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Fierstein’s Safe Sex
Offers Honest Appeal
Harvey Fierstein’s Safe Sex is a trilogy of
one-act plays combining a nostalgia for the
days when "the worst you could get from
loving was a broken heart” with an instant
fear that buries the longing for old style
intimacy deep in a grave of aversion. Through
subtle poetry and the forgetting there is in
laughter, Fierstein has given us insight into
the philosophical questions raised by the
necessary advent of change in sexual mores.
Through characterizations that are both honest
and appealing, he has given us a vivid look at
many of the facets of loss cut on us by AIDS.
Harold Lever, Producing Director of The
Actor’s Group (a new and welcome addition
to Atlanta's theater community), directed the
first two plays in the trilogy. "Manny and
Jake" and "Safe Sex" are similar in that each
piece places two men on stage to deal with the
new style of intimacy gay men are learning
or not learning (as the case may be) in
response to AIDS. Lever's direction, though
seemingly unfocused in the opening of
"Manny and Jake" and challenged by
technical realities in "Safe Sex," delivers
pieces that are rhythmically interesting and
particularly inviting for their sensitive, even
gentle, interpretation of Fierstein’s script.
Scott Sophos displays admirable range as
"Jake" in "Manny and Jake" and as "Ghee" in
"Safe Sex." Sophos' "Jake" is on the prowl,
aggressively seeking sexual satisfaction. His
"Ghee" is soft but haughty, and the character's
commitment to and study of safe sexual
behavior has crossed the line of obsession and
become a tool for manipulation and denial.
Ctms'Colcmans "Manny- is cold and ty '-
isolated. The intensity of his delivery never
strains believability, but rather underscores
the level and degree of his isolation. Fierstein
has placed some of his finest writing with
"Manny." Coleman understands that and acts
accordingly.
In "Safe Sex," Clayton Surratt's "Mead" is
energetic but frustrated in a five-year
relationship that has known many changes.
This is a piece about two people working
through relationship problems when their
personalities and expressions of personal need
are profoundly different. Sophos' character is
seeking security. Surratt's character is a risk
taker, probably in every area of his life. It's a
play on the theme of vulnerability versus
safety. Surratt and Sophos manage to move
the scene through its see-saw of energy cycles
despite technical difficulties with the large
see-saw on which the piece is performed.
Explosive bouts of honesty evolve in which
they take turns being up and down on either
end of the see-saw until they finally balance
in as real a commitment as either can make to
change and compromise. After one brutal
lecture, "Mead" says that it felt "so good to
finally get all of that said." It did feel good to
hear these actors and watch them play out
these dynamics via a near perfect visual
metaphor.
"On Tidy Endings," the third piece in the
trilogy, differs substantially in style and focus
from the other two. "Arthur" and "Marion," a
gay man and a straight woman, are brought
together by their love and loss of the same
man. "On Tidy Endings" is more grounded in
stage realism than the first two parts of Safe
Sex. Set in a nice apartment in a regentrified
inner-city neighborhood, the play is about the
Love Me Like
You Mean It
Poems by Leslea Newman.
Herbooks (P.O. Box 7467, Santa
Cruz, CA 95061), 1987. $6.00.
98 pages.
but I do not move. I do not move
because I am a ghost
Lcsfoa Newman's Love Me Like You
Mean It is poetry you give a lover as a
gift or share with a stranger during the
most common times of your day. It is
written in a simple, straightforward
fashion and touches the four comers of
every woman's life. I am convinced
Newman could write about fish emulsion
and make it poignant.
The sex sections of her book lead the
reader from the poet's Jewish herstorical
roots through childhood and adolescence
on into her adult Lesbian life. The
journey is well-crafted although not
without its moments of emotional
discomfort, as in "My Father’s Lap”
where she writes:
I am 16 years old and I am sitting on
my father's lap.
16 years old on my father's lap. He
kisses the top
of my head and plays with my fingers
as he holds my hand.
He plays with my fingers as he holds
my hand and his big
college ring mbs against my pinky. It
hurts. It hurts
This poem is one of several that deal
unabashedly with familial child
molestation.
Newman not only approaches
anorexia and bulimia, domestic violence
and the pain of love with candor, but her
sense of humor catches you by surprise
and delights you. "Adjustments" is a
wonderful and insightful depiction of
office woik, the majority of which is
done by women.
I interfile the piles
and bring them over to the files
where I file the piles and pull the files
making a new file of piles.
Then I make files
for the pile that had not files
and put them into a new file pile.
And tire poem goes on, never skipping a
beat or speaking untruths in its eight
sections. Newman finally entreats:
take tomorrow off
it's on me
take next week off
"Manny and Jake as played by (1-r) Chris Coleman and Scott Sophos in Act I of
Harvey Fierstein’s Safe Sex.
settling up process that happens after a death.
There's business to be done, emotions to be
purged and memories to be shared. There is
also a child - a young son - angry that his
father has gone away again.
John Owens as "Arthur" and Jan Chafin-
Zonder as "Marion" are captivating. Ms.
Chafin-Zonder brings a comfortable grace to
her role. Her commitment to this character
and the detail she has chosen for the portrayal
are rare examples of fine acting. Technically,
in one or two moments, she almost flounders
in forcing emotion for which she has
insufficient base. However, these moments do
not significantly detract from her
performance. They do, however, make
subsequent transitions more difficult for her.
Mr. Owens will steal your heart, but not
until he wants it His "Arthur" defies
stereotype through a characterization that is
remarkable for its variety, honesty and
technical proficiency. However, Owens tends
to rush his internal process. That is
unnecessary because any audience would
gladly give this performer a little more time.
The Actor's Group production of Safe Sex
is worth seeing. It is not an evening's
instruction on the proper use of a condom.
Neither is it a horror show that evokes and
manipulates our worst fears. It is a well-
written and well-produced trilogy of one-act
plays that gives great respect to those who
"want to change and not forget."
-Johnny Walsh
take next month off
oh secretaries of America
just take off
Other poems like "It's a Bitch Being
Butch", "Spring Fever" and "Ode to My
Hips" are hilarious proclamations to the
power of laughter and joy. The only two
pieces I feel give nothing to the overall
text are "Baby Dyke's Pantoum" and the
"poem for Janie". The former mentioned
leaves no impact on this reader and the
latter sounds too much like several pieces
preceding its place in the book.
Love Me Like You Mean It is a very
positive book of Lesbian love, identity
and hope. Newman ends her work with
"Secret":
wooden floor
and how my belly moves up and
down
with each breath I take
that I just have to sigh
with the sheer delight of knowing
that everything I want
is everything I have
Written with incredible continuity and
emotion, this should be one of the first
books of poetry given to any woman of
any age.
-Terri Jewell
Love Me Like You Mean It is available
at Charis Books & More.
I feel so content with the way
my feet push off gently against the
JH€ hCTOR'9 GROUP
3 One-Act Plays
To Benefit Aid Atlanta
Directed By Gregory
Blum & Harold Leaver
August 3-6, 9-13 8:00
PM August 7,14 3:00
PM
7 Stages Back Door
Theatre
1105 Euclid Avenue.
To Charge Tickets &
Make Reservations
Call 523-7647
Page 7