb]

Posted: 6/29/09 at 5:16pm

I can't speak for anyone else but I came to theatre, as a gay male, because it offered me a place to express myself and to be celebrated for it.
Far too many young gay men feel the need to hide who they are - this is all too obvious. For heaven's sake, we call the act of declaring our sexuality as, "coming out" as if to say we've been locked away somewhere.
Theater offered me a place to be myself, to explore characters and try on different skins in a way that I couldn't (or felt I couldn't) in public. Your average straight child is expected to try out different personas but I wasn't supported when I tried to do the same.
I remember being threatened and spit at at school for being myself but when I did it on stage, an audience of hundreds applauded me.

I think the stage can be a cocoon within which gay youths - among others - are afforded a growth they cannot experience within a "regular" context. The audience is a kind of surrogate community encouraging that growth.

Does this ring true for anyone else? I think it sums up some of the reason gays and the theatre are so fond of one another.

[kchenofan]

Posted: 6/29/09 at 10:24pm

"Speaking of sno caps, you know how those little crunchy dots on them are called nonpareils? To me, the unanswered question is, if those are nonpareils, what are pareils?"

I've always wondered that, too. So I googled it and came to an answer: "Everything in the Universe except small, dark chocolate disks with little balls of sugar on them."
Proof

[xoangel2789xo]

Posted: 6/29/09 at 10:37pm

At my high school, it wasn't a big deal if the straight (as far as I knew) jocks did theatre. Though if you weren't masculine and were a boy, you probably did get made fun of a little bit.

[yay_gerb]

Posted: 6/29/09 at 10:55pm

actually rudy, reading this thread just honestly made me hungry for popcorn when i posted that.

[Rudy2]

Posted: 6/30/09 at 12:21am

^ Ahhh. :)

Funny about those pareils! Thanks for doing some research on it. I'm more of a nonpareil person though. You all can have your pareils if you wish. :)

[Nathan_Lane_Rules!]

Posted: 6/30/09 at 2:18pm

darquegk: I don't mean to say that somebody can make a choice to be gay or not to be gay. I just believe in a nurture over nature philosophy concerning homosexuality. I don't think babies are born gay. Or straight. I think society molds people. And theatre is what molded my subconscious into thinking, "maybe this is a possibility".

[frogs_fan85]

Posted: 6/30/09 at 4:33pm

From reading this thread we need to set up a BWW dating service for straight women so they can find the theater-appreciating men who post here.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 6/30/09 at 4:40pm

Phrynichus called Thespis a drama queen, bitch-slapping ensued and history was made.

[FlyingMonkey1223]

Posted: 6/30/09 at 6:25pm

Babies are born gay. It's not a nature vs nurture thing. Just like people are born left handed, or asian or black.

As I stated before, my experience is that there are very few truly straight actors in theatre.