Dan Myers
Natalie Gerdung (left) and Emma Ruby Roberts in Andrew's Black's "Those Who Don't Learn from the Past - Oh Shit, What was that again?"
When I walked into StageQ’s opening night performance of Queer Shorts 2.0: The Reboot, the crowd was lively and vocal, the atmosphere charged. A drag queen named Sparkle dressed in a rainbow feather boa was making her way through the aisles, selling raffle tickets.
I knew I was in for a rollicking good time, and a celebration of community.
I wanted to shout, “People! My People!”
This version of Queer Shorts, which runs at the Bartell through June 18, is a great night of short scenes and monologues with such titles as “Case of the Gays” and “Snapchat Dickpicks.” It’s primarily a celebration of contemporary queer life, set against the backdrop of today’s technology distractions. Facebook, YouTube and, of course Grindr, all get skewered on the Bartell’s black-box Evjue stage, which is, ironically, the most low-tech of all entertainment experiences. Queer Shorts employs minimal sets, lighting and costuming to get across its central premise: We’re here, we’re queer, and damn, we need to tweet about it.
Some of the sketches, such as “Dickpicks” or the opener, “Thank You For Liking My Check-In” shoot (excuse the pun) for broad comedy. Shoot and score. From the opening moments of the show, the audience was rolling in laughter as two actors self-referentially playing “Queer Shorts” ushers “break up” their Facebook relationship in search of greener platforms. “I need to find my true self,” says one usher to the other, “with a newer social network. And there are so many out there.”
But not all the shorts are merely hilarious. In “That’s Not Me,” my favorite piece of the night, Remy (Loryn Jonelis) and Alison (Troy Meikle) examine the multidimensional world of gender identity on their QTube show. Being an old lady of 45 who came out in the days of ActUp and feminist body politics, I have to admit that many of the latest conversations about gender identity are new to me. Slowly but surely, I’m catching up. “That’s Not Me” sheds important light on gender issues, including the concept of being “two spirited,” and the use of body-poisoning steroids and surgeries by transgender people in their quest to become more true to themselves. These are not cut-and-dry issues, and this powerful piece by Steve Jay suggests that perhaps the real struggle for “two spirited” people is learning to accept themselves as they are, gloriously made, outside the box of binary gender.
At Queer Shorts 2.0 The Reboot, I sat in the dark, nodding my head, learning things about gender and queerness. I remembered things that I hadn’t thought of in a while. Mostly, I laughed and enjoyed this rare night of shared community. We are lucky in Madison to have a company like StageQ that’s willing to take risks in order to allow people to express themselves, and help us all appreciate ourselves for who we are. Rainbow feather boa and all.