As was hinted in the spring when the Corpus Christi controversy was brewing in North Texas, there's a new theater company in town, and they're not shying away from the derama. That group is QLive!, the live theater arm of Q Cinema, Fort Worth's Gay and Lesbian International Film Festival.
The 2011 season has finally been announced, and yes, Terrence McNally's protest-magnet Corpus Christi is on the roster, closing out the year. This will be the first time the controversial work, which many have dubbed the "gay Jesus play," will be performed in a full production by a local company. In June, a tour from California came to Cathedral of Hope in Dallas, but there was no local involvement in that production.
Although the play has more of an Easter theme—it tells of a man and 12 apostles in modern-day Corpus Christi, Texas, and parallels the Bible in the days leading up the Cruxifiction—QLive has decided to stage it in December 2011. Get ready for the protests now.
QLive! is lead by artistic director Kyle Trentham and Q Cinema's artistic director, Todd Camp. (In the interest of disclosure, I worked with Camp for 10 years at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, during which he was my editor for several years).
In addition to Corpus, QLive's season features three other full productions and a staged reading, with special engagements to be announced.
The group isn't ready to announce where it will stage its season, but a space at a Fort Worth landmark is being negotiated. It also should be noted that while affiliation with Q Cinema suggests that QLive! is a gay-themed theater company, not all of the works will have a gay bent.
Exact dates haven't been announced, but here's the season and months:
- The area premiere of Christopher Shinn's Dying City, about a wife who becomes friends with the twin brother of her husband, who was killed in Iraq. Interestingly, another local group, Dallas' Second Thought Theatre, has this title on its 2011 season, for June. QLive's production is in March.
- A staged reading of The Men From the Boys, Mart Crowley's sequel to his groundbreaking gay drama The Boys in the Band. The reading will reunite many of the cast members from Fort Worth Theatre's 2000 production of The Boys in the Band. April
- None of the Above, Jenny Lyn Bader's play about a 17-year-old private school student in New York, and her new tutor. September
- Yasmina Reza's play Art, about three friends who argue over an interesting painting that one of them has purchased. November
- Corpus Christi, about a man named Joshua and his followers. Among his many acts of goodwill and faith, Joshua performs a gay marriage before he is betrayed and crucified. December
Ticketing information has not been announced yet. We'll keep you posted on the deets.
