It used to be a love that dared not speak its name. Now it can't stop talking.
Gay and lesbian subject matter, once forbidden on Broadway, is arguably the most popular topic among contemporary playwrights at the cusp of the new millennium. This month, the Fourth Unity will again serve up a giant helping of the works when it presents "Unity Fest 2000," a rotating program of new plays that supplant the old standard "boy-meets-girl" plots with same-gender attractions.
The Unity Fest offerings include Jim Doyle's "Love Me or Leash Me," in which son introduces his suburban parents to his new lover-whose name is "Sir" and who leads Ronald in on a leash. Karen Mueller's "Thazel Hofstetter Lives Here" focuses on a mysteriously absent father, an overtly abusive mother, a mentally challenged daughter, and a son who escaped it all 16 years earlier, as they are reunited for one last free-for-all.
Other plays include "Franco & Jimmy," a short play about disco and love battling for permanence by Roland Tec, the producer-director-screenwriter of the feature film "All the Rage;" and "Too Much of Me," a one-act comedy about a born-again Christian former-stripper preparing for the Apoc-alypse-in the home of her son and his lover-written by James Magruder, the librettist for the 1997 Broadway musical "Triumph of Love."
The plays, 11 in all, are all New York City premieres. The are performed in two programs over consecutive nights, at the Bank Street Theatre, located at 155 Bank Street in Greenwich Village.
The Fourth Unity is a not-for-profit group committed to the development of actors, designers, and playwrights, and the creation of a unique theatre, with a special emphasis on gay plays and gay playwrights. Additionally, the cooperative of actors, playwrights, and designers accepts scripts of new works to be considered for possible future production in its New Playwrights' Series, and presents frequent evenings of previously unproduced short plays by new playwrights.
For tickets to Unity Fest, call (212) 353-3837. For additional information, or to submit scripts for consideration, write The Fourth Unity, Post Office Box 208, Brooklyn, NY 11217-0208.