John Nasca likes a challenge.
Earlier this year, the Pride Films and Plays artistic associate designed dozens of glittery costumes for the company's regional premiere of Priscilla Queen of the Desert: The Musical—all on a very tight budget. For his efforts, Nasca won another costume design Jeff Award to add to his previous one for a Pride Films and Plays revival of Noel Coward's Design for Living.
Now Nasca is not only tackling the costume designs for Pride Films and Plays' Chicago premiere of The Nance, he's also directing Douglas Carter Beane's historical gay drama. It's a play that Nasca has wanted to stage since he saw the 2013 world premiere of The Nance on Broadway.
"I thought it would be a great fit for Pride Films and Plays," Nasca said.
And that's despite the elaborate turntable sets designed in the original production. Tony Award-winning set designer John Lee Beatty was able to quickly shift between multiple locations of 1937 New York ranging from an Automat restaurant to the backstage areas and proscenium stage of the long-gone Irving Place Theatre.
"The big challenge for us was to translate that into our space," Nasca said. "And after many hours of discussion the set designer and technical director, we figured out a way to do it all without a revolving stage."
Nasca also noted that The Nance is actually a musical masquerading as a drama, since it is filled with full-out burlesque comedy songs. So Nasca is very glad to have music director Robert Ollis aboard for the production leading a live five-piece band.
The Nance focuses on the once-thriving burlesque theatrical world known for elaborate female stripteases and sexual innuendo-filled comedy sketches. One of the popular stock character types was known as an effeminate ( and thinly veiled homosexual ) dandy known as a "nance"—a likely variation on the derogatory gay putdown "Nancy boy."
In writing The Nance, Beane copiously drew from author George Chauncey's thoroughly researched 1994 non-fiction book Gay New York: Gender, Urban Culture and the Making of the Gay Male World 1890-1940. Instead of basing The Nance on a historical actor, Beane created a fictional one called Chauncey Miles that was written specifically for Tony Award-winning star Nathan Lane. ( Beane also acknowledges the character was named so as a major thank you to George Chauncey and all of the research in his book. )
To play Chauncey Miles, Nasca sought out gay actor Vince Kracht to navigate the role's drastic shifts between cartoonish comedy onstage to painful personal moments offstage. Unlike Nasca, Kacht did not see The Nance on Broadway. Yet Kacht feels like that's a good thing because it allows him to build up his take on the character of Chauncey Miles away from the shadow of Nathan Lane's towering performance.
"It freed me up to do whatever I wanted," said Kacht, noting that he drew from many influences ranging from the late gay actor/director Charles Nelson Reilly to Bert Lahr's performance of The Cowardly Lion in The Wizard of Oz. "For the audience, I wanted to kind of bring things that were familiar to them."
In addition to personal drama between Chauncey Miles and the young gay man he picks up called Ned ( Royen Kent ), a lot of politics course through The Nance. Chauncey is a staunch Republican, despite the left-leanings of many of his stripper co-stars who seek out help from the actor's union.
And in the time The Nance is set, the whole network of New York burlesque theaters were under threat. Just ahead of New York's staging of the 1939 World's Fair, then-Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia went on a harsh crack down on all kinds of "vice"—particularly targeting the sexual content in burlesque shows.
Nasca says designing the costumes for The Nance is right in his wheelhouse, since he normally loves exploring the fashions of the 1920s, '30s and '40s. But he's also keen for audiences to learn about the historically coded gay city life explored in The Nance.
Nasca said he also wants audiences to look at The Nance in the context of our own times—especially with so many political divisions and opposing views on sexuality.
"In the four years since the play was written, so much has changed politically in this country. At one point, I realized that it was more relevant now," Nasca said. "Going into rehearsals and exploring the play, I do see that Chauncey really was ahead of his time where he wanted to be himself both onstage and offstage. Although it's suggested that he get married to one of the burlesque girls, he also refused to do that because he didn't want to mask who he was."
Pride Films and Plays' Chicago premiere of Douglas Carter Beane's The Nance continues through Sunday, July 30, on The Broadway stage of the Pride Arts Center, 4139 N. Broadway St. Tickets are $30-$40; call 800-737-0984 or visit PrideFilmsAndPlays.com .
