Yesterday we told you about the play Wig Out! If you’re still undecided about seeing it, check out the great review below.
Father, mother, children. The image of the perfect nuclear family. But images can be misleading.
Sometimes they are just an illusion, a complete fabrication designed to simulate the real thing. That is the primary purpose of the drag ball community, where young gay men, from different “housesâ€, walk the runway in competition with one another, in a range of various feminine and masculine guises through categories of simulated “realness.â€
It is also the central premise behind Wig Out!, an engaging new Off Broadway play now showing at The Vineyard Theatre in New York.
Wig Out! tells the story of two rival houses on the eve of a ball and the interwoven lives of the people who inhabit them. These are houses less in the physical sense but more spaces where a house mother, father and “the children†gather to plan their ball performances, while doling out love, discipline, mutual support and more than a little “shade†and manipulation.
The House of Light is led by Lucian (Erik King, of tv’s Dexter), a powerful, masculine, Svengali-like figure, with a profound sense of entitlement. House mother is Rey-Rey (Nathan Lee Graham), a legend in the ball community who can somberly recall the days when the house was nearly lost to AIDS. Their children are Ms. Nina (Clifton Oliver), Venus (Joshua Cruz) and Deity (Glenn Davis), the house DJ, whose own masculinity seems to pose a threat to Lucian.
Their rivals from The House of Di’Abolique have challenged House of Light to a Cinderella Ball, in which they are expected to prepare and perform that same day. Serena (Daniel T. Booth), a larger-than-life, over-the-top drag queen, is the mother there, while Loki (Sean Patrick Doyle) is her ex-House of Light little toady.
Rounding out the cast are The Fates 3—a scene stealing Greek chorus of real female members of the House of Light—made up of Fay (Rebecca Naomi Jones), Fate (Angela Grovey) and Faith (McKenzie Frye). Andre Holland plays Eric, a young man not entirely comfortable with his own sexuality, who ends up sharing feelings with Ms. Nina.
This mix of drama-filled situations and personalities is the brainchild of Tarell Alvin McCraney, one of the bright new lights in the theatre community, who gave us last season’s The Brothers Size at The Public Theater.
Ironically, the play is billed as a comedy yet it touches on serious subject matter.
People join houses and create a family structure often because they’ve been disowned by their biological ones. That fact is alluded to by several characters who offer soliloquies that begin with the phrase, “My grandmother wore a wig…†They then proceed to tell stories of childhood masquerading in women’s attire, indicative of the fact that they knew early on they were different from other kids. We can only assume this fact wasn’t well received at home. (more)
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
Thanks for the love.