"INSIDE OUT," About Face Youth Theatre at About Face Theatre
BY LUCIA MAURO
I recently received news that a colleague’s wife had just given birth to a baby. "Boy or girl?" was one of the first questions that popped into my mind. But, after seeing About Face Youth Theatre’s latest original production, "Inside Out," I stopped short – rephrasing my question as, "What did you name the baby?" The reason for my newfound hesitation grew out of awareness gleaned from this astute and sensitive work addressing the rarely dramatized topic of transgender. And, as these confident young writer-performers point out, "Gender is more than what you look like on the outside."
Now in its fourth year, the About Face Youth Theatre (AFYT) – overseen by adult ensemble members of About Face Theatre – does not restrict itself to heavily-trodden territory, like coming out or AIDS (which is not to diminish the ongoing importance of either one of those topics). Instead these high school and early-college age artists explore multiple shadings of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning experience.
The frankness and bittersweet humor they bring to the stage is nothing short of exhilarating. Fostering a dialogue about life-shaping topics through creative and heartfelt performances bodes well for the future of theater and our society.
Before we discuss "Inside Out" in greater detail, About Face’s adult mentors deserve credit for providing youth with a safe and nurturing environment for self-expression. They are AFYT’s artistic director Megan Carney; AFT’s educational programs director Brian Goodman; and teachers Zahra Baker, Amy Beck, Eric Rosen and Paul Oakley Stovall.
The diverse ensemble – AFYT’s most synergistic to date – deserves applause for its mature and balanced approach. They are: Tony Alvarado-Rivera, Rohan Barrett, Brenna Conley-Fonda, Guillermina Delgado, Adena Joy DeMonte, Alicia Kismet Eler, Charlie Engman, Stephanie Gentry-Fernandez, Cres Hernandez, Steve Hnilicka, Andy Hunt, Janet (Rico) Johnson, Ethan Littleton, Kamika Royal, Rebecca Rubenstein, Dan Rymer, Beatrice Smigasiewicz and Gail Elyse Wittenstein.
This year’s production also marks a turning point for an ensemble obviously reaping the rewards of working together for a sustained and productive period of time. In addition to the bold and secure performances, "Inside Out" features more structured scenes looking at issues from various vantage points. Previously, AFYT shows favored abstract tiers of storytelling. "Inside Out" develops its characters and places them in very real and complex situations. In essence, the ensemble gives a concrete structure to the intensely malleable issue of transgender.
Further expanding its reach, AFYT examines other forms of "in between," like individuals torn between races and nationalities, with equal balance and uninhibited insight. Stephanie Gentry-Fernandez stands out for her soulful performance-poetry odes to her mixed Mexican and Irish heritages. She wisely questions, how can one truly be MexiCAN or AmeriCAN in a place where everyone tells you "you can’t."
The most fully realized segment involves ensemble members playing a subtle and stylized game of musical chairs in which they address the limiting and confusing nature of public bathrooms. Worthy of its own play, these restroom-based monologues run the gamut of gender identity and gender pigeonholing, while contrasting these facilities as simultaneous safe zones and treacherous arenas for predators. One of the performers achingly states, "I wish I could go through one door – one door for all of us."
Homosexuality in relation to different cultures is powerfully addressed in a piece about a young lesbian poetess struggling to tell her strict Latina mother the truth about herself, and another incisive (but slightly one-dimensional) account of a gay Jamaican teen who moves to America, is disowned by his family and is eventually protected by a lesbian couple and their teenage daughter.
Other moving dramatizations of acceptance include a mother who helps her gay, cross-dressing son feel comfortable in women’s clothes and a hilariously on-target "he said/I said/she said" trio in which a lesbian explains her penchant for dating boys. When her boyfriend tries to define her sexuality, she snaps, "You don’t get to pick my label." The show weaves in unsentimental sequences about teens’ fear of AIDS and the high number of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth getting thrown out of the house by their parents.
A short monologue on a young woman choosing an androgynous name, paired with a young man who insists on adding his mother’s maiden name to his last name, bring the all-encompassing issue of gender identity full circle.
The production also exists on a multilayered visual plane. Set and lighting designer Darin Keesing creates a series of compartmentalized shelves stacked with the stored remnants of one’s life time – umbrellas, wig heads, a bird cage, a vintage radio, a canister of Jays potato chips and a Miss Piggy doll. (Side note: Since this is the final About Face show at the Jane Addams Hull House, which has been sold to real-estate developers, the set incorporates props from previous About Face productions.)
Doors then open into closets housing more mementos of one’s alter ego. The seemingly stable scenery, however, continues to move throughout the show – constantly shifting our perspective and opening the intricate caverns of our own perceptions (or misperceptions) in the process.•
About Face Youth Theatre’s production of "Inside Out" (in association with About Face Theatre and Horizons Community Services) runs through July 28 at About Face Theatre, 3212 N. Broadway. Tickets: $22-$25. The July 4 performance at 8 p.m. is free to all youth ages 20 and younger. Call 773-549-3290 or log onto www.aboutfacetheatre.com. For more information on About Face Youth Theatre, visit www.afyt.com.
