THE GOLDEN GAYS Opens 9/10 At The Cavern Club Theatre In Silver Lake

Opening night for The Golden Gays is set for September 10th 2009 at the Cavern Club Theatre in Silver Lake. Produced by Los Angeles based writer John Trapper, this new work explores the world of four older gay men who are unhealthily obsessed with the famous foursome. Thanks to their equally dysfunctional therapist, they are able to explore their obsession through a novel new therapy. Through the process, they are also able to search their shallow souls for answers to other questions facing older gay men, the answers often coming in the form of a show tune from the decades familiar to thirty-somethings and above.

The Golden Gays is scheduled for a three week run (September 10th through September  27, 2009)  at the Cavern Club Theatre in Silver Lake with performances at 9pm. Tickets are $30.00 and can be purchased in advance through plays411com. or directly via www.thegoldengays.com.
The Cavern Club is located at 1920 Hyperion Avenue in Silver Lake 90027. The Theatre is adjacent to gay-friendly hot spot Casita del Campo, a Mexican Restaurant and Bar, featuring some of the best Margarita’s to be found this side of the border.

Widestance Productions is founded by John Trapper and has had various incarnations in Philadelphia and Boston. The company is a vehicle for Trapper to write and see what happens when talented directors and actors take over. Normally Trapper tends towards what he perceives to be more meaningful work, while this show has none. “I have written and rewritten this script a couple times a year for the past twelve years. It’s really just an excuse to put four men in dresses and make them say funny things in the spirit of the most amazing sitcom ever.  If there does turn out to be a message, it certainly isn’t intentional!”

The show is Directed by Minnesotan Lori J. Ness Quinn with Musical Direction by Robert Decker.

As always with his shows, Trapper will use this production as a fundraiser for a gay related charity. This run, $1.00 of every full price ticket sold will go to The Life Group Los Angeles, Founded in
2005 The Life Group LA provides free of charge, much needed information and emotional support through medical forums, emotional support groups and the POZ Life Weekend Seminar. All services are offered in a non-judgmental and safe environment with compassion and
understanding. In addition, Trapper is working on securing a large venue in Long Beach in which one large-scale performance of the show will benefit the Care Program at St. Mary’s Hospital, where the majority of HIV positive individuals in the Southbay receive resources relevant to their status.

It seems like only yesterday that the world saw for the first time four older women living together as roommates over American Network Television. Of course it helped that three of these women were already in our comfort zone. Bea Arthur and Rue McClanahan had won accolades as neighbors on Maude, and Betty White was familiar to us as the ironic bitch “the Happy Homemaker” from the Mary Tyler Moore Show (and that was way before we had a real one in Martha).  Of course, those in the Theatre know were already familiar with Estelle Getty through her work on Broadway in Torch Song Trilogy. For the first time,  women were growing old as vital and vibrant, sometimes even naughty before our very eyes. I’ve often wondered how this show changed the way older women actually live in our society, I know it gave me a renewed perspective on how I perceived them.

Without much of a break, this show has been on television consistently since 1995, at first for seven original seasons, and then in syndicated reruns on cable television. There was one scare in 2008 where the show switched suddenly from one network to another, but alas, if you don’t remember every line from the show you can still get it on your TV.

It could be said that no one loved the girls as much as gay men. For those within a community that stereotypically focuses on youth and physical beauty, we saw these girls struggling with loss off youth and reinventing themselves as witty and relevant and still sexy.  Young gays saw something difficult to find - warm and tender friendships.

The spirits of all four are passed from generation to generation as demonstrated by regular mentions on youth oriented TV shows and Facebook quizzes like “which golden girl are you?” And we still just can’t get enough of them!

Damian, Roger, Blaine and Samuel are extreme examples of men who took this idolization of the girls to any unhealthy level. They have undergone psychotherapy for nearly a decade each without success. Finally, their equally warped therapist Dr. Leche reaches a drastic conclusion,  that these men would have to “be” the girls to get them out of their systems. So, with dresses wigs and make-up on, they all move to South Beach.  The men shift in and out of their female counter-personalities struggling with the issues of growing older as men. Often the answers come in a parody of a classic show tune.

This show is dedicated to elderly gay men (and that means over 25), in hope that we all embrace growing older with pride and dignity. May we all have the intellect of Dorothy, the kindness of Rose, the wit of Sophia all wrapped in the never fading sensuality of Blanche. Thank you all for Being a Friend.

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