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Grimsley Takes on The Church
Lizard of Tarsus uses humor and drama to examine roots of homophobia and other evils
Atlanta's perennial bad boy playwright Jim
Grimsley takes a sip of wine and says, "I'm finding
out that a lot of people don't like Saint Paul —
especially gays and women...He just took over the
church. And as a result Church life today is based
far more on his teaching's than Christ's. Paul is the
one who codified misogyny and homophobia."
Southern Voice's Candace Wiggins talks to Grimsley
about this, his new play and the future of the arts in Atlanta.
Jim Grimsley's new play Lizard of Tarsus opens
Wednesday, January 31at Seven Stages Theatre in Little 5
Points. It deals with controversial, albeit humorous, subject
matter. That's what theatre-goers have come to expect from
Grimsley, the soft-spoken winner of New York's 1988
George Oppenheimer Award for best new playwright for his
Mr. Universe, a gay-themed mystery comedy-drama.
After Universe came the dark, disturbing and homoerot
ic Math and Aftermath. Next, Grimsley's Man With A Gun
played as part of a trilogy of AIDS plays at Atlanta's Nexus
Theatre.
The chaotic and all too life-like White People was
Grimsley's last Atlanta production.
SV: Tell us what you've been doing lately.
JG: My last play was White People. At the time, we
already had scheduled this production. I have rewritten
Tarsus once since we got out of White People and spent the
rest of last year relaxing and trying to see how much money
I'm going to have next year; if I can live on it I've also
worked on some fiction. And, I sold my first novel! Winter
Birds is a book I finished about four years ago. I've sold it
to a German language publisher and hope to sell it to an
English language publisher soon. (It) should be out in 1991.
Odd it should be bought in German before English.
SV: A prophet without honor...
JG: Really, (laughs)
SV: This brings us closer to Lizard of Tarsus. Tell us about
what gave you the idea.
JG: It's set at the time of the second coming of Christ; Saint
Paul is still mysteriously alive and is head of the Church.
He has detained Christ for questioning so that the Church
can find out what Jesus has to tell the multitudes. The play
is about Paul's inquisition of Christ. I got the idea from a
lifelong resentment of Saint Paul. I'm finding that a lot of
people don't like him - especially gays and women.
He just took over (the Church). And as a result, Church
life today is based far more on his teachings than Christ's.
Paul is the one who codified misogyny and homophobia.
Tarsus is my attempt to come to grips with the way I was
brought up as a Southern Baptist and the whole concept of
spirituality in a modem setting. It's also a bit of rebellion
against the current idea of the bible as inerrant; a concept
that gives us 100 rules for daily living. That's just crap.
SV: Good. But what is there in Tarsus that would make
your typical gay or lesbian want to go see it.
JG: This play should have direct appeal to any lesbian or
gay man who has ever been in a Sunday School class, who
has ever been in Mass or a church service. I'm speaking
directly about our own religion, our Christian mythology
and I'm doing this in a way very few writers have done. This
is not something theoretical, I think this is a Very vital sub
ject and it's very, very funny.
SV: Kinda' like Durang's Sister Mary Ignatius; if you can't
laugh at something, you end up not really thinking deeply
about it.
JG: Exactly. People too rarely apply their sense of humor
to the Bible, to Christ, to all of that stuff. It's such a relief to
do that.
Everyone who has heard the play read - and I've read it
several times - rolled over laughing at certain parts. It's
such a relief to be able to laugh at all the things we've been
taught to revere. •
SV: Do you see the theatre, gay theater and other arts open
ing up in Atlanta in the '90s?
JG: I sure hope so! It seems the world could be going in
any of several directions. What I really hope is that public,
live performance is going to become very important again.
It hasn't been. The important mediums have been TV and
films. .
Ultimately, that's a very deadening way of "getting your
art." What I hope for the '90s is that theatre and live perfor
mance and concerts will become more important.
It’s possible because Atlanta should begin to mature
soon. For years people have been moving here, establishing
themselves. Now we're going into a phase where they are
beginning to care about their culture.
SV: It's like it's breaking down into citystates.
JG: Right. That's a good trend to encourage. There's abso
lutely no reason to homogenize this metropolis.
SV: What's next for you ?
JG: I'm trying to finish Belle Ives and I've got a play called
Borderland to shop around. Seven Stages is also going to do
a retrospective of my plays in the summer of 1991. They'll
be reviving Mr. Universe here.
versity over there that's interested in doing some one-acts of
mine as part of an exchange agreement with Emory.
SV: Thanks for the interview. And for Tarsus.
JG: Thank you.
•For information on, or reservations for, Lizard of Tarsus
call Seven Stages Theater at 523-7647.
•For information on play writing and directing classes
taught by Grimsley (as well as SAME'S Rebecca Ranson,
Barbara Lebow, Frank. Wittow and Michael Machinot)
contact the Academy Theater, 873-2518.
I'm looking forward to seeing it again. There's also a pos
sibility I'll be taking some plays to Poland. There's a uni-
A Rowdy stomp and swing with the lesbians! Two Performances Only
Featuring Deb Calabria, Denise Haskins, Lenny Lasater, Leigh McClellland, Chery Pittman, Melody Reifer,
Jill Ruhlman, Lesa Haynes, Linda Sheldon, Devonie Campbell and Jennifer Scott McNair
January 19th and 20th
8:00 PM
Written and directed by
Rebecca Ranson
Music by Joyce Brookshire, Ann
Duckworth, Melanie Hammet
and others.
First Existentialist Congregation
270 Candler Park Dr NE
Reservations: 584-2104
Tickets: $8
January 18,1990 • Southern Voice/9