From July 19 to 31, a small hardy band of thespians and more participated in “Rainbow Connection 2021,” a project, at the Community House, under the auspices of the Arts Project of Cherry Grove (APCG), that was new and different for most of us. This was devised theater, meaning that we wrote scenes for a week, rehearsed them, and then performed them at performances on the final two days. “Rainbow Connection 2021” honored the rainbow flag and its late creator, Gilbert Baker, who was a Cherry Grove resident from 1994 to 2016. It was also an intergenerational effort, with participants ranging in age from mid-teens to over 70. Leading “Rainbow Connections” were directors Adam Odsess-Rubin and Gaven Trinidad, from the National Queer Theater, and Sheila Morgan, APCG’s Director of Development.
We did theatrical warm-up exercises, then wrote monologues, dialogues, and poems about our favorite places in Cherry Grove; the rainbow flag, progress pride flag, and other community flags; Gilbert Baker; and what we think the Grove will be like in 2050. We created scenes of courtship, coming out, bereavement, and race and inclusion and exclusion. We projected what the rainbow flag would say about the Christopher Street and Castro and Market Street scenes, and heard about Pride Day, as experienced by a little girl of five and her two daddies. We spoke words that we had written and heard our words interpreted and spoken by others.
We had music from Rose Levine—“I Am What I Am,” assisted by Clay Giffin, who also played part of a Ludwig van Beethoven piano sonata on the first night; from Homecoming Queen Davida Jones—“Home” from “The Wiz” and “Over the Rainbow” from “The Wizard of Oz;” and Sheila and Davida in duet—“Get Happy” and “Happy Days Are Here Again,” echoing Judy Garland and Barbra Streisand. I wrote about the day I met my husband, Joe (played here by Gaven), when Rose Levine served as guest hostess for ‘hotdog night,’ at Top of the Bay, 19 years ago, and brought along Dan Lanning and his keyboard and sang “I’m the hostess/for the hotdogs/at the Bay,” after a song Ethel Merman sang in “Call Me Madam.” Amplified, I played the ocean, reading Wendy Pinkhouse’s words, intertwined with Wendy delivering mine about Lulu’s Bench, the rainbow bench at Greene Walk at the ocean. We ‘mentored’ an amazing teenager, Cleopatra (Cleo) McLaughlin, who mentored us equally, as she shared her discovery of the wonders of Cherry Grove and also played the ghost of pioneering trans activist Sylvia Rivera.
Sheila, as Wendy, and Adam, as Charlie Catanese, gave us anxiety and eagerness about attending a toga party, sans underwear. And we all bickered about which was the real pride flag. Sheila and Stephanie Trudeau shared a contemporary courtship scene, written by Wendy, and Sheila and Wendy gave us a futuristic, robotic one, penned by Charlie.
Matt Baney, Alison Brackman, and Andi Porzio were responsible for tech for the two performances of “Rainbow Connection.” DJ Stacey was in charge of music for the opening night gala reception on the Community House roof.
We got great response from the audience for our work, as we kept them entertained, with many of our scenes and anecdotes, and elicited deeper emotions from them, with the personal scenes that we tried to invest with poignancy.
During our lunch breaks, mostly at Cherry Grove Pizza, while we were writing the show, we had, as inspirational guest speakers, entertainer Boudoir LeFleur and Victoria Falls on drag and magic, Todd Erickson on Nature, Cherry Grove Community Association, Inc. (CGCAI) President Diane Romano recounting her coming out story, Archivist Lee Sharmat on her work with the Cherry Grove Archives Collection (CGAC), and Brandon Ballone, with me, on living with HIV. We were joined in our sessions at the Community House, for a day apiece, by Hollis, a student of Lee’s; young children David and Daisy, who brought their two daddies; and Carpenter, who lives in the Grove and whom some of us have known since he was a small child.
“Rainbow Connections 2021” was truly a community effort. Watch for word about “Rainbow Connection 2022” next summer.
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