There’s nothing more titillating than spiking a modern day issue with equal parts humor and drama. That’s what “Bare: A Pop Opera” will attempt to do when the AU Dept. of Performing Arts stages the show on Feb. 23-25 and March 1-3.
The show deals with social issues such as religion and sexuality, all wrapped up in a tear-jerking piece of theater.
“Bare” came to the attention of Director Carl Menninger (who is also a professor and currently teaches “Fundamentals of Acting”) when a friend came to him and told him about a former student who had problems with a roommate who made homophobic comments.
“The student came to me one day and said ‘I wish I never came out; my life was so much easier before I did,’” Menninger said in an interview with The Eagle. “I thought to myself, ‘Wow, Carl, you are really naive to think that even at such a liberal university as AU, these students are not struggling with their sexuality and identity.’”
Set in a Catholic boarding school, the show centers on a group of friends during their senior year.
Peter (Carter Lowe) is in love with his roommate Jason (Sam Edgerly), one of the most popular kids in school. They are carrying on a closeted romance, but Peter wants to go public with their affair. Jason isn’t so keen on the idea, as he feels that his entire world would crumble if word of the relationship got out.
Things get more complicated when Ivy (Alyssa Wilden) makes a play for Jason. Her rejected suitor Matt (David Landstrom) discovers the secret that Peter and Jason have been keeping, and it’s only a matter of time before things take a turn for the star-crossed lovers.
Menninger’s first step was putting together a Bare Outreach Committee, led by his assistant Matthew Ingraham, a sophomore theatre major at AU.
Other committee members that helped to draw awareness to the issue include Matthew Rubbelke, Jen Grunfeld, Elise Arndt, Connor Coleman, Matty Grossman and Eddie Leavy.
The committee has been busy working with other LGBT friendly groups on campus and in D.C., including the LGBT Resource Center; Dignity, a group of practicing gay and lesbian Catholics; Sexual Minority Youth Alliance League (SMYAL); and Parents Families & Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG).
The culmination of working with these groups will result in a series of talkbacks after some of the performances of the show.
The first session will be Feb. 25 after the 2 p.m. performance and will focus on “Spirituality, Sexuality and Religion.” Panelists will be Allen Rose, president of Washington chapter of Dignity USA; Dr. Joseph Palacios, Georgetown University professor; Rev. Beth Irikura, director of youth ministry at Unitarian Universalist Congregation; and Sybil Roberts, dramaturgy adviser and moderator.
The second session will be March 3 after the 2 p.m. performance and will focus on “Struggles of Gay Adolescents.” The panelists are Alison Gill of GLSEN; Andrew Barnett of SMYAL; Phil Hicks of PFLAG; and Matt Bruno, American University GLBTA Resource Center program coordinator and moderator.
“I really hope people get some more insight on LGBT issues through the talkbacks,” said Eddie Leavy, a senior in the School of Communication. “The play does a great [job by] way of artistically speaking about these issues, and people will be able to get more real-life insight.”
Audience members will also have the opportunity to give back by filming their own “It Gets Better” videos after each performance. They will all be compiled into a larger video that will be given to Dan Savage, the creator of the “It Gets Better Project,” when he speaks at AU later in the semester, according to Ingraham.
The cast and outreach committee also participated in a NOH8 photoshoot to submit to photographer Adam Bouska’s grassroots campaign supporting the right to same-sex marriage.
“I just want one person to stop and reflect about assumptions they have made about this community, and then we have done our job,” Menninger said.
“Bare” performances will be in the Katzen Studio Theatre. The cast’s rehearsal process is available aubare.tumblr.com.
