Live Performance Review

Performance Should’ve Stayed “In the Closet”
By Jessica Maas

“Here to get straightened out, right?” asked Dr. Alan, the sexual reform therapist played by Cooper Wilson in the staged reading of “The Glass Closet” on Feb. 28. His patient Tom, played by Kelly Miller, became increasingly confused about why he was there, though, the more time he spent with Dr. Alan, but at least he had company. “The Glass Closet,” written by Ben Harpe and directed by Alex Clothier, did not only fail to be funny or innovative, but was puzzling to watch and potentially offensive.

The play seemed to be trying to say something about the difficulty Christians have with accepting their gay sexual orientations, but it attempted to do so many things at once that it wasn’t successful at any one of them. Some of the scenes were supposed to take place on the set of a television sitcom, but were indistinguishable from the other scenes. The presence of the narrator, who sat unobtrusively off to the side of the stage, could’ve easily solved this, but his character wasn’t taken advantage of and, as a result, it was impossible to separate the “television script” storylines from the “real-life script” storylines; this was only the beginning of the confusion.

A combination of bad acting and multiple roles given to each actor solidified the downfall of the rest of the play. Wilson played five characters just himself, and though his characters were generally discernible from each other, both Miller and Sam Grobbel, each of whom had two parts, seemed to be playing the same person in both roles. This problem, whether an acting or directing or writing issue, created a muddled understanding of the story and shattered the potential effect it could have had, slight as that may have been.

If that weren’t enough, gay stereotypes popped up so frequently that it was cringe-worthy. First there was Kyle, the flamboyantly effeminate gay man played by Wilson who spoke in a high-pitched voice and dramatically stretched himself across the couch to read a romance novel. Then there was the pastor, also played by Wilson, who condemned gays, though it turned out he was one himself, and the description that Kyle and Molly, played by Colleen Watt, used to talk about another gay man: “The pink spandex gym shorts were the first clue” and “Straight men don’t spend so much time on the elliptical.” The cliché with the title only contributed to the poor quality of the play, with the explanation of “Like he’s in the closet but everyone can see you there” and Molly’s statement of “People in glass closets shouldn’t throw stones.”

Though much of that was probably meant to be funny, it comes at a bad time for a gay community that’s struggling to make headway in society and deter the use of stereotypes. And if those characters and lines weren’t enough of a fault, the line “Everyone’s gay these days, its hip!” by Ruth, played by Watt, is sufficient for offense. “The Glass Closet” should’ve simply stayed in the closet.