Steppenwolf Theatre Company's sixth annual Garage Rep is underway, and two of its three rotating repertory productions prominently focus on LGBTQ characters and issues.
"It really was just kind of a happy accident," said Greta Honold, a Steppenwolf producing associate who curates Garage Rep. "But we looked at it and realized for all three shows that activism emerges as a main theme."
On the roster this year is Pride Films and Plays' Chicago premiere of Topher Payne's dark comedy Angry Fags about gay vigilantes avenging a violent hate crime, Cold Basement Dramatics' take on Steven Simoncic's drama Heat Wave about Chicago's deadly summer in 1995 and Red Tape Theatre's Chicago premiere of Taylor Mac and Ellen Maddow's The Walk Across America for Mother Earth, a drag show mixed with Commedia dell'arte that depicts a flamboyant protest march from Washington, D.C., to Nevada.
Of course Honold stresses that theater companies selected to participate in Garage Rep aren't judged solely on their show's content. Many companies that submit proposals are considered for their status as rising itinerant storefront theater companies and how their programming will compliment or expand on what Steppenwolf currently offers on its own stages.
"It's a way for companies to get a little more exposure," Honold said, adding that the Garage Rep companies get an extended two-month-long run and hopefully extra word-of-mouth attendance since they're playing cheek-by-jowl with the other company's audiences—particularly those of Steppenwolf.
"The other cool thing about the Rep is you pick the three companies and throughout the fall we have a series of meetings with them and we try to give them a focus and concentrated creative and administrative mentorship," said Honold, adding that Garage Rep also exists in part for Steppenwolf to help bolster Chicago's vibrant storefront theater scene.
And occasionally a major hit emerges. In the 2012 Garage Rep, The Inconvenience's world premiere of Ike Holter's Stonewall Riots drama Hit the Wall became a hard-to-get ticket, and the show went on to be produced off-Broadway in New York.
For this year's Garage Rep, LGBTQ characters and issues are both prominently featured in Angry Fags and The Walk Across America for Mother Earth.
Angry Fags is the brainchild of Atlanta-based performer and playwright Topher Payne, and director Derek Van Barham is excited to stage it after its initial Pride Films and Plays reading back in 2013.
"When we talk about the show, we say things like 'Oscar Wilde meets Fight Club or Quentin Tarantino.' And I think that's really accurate because the language has a heightened sense, but it's also mixed with a very modern edgy aesthetic," said Van Barham about Angry Fags as a comedy where sitcom-type comedic characters get thrust into violent and tragic circumstances.
Van Barham also says that Pride Films and Plays is more than ready to play Angry Fags in repertory at Steppenwolf's Garage space since so many of their past productions at the Apollo Studio or Mary's Attic had to be physically taken down and removed after each performance and then reassembled for the next one.
As for Red Tape Theatre, the company is in a bit of restructuring as an itinerant company since it was recently forced to leave its longtime home at St. Peter's Episcopal Church on Belmont Avenue. But for major creative support, Red Tape Theatre turned to former About Face Theatre artistic director Bonnie Metzgar to direct The Walk Across America for Mother Earth.
"I understand the place that they're in trying to figure out 'who are we now?' How does a theater company exist outside of four walls?" Metzgar said. "So it's amazing to be a part of Garage Rep and that Steppenwolf stepped in help figure out what's next for Red Tape."
Metzar is also grateful that she's exposing Chicago to Taylor Mac predominantly as a playwright and not solely as a one-man queer drag performance artist ( Metzgar notably imported Taylor Mac to Chicago for the first time for the 2008 About Face Theatre run of his one-man show The Young Ladies Of ).
"Taylor Mac is so energetically surprising. You think you're going in one direction stylistically. In this play there's so many literary references and references to American activism and to lyrics of protest songs," Metzgar said. "But at its heart, it's a social critique and it's critiquing those of us who are blind to the idea of preaching to the choir—it's really all about a critique of the choir and just because we think that we are fighting a good fight, it does not mean that we are excused from seeking our higher selves."
Pride Films and Plays' Angry Fags, Red Tape Theatre's The Walk Across America for Mother Earth and Cold Basement Dramatics' Heat Wave continue in previews through March 6 with an official press opening weekend on March 7 and 8 at the Steppenwolf Garage Theatre, 1624 N. Halsted St. Regular repertory performances of all three plays continue through Sunday, April 26.
Tickets are $20 and $45 for a festival pass; call 312-335-1650 or visit www.steppenwolf.org for a complete Garage Rep schedule.
