The Call Is Places

Welcome from Artistic Director Joseph Haj 2017–2018

SEASON Dear Friends,

Romeo and Juliet When playwright Matthew Lopez wrote The Legend of Georgia McBride, September 9 – October 28, 2017 he intended it to be an homage to the drag queens who raised him in Wurtele Thrust Stage the only place he felt safe growing up – a small-town gay bar in the Watch on the Rhine Florida panhandle. Yet his play has become a legend, brought vividly September 30 – November 5, 2017 to life under the keen direction of Jeffrey Meanza, the Guthrie’s own McGuire Proscenium Stage associate artistic director.

A Christmas Carol You don’t need glitz and glam to fall in love with this heartfelt story November 14 – December 30, 2017 and unique cast of characters, but there’s no shortage of spectacle and Wurtele Thrust Stage over-the-top surprises. However, it’s what happens behind the pageantry that you may find most Blithe Spirit intriguing, like when Casey realizes his true talent November 25, 2017 – January 14, 2018 lies in embodying a woman – not Elvis – and McGuire Proscenium Stage when Rexy opens up about the deep wounds Indecent in her past. February 17 – March 24, 2018 Wurtele Thrust Stage For Lopez, drag is a populist art form accessible to anyone willing to put on a Familiar pair of stilettos and take the stage. It’s March 10 – April 14, 2018 also hard work that demands talent and McGuire Proscenium Stage tenacity, and his admiration for drag is evident from the opening scene to the Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner final curtain. As you get to know each April 7 – May 27, 2018 character, you’ll also learn the beauty Wurtele Thrust Stage of finding and claiming your “logical” family and how the families we create An Enemy of the People can heal, reveal and challenge us while April 28 – June 3, 2018 offering solace and community. McGuire Proscenium Stage I’m so excited for this spectacular show. It’s going to be legendary, and I’m June 16 – August 26, 2018 thrilled to have you along for the ride. Wurtele Thrust Stage

The Legend of Yours, Georgia McBride July 14 – August 26, 2018 McGuire Proscenium Stage

Visit guthrietheater.org for additional productions and play descriptions.

1 \ GUTHRIE THEATER PHOTO: JOSEPH HAJ (HEIDI BOHNENKAMP) The Legend of Georgia McBride by Matthew Lopez

The Guthrie gratefully recognizes Wayne Zink & Christopher Schout as Executive Producers; Dr. Mitchell & Cast Katherine Pincus as Producers; and in alphabetical order Brian Pietsch & Christopher Hermann as Associate Producers. TRACY Cameron Folmar*

Setting JO Chaz Hodges* Panama City Beach, Florida. Any time right about now. EDDIE Jim Lichtscheidl*

REXY/JASON Arturo Soria* Run Time Approximately 1 hour, 45 minutes with CASEY no intermission. Jayson Speters*

Acknowledgments The Legend of Georgia McBride is presented by special arrangement with Dramatists Play Service, Inc., New York. Creative Team Originally commissioned by The Old DIRECTOR Jeffrey Meanza Globe in San Diego, California (Louis Spisto, executive producer) and CHOREOGRAPHER Matthew Steffens originally developed and produced at Denver Center Theatre Company SCENIC DESIGNER Mikiko Suzuki MacAdams (Kent Thompson, artistic director), The Legend of Georgia McBride premiered COSTUME DESIGNER Patrick Holt in New York at MCC Theater on September 9, 2015 (Robert LuPone, LIGHTING DESIGNER Ryan Connealy Bernard Telsey and William Cantler, artistic directors; Blake West, executive SOUND DESIGNER Scott W. Edwards director).

DRAMATURG “Lost and Found” Jo Holcomb Music by Joe Tippett VOCAL COACH Lyrics by Matthew Lopez John Patrick

“Padam Padam” STAGE MANAGER Jason Clusman* Norbert Glanzberg/Henri Contet © Ed. Salabert c/o Universal Music ASSISTANT STAGE MANAGER Justin Hossle* Publishing ASSISTANT DIRECTOR Laura Leffler Special thanks to Music Affairs Services for their assistance in song licensing and NYC CASTING CONSULTANT McCorkle Casting, Ltd. to Calvin Adams for guitar coaching. DESIGN ASSISTANTS Alice L. Fredrickson (costumes) The Guthrie’s rush line is made Reid Rejsa (sound) possible with support from Target. Megan Jolene Winter (lighting)

Delta Air Lines is the official airline of the *Member of Actors’ Equity Association Guthrie Theater.

2 \ GUTHRIE THEATER THE PLAY

SETTING Panama City Beach, Florida. Synopsis Any time right about now. CHARACTERS Casey is an Elvis impersonator and tribute artist with everything going Casey (20s, white), an Elvis for him, including a flashy sequin jumpsuit. There’s no question that he’s impersonator who works at a natural, but he’s in the wrong place at the wrong time – at least so Cleo’s Bar far – and his act just doesn’t make it at Cleo’s, a failing bar in Panama Jo (20s, African American), City Beach. Casey’s wife Eddie (50s/60s), the owner When Eddie, the bar’s owner, decides to give his cousin Tracy a chance of Cleo’s bar to resurrect his club and her drag act, things start to pick up – but not for Casey. His long-suffering wife Jo is growing weary of their always- Tracy (40s/50s), Eddie’s cousin bouncing rent checks while Casey continues to drop cash on slices of and an elegant, down-on-her- pizza or yet another rhinestone-bedazzled jumpsuit. And as their finances luck drag queen named Miss hit rock bottom, Jo discovers she’s pregnant. Tracy Mills (sometimes referred to as Bobby) Their future seems bleak until one fateful night at Cleo’s, when Tracy’s Rexy (20s/30s)*, a not-so- partner Rexy has one too many pre-show drinks and can’t take the stage elegant drag queen named as Anorexia Nervosa. It’s the big break Casey’s dreamed of, but only if he’s Miss Anorexia Nervosa willing to trade in his jumpsuit for a pair of stilettos. He agrees, and “The Jason (20s/30s)*, Casey’s King” transforms into an all-out queen with the help of some new friends. lifelong friend, neighbor As his success and reputation grow, so do his personal conflicts with this and landlord newfound work that – much to Casey’s surprise – gives him the artistic fulfillment and family he’s always wanted. *One actor plays the roles of Rexy and Jason.

3 \ GUTHRIE THEATER PHOTOS: COSTUME SKETCHES BY PATRICK HOLT THE CREATIVE TEAM

Playwright Matthew Lopez Matthew Lopez is the author of The Whipping Man, one of the most widely produced new American plays of the last several years. The play premiered at Luna Stage in Montclair, New Jersey, and debuted in New York City at Manhattan Theatre Club. The Legend of Georgia McBride premiered at Denver Center for the Performing Arts and ran off-Broadway at MCC Theater in a production that received multiple Drama Desk, Lucille Lortel and Outer Critics Circle nominations. Other plays include Somewhere (The Old Globe, world premiere), Reverberation (Hartford Stage, world premiere), (London’s Young Vic and Noël Coward Theatre) and The Sentinels (London’s Headlong Theatre).

Lopez holds commissions from Roundabout Theatre “I have always loved the notion that Company, Manhattan Theatre Club, South Coast Repertory, for Casey, the path to true adulthood Williamstown Theatre Festival and Hartford Stage. He was a as a heterosexual male is through his writer for the HBO series “The Newsroom” and is currently discovery of drag.” developing Some Like It Hot (Broadway) as well as a film version of The Legend of Georgia McBride (New Regency/ Fox 2000/That’s Wonderful Productions).

Director Jeffrey Meanza Jeffrey Meanza has served as the Guthrie Theater’s associate artistic director since August 2015. In his role at the Guthrie, Meanza oversees the artistic department, including casting, producing, education, community engagement, literary and the Guthrie’s esteemed training programs.

An actor, director and educator, Meanza began his collaboration with Joseph Haj at PlayMakers Repertory Company in 2007 as director of education and outreach. In 2010, he was named the theater’s first associate artistic director, working closely with Haj to develop the vision and mission of the organization. During his tenure at PlayMakers, Meanza launched the theater’s Artist Residency program, which sent teaching artists into underserved schools to “The play never apologizes for what it prepare them to attend PlayMakers productions, and he led sets out to accomplish – to imagine the Summer Youth Conservatory, providing area middle and a world where the most unlikely cast high school students the opportunity to receive professional- of characters finds a way to build level training and performance experience. Additionally, something together in the most Meanza developed numerous community partnerships and unexpected of places.” managed the theater’s engagement programs.

Most recently, Meanza directed the regional premiere of Bekah Brunstetter’s The Cake for PlayMakers. He holds an M.F.A. in Acting from the Professional Actor Training Program at UNC-Chapel Hill and a B.A. in Theater and Performance Studies from the University of California, Berkeley.

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Designer by Day, Drag Queen by Night

By Patrick Holt Costume Designer

My first experience performing in drag was a solo appearance as Miss Piggy in my sixth-grade talent show. My parents and siblings were horrified, but I was amazed and empowered in ways I had never experienced in my 12-year-old existence.

5 \ GUTHRIE THEATER PHOTO: PATRICK HOLT AS TEMPEST DuJOUR (MAGNUS HASTINGS) Nearly 30 years later, I appeared as Tempest DuJour on the Emmy Award-winning “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” which has been credited for mainstreaming drag as an art form worldwide.

Yet men were donning wigs and makeup to play female parts in the theater centuries before RuPaul uttered her first “Sashay away!” From ancient Asian performance to classical Greek theater to the creaky wooden stage of the 16th-century Globe Theatre, female parts were written for and originated by men. The male actors who played these female roles were respected and treated like celebrities, and throughout history, many drag artists left their mark on American theater as mainstays on vaudeville, Broadway, television and film.

Growing up, I watched cross- dressing men on big and small screens in awe: actor Milton Berle, As The Legend of Georgia McBride poignantly shows us, comedian Flip Wilson as the sassy drag does something miraculous: It provides a family Geraldine, Klinger on “M*A*S*H” and Dustin Hoffman inTootsie . for so many who have been rejected by their own and Watching The Adventures of brings people of all communities together. Priscilla, Queen of the Desert was life-changing. And it’s important to note that I wasn’t drawn to drag There are dozens of drag genres, connection with an audience. because I wanted to be a woman. but when the music starts and But something equally fulfilling No queens I know do. Rather, the lights come up, we all get to has happened. I regularly receive like the men I watched growing share in the same campy, kitschy messages from people around up, I wanted to celebrate women and sometimes remarkably the world who relate to me or my through the art and absurdity of moving experience. story. They often ask for advice, hyper-theatrical imitation. What I help or an opportunity to express didn’t expect was to find a place The mask of drag wields magical their closeted feelings. As a young where I belonged. powers in my own life now. I’m person who struggled with a strict invited to A-list parties and religious upbringing and a society As The Legend of Georgia McBride approached by celebrities and that saw me as “less than,” being poignantly shows us, drag does members of my own community the voice and listening ear I never something miraculous: It provides who previously had no interest had has been the greatest reward. a family for so many who have in me or my causes. This success been rejected by their own and has allowed me to travel the world I have drag to thank for so brings people of all communities performing for amazing audiences much in my world – for opening together. The great drag superstar who understand and revel in the doors, for giving me a voice Lady Bunny once told me, “There’s love of the art. I’m addicted to and for helping me find a place room for everyone in drag!” That the thrill of live performance, where there’s always room for is one of the great gifts it offers. the sparkles, the lights and the creative expression.

6 \ GUTHRIE THEATER PHOTO: PATRICK HOLT AS TEMPEST DuJOUR (ANTHONY VAN DAO) CULTURAL CONTEXT

Drag queens inside Compton’s Cafeteria in the Tenderloin district of San Francisco, circa 1966

“Drag Ain’t a Hobby, Baby.” Understanding the Art Form

DRAG DEFINED of the form. Men have performed a man embodying a woman through Where does the word “drag” come as women for centuries in nearly drag is not necessarily a reflection from? An early definition found in every culture, due in large part of sexual orientation, the majority 1887 and cited in A Dictionary of to the fact that women were not of drag artists identify as gay men. Slang and Unconventional English permitted to perform onstage Drag performance allowed gay men (Eric Partridge, 1937) defines drag before the 17th century. In the to express themselves honestly as “the petticoat or skirt used by plays of Shakespeare and his and safely while entertaining actors when playing female parts; contemporaries, men were cast to audiences during a time when the drag of the dress as distinct perform women’s roles. displaying their identity outside of from the non-drag of trousers.” their performance could lead to Drag as we know it, however, serious trouble. THE LADY DOTH PROTEST: presents a very different A BRIEF HISTORY OF DRAG embodiment. Today, a drag queen In the 1960s, many gay clubs were The most famous drag queen of is a performer who creates and being raided, and drag queens our time, RuPaul Charles, became develops a persona for personal, paid the price in beatings and a household name when the reality artistic or political reasons – and the arrests. Their acts of resistance, television competition “RuPaul’s alter ego can be completely original which began in 1969 during a Drag Race” became a pop culture or modeled after other famous raid at New York City’s Stonewall obsession. Although this prime- performers with a unique twist. Inn, were rooted in a stance of time spotlight pulled drag into the opposition to the discrimination mainstream of performance art, In his definitive study of the drag art and violent treatment they had it is by no means the beginning form, Roger Baker notes that while endured. This unwavering defiance

7 \ GUTHRIE THEATER PHOTO: THE HENRI LELEU PAPERS, GLBT HISTORICAL SOCIETY played a major role in galvanizing As part of their performance, important part of their identity and the gay liberation movement many drag queens … have a can be a critical part of affirming and defeating oppressive laws in separate drag persona in addition their gender identity. many states. to the self they live as every day. This persona will of course Don’t assume that someone in As Rexy so profoundly states in look different but may also have drag is transgender or vice versa. The Legend of Georgia McBride, a different name and ask to be Just as the vast majority of the “Drag ain’t a hobby, baby. Drag ain’t referred to by different gender general population does not do a night job. Drag is a protest. Drag pronouns. This does not mean they drag, most transgender people is a raised fist inside a sequined are transgender. Just as actors also are not drag performers. glove. Drag is a lot of things, baby, do not keep being referred to It can be hurtful to refer to a but drag is not for sissies.” by their characters’ names after transgender person’s presentation stepping offstage, drag performers as drag because it suggests that DRAG AND GENDER IDENTITY do not necessarily keep the their deeply held identity is just a “Drag is a type of entertainment names or pronouns they use while show they are putting on – which where people dress up and performing. Drag performers are is untrue. perform, often in highly stylized artists and entertainers, so being ways. … Today, many prominent in drag is not an integral part of Being respectful of a drag drag artists are people who their identity in the same way that performer’s gender is the same identify as men and present gender is. as being respectful of anyone themselves in exaggeratedly else’s gender. If you’re not sure, feminine ways as part of their On the other hand, when a for example, of which pronouns performance. … While some drag transgender person comes out to use when referring to someone, queens live their lives as men and asks people to use a different just ask.” outside of their drag personae, name and different gender people of any gender can be pronouns to refer to them, it is Edited from “Understanding Drag,” National Center for Transgender Equality drag queens. … not part of a performance. It is an (www.transequality.org), April 28, 2017

A LEGENDARY PLAYLIST Check out our show-inspired playlist on Spotify, featuring dance-worthy numbers that will get you in a Georgia McBride state of mind. Start listening at www.guthrietheater.org/georgia.

SUGGESTED READING LISTS FROM SAINT PAUL PUBLIC LIBRARY

Queens, Kings, Divas Love Is Love Is Love Is Love The Rainbow Connection and Dance Top LGBTQIA+ book picks for A list of suggested LGBTQIA+ A primer on drag culture. every age. books for ages 0–6.

EXPLORE TITLES EXPLORE TITLES EXPLORE TITLES

From Drag Story Hour to Homework Help and 3D printing to services for job seekers, Saint Paul Public Library is open for everyone. Learn more at sppl.org/webelongtogether.

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