Lend Outward Spiral Theatre Company A Hand on Saturday, April 30th

Got a notice on this in my e-mail box the other day.

Unraveling Muses appears to be the fairy godmother to all kinds of worthy causes. Recently, they did a benefit performance for the queer youth drop-in center District 202.

Now they're lending their talents to give a boost to Outward Spiral Theatre Company, local GLBT purveyor of queer theater, with a little show they like to call

Dragstock
April 30, 2005
Show at 9pm, Doors open at 8pm
Performance is at Over The Rainbow
719 North Dale Street in St. Paul

Tickets are $5 in advance, $7 at the door
Net proceeds go to Outward Spiral Theatre Company

Contact - 763-807-6115 or UnravelingMuses@aol.com

In their words...

"The same artistic & producing entities that created the highly acclaimed 'What A Drag' and 'Outside The Box' are draggin' again. Unraveling Muses is proud to present their latest touring event, 'Dragstock.' Unrelated performances combine to form a fast and furious kaleidoscope of drag. Gender bending performers from multiple venues unite in this veritable dragapalooza to save the pioneer of queer theatre in the Twin Cities Metro area, Outward Spiral Theatre Company. Ten years in existence, this vital cultural entity is in danger of closing their doors for good."

They also call the potential closing of Outward Spiral not only an "artisitic injustice" but an "absolute queertastrophe"

(I know they're serious but it made me giggle a bit - queertastrophe - hee hee, I've had a few of those)

Here's the thing - they've been making "downward spiral" jokes ever since the theatre chose its name. But over the years Outward Spiral has contributed a lot of good theater to the local scene, and given some growing artists a home to cut their teeth and take some chances. A city with this big a gay community and this big a theater community, it'd be a shame to have queer theater relegated to just once a year during Fringe time, when people can "afford to" do gay and lesbian theater (bisexual and transgender, too, don't mean to leave anyone out).

Fact is, most of the pioneers in queer theater that came before them have come and gone, like many a good theater in this town, gay or straight. It's tough to get one going, and keep it going. It's a lot of work as well as a lot of money.

Seems they've got the people willing to put in the effort, so this benefit is to help them get the money.

I've got a soft spot in my heart for Outward Spiral, since we both had our first production in the Twin Cities in the spring of 1996. (Not together. Opposite each other, running at the same time in April. For some reason, we've never actually worked together. But I'm always of the opinion there should be more theater, not less, regardless of whether they're ever going to produce one of my plays or not.) Both productions were "AIDS plays," oddly enough. They had the granddaddy of AIDS plays, "As Is." I had a haunted love story 10-plus years into the epidemic called Heaven and Home.

Back when I worked at the flailing Cricket Theater, in the year before they got bounced out of what is now the Music Box Theater, home of Triple Espresso, the managing director bemoaned the fact that it was hard to get help for a struggling theater. The fact that we have so many is both a blessing and sometimes a curse. Does it really matter if one more goes under, if five crop up to take its place? I'd argue that it does matter. A theater shouldn't continue to exist just because it has existed, I'm not saying that. A theater, just like any other going concern, has to continue to justify its existence, to make itself something that people can't do without. But I'd argue that Outward Spiral is certainly deserving of a second chance, based on the work they've done in the past, and even the work they've done recently, even if it didn't entirely wow me.

My Cricket co-worker shook his head and said, "It seems like people would rather go to a funeral than take the time to visit the same person in the hospital."

If all we've got to do to help avoid another theater funeral is go see a drag show for five bucks, that seems a small price to pay. After all, they're going to give us some entertainment for our trouble. It's hardly root canal.

So spend some of your Saturday night lending a hand to a good local theater company that still has a lot of good productions ahead of it, if it can just get over a couple of rough spots in the road.

After all, as the Unraveling Muses signature quote goes, "We are all part of an ancient tradition...We are muses all."

And if you can't make Saturday, but want to shoot some money to Outward Spiral Theatre Company directly, their mailing address is:

Outward Spiral Theatre Company
PO Box 2049 - Loop Station
Minneapolis, MN 55402

You can check out Over The Rainbow online at www.overthebowtoo.com

Side note - Heaven and Home was first produced by The Early Stage and directed by the skillful Mr. Gregg A. Peterson, both of whom are hitting local stages again this summer as part of the Fringe with "Candy Ass! Saving a Sissy from Social Suicide" More on that later, but trust me, make it part of your "to see" list.

(For more of my writing - plays, past blog entries and more - visit www.matthewaeverett.com)