There's an exuberant scene in Terrence McNally's play \Corpus Christi"" where Jesus officiates a gay marriage for two of his disciples. Beaming, the two clasp hands while Jesus blesses them and then urges their friends to go celebrate. ""Let's all go get very, very drunk!"" he shouts.
The scene resonates especially in light of today's political climate. Stage Q Artistic Director Tom McClurg obviously didn't know over a year ago when he picked the play that its opening would coincide with the day the state Assembly approved a proposed constitutional amendment prohibiting gay marriage and civil unions. He lucked out, though, because the play's coincidental timing makes its presentation all the more relevant--and controversial.
That controversy is fueling buzz over the show's three-week run at the Bartell Theater, 113 E. Mifflin St., and turning it into quite a cash cow. All but the Thursday night shows and the last weekend performances are sold out and two Sunday shows have been added. At the same time, protesters have flocked from Madison and out of state to denounce the untraditional, or ""blasphemous,"" version of their savior.
About 75 demonstrators besieged the theater Friday night, singing hymns and chanting prayers. ""The Bible makes it very clear that homosexuality is a sin-a very serious sin,"" said George Schleif of Madison. ""In a loving way we're trying to let people know they're wrong.""
The Jesus character in McNally's play preaches a message exactly opposite of Schleif's. The play tells the story of a Christ-like figure named Joshua who is persecuted for his homosexuality as he grows up in 1950s small-town Texas. It re-interprets various instances throughout Jesus' life, from his childhood with an absentee father and an unstable mother to his days as drama geek in high school and his sexual awakening with his classmate Judas. The action culminates with Jesus' betrayal by Judas and his subsequent crucifixion.
The Stage Q production in the Bartell's intimate black box theater uses only a few benches as scenery, and the actors all wear the same costume of khakis and white tuxedo shirts. But the exemplary all-male cast stretches the imagination beyond the simple visuals as they all portray several characters of various temperaments. George Gonzales, for example, shines as both a homophobic high school bully who tries to give Joshua a swirly during the prom and as his trusted cousin, John the Baptist. Morey Burnard, who lends his beautiful singing voice and guitar playing to accompany several scenes and Nathan Caracter as Joshua also give notable performances.
Schleif and others upset by the mere idea of Christ as a gay man or even just a sexual man would find much more to object to if they actually went in and viewed the play. There was enough material to make this Catholic critic blanch, like the portrayal of Joseph as a wife-beater, the one-dimensional stereotype of a Roman Catholic priest who tries to molest young Joshua and the scene where Jesus heals a diseased male prostitute by having sex with him.
But the sexually adventurous, hard-partying Jesus portrayed in the play is at the core the same Jesus taught to students in Sunday school. He still loves the lepers and Romans despite his disciples' protests and treats the lowest of the low as his equals.
So the message at the heart of the play, to love your neighbor as yourself regardless of his orientation, is hardly earth-shattering, and is certainly worthwhile. It's just a shame that those with enough conviction in their beliefs to stand in the cold outside the theater didn't come in to hear it.
The people who should really see this play are those who think they won't like it. They might be offended, but they are the only ones who could come away touched by the play's insistence that there are no undesirables in Jesus' eyes. For everyone else, the play just preaches to the choir.
