There's No Netflix for Theater

This week’s post is from Artistic Director of SU, Laura Leffler-McCabe.  And don't worry - there are more chances to see Ex-Gays at Intermedia Arts for the MN Fringe.

If you haven’t seen the television program Party Down, you really should. It’s on Netflix instant stream. It’s one of the few shows about actors that’s actually funny. Plus Adam Scott, Martin Starr, Jane Lynch, Megan Mullally - what can I say? I love a good ensemble.

Anyway, in season two the episode “James Ellison Funeral” is ridiculous and wonderful, as most of the episodes are, and the lovely Loretta Devine plays the widow. And she has this sage and touching metaphor about love. “You know what love is?  It’s a crock-pot... cooks at a low heat, day in and day out, and won’t fade."

I think Ex-Gays is a crock-pot.

It’s not a new metaphor, of course. Friar Laurence tells Romeo, “love moderately: long love doth so,” which basically means the same thing, except that he’s also telling Romeo to keep it in his pants, of course.

So my point? Right. I’m getting there.

Ex-Gays is the little show that could, our crock-pot, our long love. Which isn’t to say the show isn’t explosive, offensive and downright sexy. It is. You will also want to pull a Romeo and not-keep-it-in-your-pants. In the best possible way - no poison and swords in a tomb. Just love and lust and ribbon dances.

We closed the full version at Matthews Park this past Saturday and then turned right around and tech’d the Fringe version Monday night. That version will for run five performances during Aug. 4-14, at which point we’ll do final put-in rehearsals for the third iteration of the show over Labor Day weekend at the Duluth Play Ground during Duluth/Superior PRIDE. It’s more work, more rehearsal, more cake and frosting props, but it’s worth it.

It’s worth it because Savage Umbrella gets to meet new audiences at the Fringe and in Duluth, folks that might not have otherwise heard of us if it weren’t for the framework of these festivals. It’s worth it because more people are going to get to connect with this oh-so-timely material. It’s worth it, because it’s love.

The sad thing about Party Down is that I didn’t discover it until it was already cancelled. Ex-Gays has another month of life before it will be put to bed, so get under the umbrella with us at the Fringe! Because there’s no Netflix for theatre, right?