bars</tle><g id="el_oZ84Hna1GC_65hRV2Qwn" class="css-1fxvzwo" data-animator-group="te" data-animator-type="0"><g id="el_oZ84Hna1GC_ILVvi2tqx" class="css-1wnday1" ata-animator-group="te" data-animator-type="2"><g id="el_oZ84Hna1GC"><rect x="34" width="6" height="36" id="el_qw_T_tngXw"></rect></g></g></g><g id="el_mYVjkduhMU_p_9Pm85Ac" class="css-fwki7z" data-animator-group="te" data-animator-type="0"><g id="el_mYVjkduhMU_WxG3R40yd" class="css-t3i5e6" data-animator-group="te" data-animator-type="2"><g id="el_mYVjkduhMU"><rect x="22.67" width="6" height="36" id="el_lf9GrROk6j"></rect></g></g></g><g id="el_o-EuxhgoAw_kYNRGDfcw" class="css-t9te0w" data-animator-group="te" data-animator-type="0"><g id="el_o-EuxhgoAw_3c3bzSjOJ" class="css-1r5375t" ata-animator-group="te" data-animator-type="2"><g id="el_o-EuxhgoAw"><rect x="11.33" width="6" height="36" id="el_-iueO8klO0"></rect></g></g></g><g id="el_F7mSMPhqpC_y_fKcpSxn" class="css-qknaag" data-animator-group="te" data-animator-type="0"><g id="el_F7mSMPhqpC_R6bNB6_Ys" class="css-1vd04" ata-animator-group="te" data-animator-type="2"><g id="el_F7mSMPhqpC"><rect width="6" height="36" id="el_dS5TKNZZ5w"></rect></g></g></g></svg></div><div><div class="css-1t7yl1y">0:00<!-- -->/<!-- -->1:23</div><div class="css-og85jy">-<!-- -->0:00</div></div></div></div></hear><div class="css-uzyn7p"><div class="css-1vxyw"><p class="css-1nng8z9">transcript</p><h2 class="css-9wqu2x">Read T a Poem | Michael Benjam Washgton</h2><h4 class="css-qsd3hm">The actor reads "The Unsung" by Keenan Teddy Smh.</h4></div><dl class="css-p98d0w"><dt class="css-xx7kwh"></dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l"><p class="css-8hvvyd">For the Old Port built and built aga: I am sure you are different to me. We are k, though; we are both refuge and warmth, petn and hope, nnected by seas. your boats here are plentiful, but your huddled mass are greater; I feel no one sgs the songs of our kd anymore, no one not our role safe passage. Five me if I’ve been too vted, too ialistic about our sisterhood. Perhaps ’s our shared brownns, our shared tis, our shared rilience agast time and the ficklens of men that ma so nnected as if I uld leap om notre dame and scend to wh love, our songs and sorrows guidg me over rooftops and fé smoke plum. Unsung sats, lyg open for the world, if the lost and found won’t buttrs wh honor, we shall always hold each other.</p></dd></dl></div></div></div></div><script type="applitn/ld+json">{"@ntext":","@type":"VioObject","@id":","scriptn":"The actor reads \"The Unsung\" by Keenan Teddy Smh.","url":","name":"Read T a Poem | Michael Benjam Washgton","thumbnailUrl":[",","],"embedUrl":","ntentUrl":","uploadDate":"2018-02-26T05:05:13.000Z","transcript":"For the Old Port built and built aga: I am sure you are different to me. We are k, though; we are both refuge and warmth, petn and hope, nnected by seas. your boats here are plentiful, but your huddled mass are greater; I feel no one sgs the songs of our kd anymore, no one not our role safe passage. Five me if I’ve been too vted, too ialistic about our sisterhood. Perhaps ’s our shared brownns, our shared tis, our shared rilience agast time and the ficklens of men that ma so nnected as if I uld leap om notre dame and scend to wh love, our songs and sorrows guidg me over rooftops and fé smoke plum. Unsung sats, lyg open for the world, if the lost and found won’t buttrs wh honor, we shall always hold each other.","duratn":"PT1M23.709S"}</script></div><div class="css-1cueeje" style="paddg-bottom:56.25%;transn:opacy 300ms ease--out"><div class="css-1ihorw"><img src=" alt="Vio player loadg"/></div><div class="css-ew1078"><div class="css-ptry2i"><div></div><div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><figptn class="css-1ifea e1maroi60"><span class="css-1p4ky1 e13ogyst0">The actor reads "The Unsung" by Keenan Teddy Smh.</span><span class="css-cch8ym"><span class="css-1dv1kvn">Cred</span><span class="css-f4bmw8 e1z0qqy90"><span class="css-1ly73wi e1tej78p0">Cred...</span><span>Brendan Stumpf</span></span></span></figptn></figure></div><div class="css-s99gbd StoryBodyCompannColumn"><div class="css-53u6y8"><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">There’s an irony this, as the same quali that ma those classics classic also ma them, their origal ns, almost impossible to stage. No one wanted to touch “The Boys the Band” at first: no producers, no theater owners, no actors. When Luckbill, then 33, agreed to play Hank — the “straightt” of the gay men, who’d left his wife and children — his agent said he might as well bid goodbye to his reer. She was, md you, the play’s agent too, a lbian herself. But so heavy and lgerg was the perfume of gayns g off the project that even a heterosexual actor like Luckbill was thought to be mtg theatril suici to book . Mostly out of iendship for Crowley, a llege chum, he did.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">Luckbill went on to have a very full reer onstage and on screen — and so, to everyone’s surprise, did “The Boys the Band.” As the sixth-row prence of Jackie and Groucho suggts, crossed over to mastream awarens and even found succs, nng for 1,001 performanc. William Friedk’s fahful <a class="css-yywogo" href=" tle="">movie versn</a>, released 1970 and starrg the entire stage st, turned to a touchstone of gay style and sufferg for gays and straights well beyond New York. As such, is whout doubt the first play the Amerin gay male theatril non.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">I wre that admirg many of s spirual forebears, om Tennsee Williams’s “The Glass Menagerie” 1945 to Robert Anrson’s “Tea and Sympathy” 1953 to the early works of Doric Wilson, Lanford Wilson, Robert Patrick and many others who helped spark an efflorcence of downtown gay drama centered at Caffe Co, wh s makhift k-crate stage, startg 1958.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">But while buildg on those — and, Crowley says, on Arthur Lrents’s screenplay for Aled Hchck’s 1948 film, “Rope,” which two gay men murr a classmate for sport — “The Boys the Band” has had the more nsequential gay trajectory. If you doubt , look at the nam volved the 50th-anniversary revival: Jim Parsons plays the party’s host, Michael; Matt Bomer is Donald, Michael’s ambivalent ex; Zachary Quto is Harold, the “ugly pockmarked Jew fairy” birthday boy; and Andrew Rannells is Larry, one half of the play’s only tablished (if iffy) uple. They and the rt of the starry st are succsful, openly gay men, as are the producers, Ryan Murphy and David Stone, and the director, Joe Mantello.</p></div><asi class="css-ew4tgv" aria-label="pann lumn"></asi></div><div></div><div class="css-s99gbd StoryBodyCompannColumn"><div class="css-53u6y8"><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">This was a liberate statement, meant to acknowledge how far the world has e sce 1968. “The guys that are the leads,” Murphy says, “are the first generatn of <a class="css-yywogo" href=" tle="">gay actors</a> who said, ‘We’re gog to live thentic liv and hope and pray our reers rema on track’ — and they have. I fd that profound.”</p><div class="css-79elbk" data-ttid="photoviewer-wrapper"><div class="css-z3e15g" data-ttid="photoviewer-wrapper-hidn"></div><div data-ttid="photoviewer-children" class="css-1a48zt4 e11si9ry5"><figure class="img-sz-small css-nss59b e1g7ppur0" aria-label="media" role="group"><div class="css-zgakxe erfvjey0"><span class="css-1ly73wi e1tej78p0">Image</span><div class="css-nwd8t8" data-ttid="lazy-image"><div data-ttid="lazyimage-ntaer" style="height:247.46666666666667px"></div></div></div><figptn class="css-1ybnr6m ewdxa0s0"><span aria-hidn="te" class="css-1p4ky1 e13ogyst0">A still om the set of William Friedk’s 1970 film versn of “The Boys the Band,” which starred the entire theatril st.</span><span class="css-f4bmw8 e1z0qqy90"><span class="css-1ly73wi e1tej78p0">Cred...</span><span><span aria-hidn="false">Mptv Imag</span></span></span></figptn></figure></div></div><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">Crowley uld never have predicted that. In 1968 he sent his play to a world that, however much might lgh at his gay zgers, seemed likely to rema forever and fundamentally hostile. Mantello pots out the startlg paradox that all the gay members of the origal pany felt pelled to stay the closet “even though they were a groundbreakg play about gay men.”</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">But the way the world se gay people and the way gay people see themselv have changed so much, and of late so fast, that plays om even jt a few years ago n seem like Ken Burns documentari. In one sense, then, the classic gay plays are tnal: remdg a placent generatn of the stggl and tragedi (and fabulons) that unrlie the glossy image of rapid progrs. The normalizatn of gayns that has most ways been a boon has also shnk the historil eye to, well, another peephole. Further progrs, much need, requir a fuller view. And who’s to say the momento chang of the last 50 years n’t be swiftly undone?</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">“The Boys the Band” helped ce those chang, allowg for s reappearance now as a triumph of liberatn stead of an embarrassment to the liberators. The mistake the play’s many gay crics have ma is thkg that transformative art should be a form of boosterism. Rather, transformative art is needlg, Cassandra-like, tellg unfortable tths you ignore at your peril. “The Boys the Band,” once seen, uldn’t be unseen. “The people who cricize the play have the luxury to do so <em class="css-2fg4z9 e1gzwzxm0">bee</em> of the play,” Mantello says.</p></div><asi class="css-ew4tgv" aria-label="pann lumn"></asi></div><div></div><div class="css-s99gbd StoryBodyCompannColumn"><div class="css-53u6y8"><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">Ined, part of the reason “The Boys the Band” so clearly marks the start of the non is the way was swallowed up almost stantly by what helped to spawn. In the aftermath of the Stonewall rts of 1969, while the play still ran, s portrayal of gay male life me to be seen as unterrevolutnary, which was exactly backward, if unrstandable light of the rebrandg unrway. The characters’ promiscuo, boa-flgg, “Oh, Mary”-spoutg, drown-your-troubl--a-vodka-bottle histrnics were distctly off-msage durg the years when gay men were tryg to cultivate lawmakers and police wh their new imag as activists or pillars of the muny, not of Sodom. Even Albee, who Crowley spects vted secretly the origal productn, once tarred the play as “a highly skillful work that I spised” bee “did ser damage to a burgeong gay rpectabily movement.”</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">Were there not nelli at Stonewall? In any se, when rpectabily me, me at an awful price. AIDS, which drove the last nail the play’s reputatnal ff, also killed off most of s st. Between 1984 and 1993, five of the gay men the origal productn, as well as the director, Robert Moore, and the producer, Richard Barr, died of the disease.</p></div><asi class="css-ew4tgv" aria-label="pann lumn"></asi></div><div><div class="css-79elbk" data-ttid="photoviewer-wrapper"><div class="css-z3e15g" data-ttid="photoviewer-wrapper-hidn"></div><div data-ttid="photoviewer-children" class="css-1a48zt4 e11si9ry5"><figure class="img-sz-full css-1kwayi3 e1g7ppur0" aria-label="media" role="group"><div class="css-1xdhyk6 erfvjey0"><span class="css-1ly73wi e1tej78p0">Image</span><div class="css-nwd8t8" data-ttid="lazy-image"><div data-ttid="lazyimage-ntaer" style="height:257.77777777777777px"></div></div></div><figptn class="css-o5l7z4 ewdxa0s0"><span aria-hidn="te" class="css-1p4ky1 e13ogyst0">From left: Rannells. Watks. Actor ZACHARY QUINTO a Salvatore Ferragamo at, price on requt. Actor MATT BOMER a Sat Lrent by Anthony Vacrello jacket, $4,890, <a href="></a>, Ermenegildo Zegna polo, $565, (212) 421-4488, and Mr P. pants, $250, <a href="></a>. Actor CHARLIE CARVER a vtage Lee jacket, Office Générale T-shirt, $117, and Simon Miller jeans, $375, <a href="></a>.</span><span class="css-f4bmw8 e1z0qqy90"><span class="css-1ly73wi e1tej78p0">Cred...</span><span><span aria-hidn="false">Photograph by Inez and Voodh. Styled by Jay Massacret</span></span></span></figptn></figure></div></div></div><div class="css-s99gbd StoryBodyCompannColumn"><div class="css-53u6y8"><h3 class="css-emk09r e1gnsphs0" id="lk-4af067d1"><span>Act II. The Canon</span></h3><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">AND YET AIDS, wh s gdy ironi, would create the ndns that turned a “rpectabily movement” to a civil rights revolutn. It would also create the ndns that produced — even necsated — most of the disputably nonil gay plays that succeed “The Boys the Band.” Bee both the disease and the revolutn were centered New York, the untry’s theatril pal, mak sense that those plays are all set the cy. And bee I’m wrg about plays that have shaped gay male life, ’s not surprisg that all the playwrights I name are gay men.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">It hardly needs argug that one of them is Tony Khner, whose play “Angels Ameri: A Gay Fantasia on Natnal Them,” <a class="css-yywogo" href=" tle="">opened on Broadway</a> 1993. A revival, starrg Nathan Lane and Andrew Garfield, opens on March 25 — but unlike “The Boys the Band,” “Angels” never really went away, never suffered a Siberian holiday of polil retn. Perhaps that’s bee Khner, puttg so much to , ensured would always have somethg to put out. If you don’t like the story of fahls Louis leavg his lover, Prr, who velops AIDS, there’s the one about the closeted lawyer (and Tmp fixer) Roy Cohn, nyg the disease outright. Or perhaps you prefer somethg more aerontil? There’s one of those tle angels for that, bearg a cryptic missn for mankd. Pl a heroic drag queen, a dg-addled wife, rabbis, Mormons and Ethel Rosenberg.</p></div><asi class="css-ew4tgv" aria-label="pann lumn"></asi></div><div></div><div class="css-s99gbd StoryBodyCompannColumn"><div class="css-53u6y8"><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">It’s what I ll a goulash work, though Khner prefers the term lasagna: a dish that almost melts the borrs of form s qut for sublimy. It is also, s more timate scen, so funny and argumentative, so vatic, so sharp and so unncerned wh gay rpectabily that you n see a straight le leadg back to “The Boys the Band.” Both plays, after all, are about closet s and fily and gay men takg re of one another — or not.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">I retract the “straight le,” though; more aptly, ’s a bent one, passg through other nonil plays, each ntributg an element of style or stagecraft along the way. In the 25 years between “The Boys the Band” and “Angels Ameri” there are two, or possibly three, by my acuntg. The two are Harvey Fierste’s “Torch Song Trilogy,” a llectn of three related one-act plays first seen on Broadway 1982, and Larry Kramer’s “<a class="css-yywogo" href=" tle="">The Normal Heart</a>,” om 1985. The third is Pl Rudnick’s “<a class="css-yywogo" href=" tle="">Jefey</a>,” which — a 1992 replay of Crowley’s 1968 experience — uld not at first fd a producer, a theater or a st.</p></div><asi class="css-ew4tgv" aria-label="pann lumn"></asi></div><div><figure class="sizeMedium css-sx232s" aria-label="media" role="group" data-ttid="VioBlock"><div class="css-1xb94ky"><span class="css-1dv1kvn">Vio</span><div><div class="css-n27z15" style="paddg-bottom:56.25%"><div class="css-mm3pwi"><div class="css-1g7y0i5 e1drnplw0"><button tabx="100" class="css-1rtlxy" type="button" aria-label="close"><svg width="60" height="60" viewBox="0 0 60 60" fill="none"><circle cx="30" cy="30" r="30" fill="whe" fill-opacy="0.9"></circle><path fill-le="evenodd" clip-le="evenodd" d="M38.4844 20.1006L39.8986 21.5148L21.5138 39.8996L20.0996 38.4854L38.4844 20.1006Z" fill="black"></path><path fill-le="evenodd" clip-le="evenodd" d="M21.5156 20.1006L20.1014 21.5148L38.4862 39.8996L39.9004 38.4854L21.5156 20.1006Z" fill="black"></path></svg></button><div class="css-rdbib0 e1drnplw1"></div><div class="css-18ow4sz e1drnplw2"><div aria-labelledby="modal-tle" role="regn"><hear class="css-1bzlfz"><div class="css-mln36k" id="modal-tle">transcript</div><button type="button" class="css-1igvuto"><div class="css-f40pzg"></div><span>Back</span></button><div class="css-f6lhej" data-ttid="transcript-playback-ntrols"><div class="css-1ialerq"><button tabx="99" type="button" class="css-1t9gw" aria-label="play"><svg xmlns=" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none"><path fill-le="evenodd" clip-le="evenodd" d="M8 13.7683V6L14.5 9.88415L8 13.7683Z" fill="var(--lor-ntent-sendary,#363636)"></path><circle cx="10" cy="10" r="9.25" stroke="var(--lor-stroke-primary,#121212)" stroke-width="1.5"></circle></svg></button><div class="css-1701swk"><svg xmlns=" viewBox="0 0 40 36" id="el_0kpS9qL_S"><tle>bars</tle><g id="el_oZ84Hna1GC_65hRV2Qwn" class="css-1fxvzwo" data-animator-group="te" data-animator-type="0"><g id="el_oZ84Hna1GC_ILVvi2tqx" class="css-1wnday1" ata-animator-group="te" data-animator-type="2"><g id="el_oZ84Hna1GC"><rect x="34" width="6" height="36" id="el_qw_T_tngXw"></rect></g></g></g><g id="el_mYVjkduhMU_p_9Pm85Ac" class="css-fwki7z" data-animator-group="te" data-animator-type="0"><g id="el_mYVjkduhMU_WxG3R40yd" class="css-t3i5e6" data-animator-group="te" data-animator-type="2"><g id="el_mYVjkduhMU"><rect x="22.67" width="6" height="36" id="el_lf9GrROk6j"></rect></g></g></g><g id="el_o-EuxhgoAw_kYNRGDfcw" class="css-t9te0w" data-animator-group="te" data-animator-type="0"><g id="el_o-EuxhgoAw_3c3bzSjOJ" class="css-1r5375t" ata-animator-group="te" data-animator-type="2"><g id="el_o-EuxhgoAw"><rect x="11.33" width="6" height="36" id="el_-iueO8klO0"></rect></g></g></g><g id="el_F7mSMPhqpC_y_fKcpSxn" class="css-qknaag" data-animator-group="te" data-animator-type="0"><g id="el_F7mSMPhqpC_R6bNB6_Ys" class="css-1vd04" ata-animator-group="te" data-animator-type="2"><g id="el_F7mSMPhqpC"><rect width="6" height="36" id="el_dS5TKNZZ5w"></rect></g></g></g></svg></div><div><div class="css-1t7yl1y">0:00<!-- -->/<!-- -->0:56</div><div class="css-og85jy">-<!-- -->0:00</div></div></div></div></hear><div class="css-uzyn7p"><div class="css-1vxyw"><p class="css-1nng8z9">transcript</p><h2 class="css-9wqu2x">Read T a Poem | Joe Mantello</h2><h4 class="css-qsd3hm">The director reads "Morng Scene" by Jamon Fzpatrick.</h4></div><dl class="css-p98d0w"><dt class="css-xx7kwh"></dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l"><p class="css-8hvvyd">Oppose him at this table aga and through the wdows the cy glterg, surreal as a sle mol, the cy miature – only mov a real way, bee is real. One of the wdows is open, some nstctn down on the street dron like a distant vacuum. It’s warm for January. Still his apartment has that dreamlike qualy of feelg like home though I know ’s not. Not me anymore – but how many people get to vis the past whout hurtg anythg? To e back and drk the same ffee om the same never-que-clean cup.</p></dd></dl></div></div></div></div><script type="applitn/ld+json">{"@ntext":","@type":"VioObject","@id":","scriptn":"The director reads \"Morng Scene\" by Jamon Fzpatrick.","url":","name":"Read T a Poem | Joe Mantello","thumbnailUrl":[",","],"embedUrl":","ntentUrl":","uploadDate":"2018-02-26T05:05:19.000Z","transcript":"Oppose him at this table aga and through the wdows the cy glterg, surreal as a sle mol, the cy miature – only mov a real way, bee is real. One of the wdows is open, some nstctn down on the street dron like a distant vacuum. It’s warm for January. Still his apartment has that dreamlike qualy of feelg like home though I know ’s not. Not me anymore – but how many people get to vis the past whout hurtg anythg? To e back and drk the same ffee om the same never-que-clean cup.","duratn":"PT56.682S"}</script></div><div class="css-1cueeje" style="paddg-bottom:56.25%;transn:opacy 300ms ease--out"><div class="css-1ihorw"><img src=" alt="Vio player loadg"/></div><div class="css-ew1078"><div class="css-ptry2i"><div></div><div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><figptn class="css-1ifea e1maroi60"><span class="css-1p4ky1 e13ogyst0">The director reads "Morng Scene" by Jamon Fzpatrick.</span><span class="css-cch8ym"><span class="css-1dv1kvn">Cred</span><span class="css-f4bmw8 e1z0qqy90"><span class="css-1ly73wi e1tej78p0">Cred...</span><span>Brendan Stumpf</span></span></span></figptn></figure></div><div class="css-s99gbd StoryBodyCompannColumn"><div class="css-53u6y8"><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">What mak “Jefey” jt a possible third? It’s a edy, and edi, short of Shakpeare’s or Wil’s, are unstable. Over time, they seem to pose more easily than dramas, revealg off flavors. Te, “Jefey” is not an ordary edy; ’s a edy about AIDS, and a romantic edy at that — a genre that shouldn’t have been possible, and wasn’t until Rudnick cid was need. “Comedy is often the only feasible antidote to a pletely jtifiable, but not very entertag hopelsns,” he once wrote. “Sometim, a wisecrack is a weapon.”</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">So “Jefey,” which ran for two years Off Broadway and was ma to a movie 1995, is crafted like a drama, squeezg patible thgs together a small space and forcg them to lli. But bee Rudnick’s characters — an terr rator, a bartenr, a chos boy “Cats” — are profsnally amg, so is the rult. Jefey himself is a gay ter-waer his 30s who, rather than worry about what is safe, cis to rema celibate forever. Everyone around him is horrified at this “one real blasphemy — the refal of joy,” even as one of his iends is dyg. “How dare you give up sex,” says a prit, “when there are children Europe who n’t get a date!”</p></div><asi class="css-ew4tgv" aria-label="pann lumn"></asi></div><div></div><div class="css-s99gbd StoryBodyCompannColumn"><div class="css-53u6y8"><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">“Jefey” is full of merriment but you always unrstand that the domtic problems faced by upl straight romantic edi have here been raised to an existential plane. “If you want edi to be really funny you have to have the biggt possible obstacl,” Rudnick says. “And that’s what AIDS hand me and everyone else.”</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">In a way, then, “Jefey” is the verse of Kramer’s “The Normal Heart” and a ccial unterweight to . When “The Normal Heart” opened at the Public Theater jt four years after the first reports of what would soon be lled AIDS, felt ls like a play than like war reportg. Kramer was nothg if not embedd; this was his own story, lightly fictnalized the character of Ned Weeks and happeng real time. Emphasizg that, the set sign by Eugene Lee and Keh Raywood featured on the theater’s walls a nng list of the nam of the ad, along wh the mountg ath toll, subtotaled by state.</p><div class="css-79elbk" data-ttid="photoviewer-wrapper"><div class="css-z3e15g" data-ttid="photoviewer-wrapper-hidn"></div><div data-ttid="photoviewer-children" class="css-1a48zt4 e11si9ry5"><figure class="img-sz-small css-nss59b e1g7ppur0" aria-label="media" role="group"><div class="css-zgakxe erfvjey0"><span class="css-1ly73wi e1tej78p0">Image</span><div class="css-nwd8t8" data-ttid="lazy-image"><div data-ttid="lazyimage-ntaer" style="height:311.9111111111111px"></div></div></div><figptn class="css-1ybnr6m ewdxa0s0"><span aria-hidn="te" class="css-1p4ky1 e13ogyst0">Actors on stage at Theater Four New York cir 1969.</span><span class="css-f4bmw8 e1z0qqy90"><span class="css-1ly73wi e1tej78p0">Cred...</span><span><span aria-hidn="false">Photo by Martha Swope / the New York Public Library</span></span></span></figptn></figure></div></div><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">The actn largely tracks Kramer’s fur battle to get the ernment, the medil tablishment and gay men themselv to pay attentn to the disaster that was jt begng to engulf them. But Kramer was also battlg the gay theatril tradn, which he saw, even before AIDS, as petty, artificial and sufficiently polil. (He cricized “The Boys the Band” for s “ternalized homophobia.”) “The Normal Heart” is a fierce rrective to those perceived flts, but ’s not merely the rant some people remember. The story of Ned’s public efforts is mirrored his private effort to save his lover, Felix, a closeted New York Tim wrer dyg of AIDS. The play ends wh their “marriage” at Felix’s athbed — a marriage quot bee wouldn’t have been legal New York for another quarter century.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">“The Normal Heart” is nonil not jt for s anger and prcience, though the should be enough to nonize Kramer. The play saved liv, srg s dienc to realy a way that the vague public-health rmatn of the time utterly failed to do. It also reamed the way we would forever look at gay men and gay theater. That did not mean abjurg love as a subject, but rather ennoblg while unrstandg s limatns. Hence the tle, taken om a passage Aun’s poem “September 1, 1939” about the “error bred the bone / Of each woman and each man.” That error is much adlier than mere disease. It is the impossible cravg of the “normal heart”: “Not universal love / But to be loved alone.”</p></div><asi class="css-ew4tgv" aria-label="pann lumn"></asi></div><div></div><div class="css-s99gbd StoryBodyCompannColumn"><div class="css-53u6y8"><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">Aun, a poet, shows the driv as divergent; Kramer, a dramatist, looks at how they nverge. For him as for most playwrights, the njot them of society and self — twed an embrace that is timate yet suffotg — are the basis of all great theater. Whout the “self” part, a play is rarely engagg. Whout the “society” part, is (no matter how engagg) nsequential.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">That’s why my non starts when do. For gay playwrights wrg before 1960, the lk between self and society was severed by homophobia: The self uld not engage openly wh society, or not, at least, <em class="css-2fg4z9 e1gzwzxm0"> ont of</em> society. Which don’t mean there were no great plays wh gay characters by gay playwrights: Look aga at “The Glass Menagerie.” Tom — as the performanc by Quto and Mantello the two most recent Broadway revivals make pla — n only be unrstood as a furtive homosexual. But Tom’s crypto-proto-gayns don’t make “The Glass Menagerie” a gay play; ’s merely a great one.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">Turns out those celebri slummg at “The Boys the Band” mattered. Jt as whe bons vivants had been cultivatg (some might say appropriatg) black Harlem for generatns, the straights and A-listers headg to Theater Four their limos helped rry the news, like a vis, back wh them. I don’t mean to be snarky; this was not always a cultural safari, a hunt for the most exotic new trophi. Some me to learn, to be changed. And yet one of the thgs “The Boys the Band” (and the other plays I’m wrg about) did was to show nongay dienc jt how gay their liv already were. Their sufferg, their hubris, their sens of humor were more faiar than not. 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In his latt work, “Whe Girl Danger,” Jackson reimag the soap opera.</div><div class="ContentHearByle-kmPyCa gvUmxJ"><div class="ContentHearByleContent-dpPmNn DRFq"><div data-ttid="BylWrapper" class="BylWrapper-KIudk irTIfE byl ContentHearByl-cZqgyJ bHLeKI"><p class="ByleWrapper-jWHrLH ivtvgj byle byl__byle" data-ttid="ByleWrapper" emProp="thor" emType="><span emProp="name" class="ByleNamWrapper-jbHncj fuDQVo"><span data-ttid="ByleName" class="ByleName-kwmrLn cYaBaU byle__name"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ BylePreamble-iJolpQ iUEiRd jslZfG gnILss byle__preamble">By </span><a class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ BaseLk-eNWuiM ByleLk-gEnFiw iUEiRd ggMZaT cXqSTL eErqIx byle__name-lk button" href="/ntributors/hilton-als">Hilton Als</a></span></span></p></div><time data-ttid="ContentHearPublishDate" dateTime="2023-04-03T06:00:00-04:00" class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ ContentHearPublishDate-eIBicG iUEiRd kYZrFA iINaCX">April 3, 2023</time></div></div></div></div><div class="ContentHearLeadAsset-hGbumP fEknXh lead-asset ContentHearLeadAssetWrapper-hfXHEc Grck lead-asset--width-fullbleed" data-ttid="ContentHearLeadAsset"><figure class="ContentHearLeadAssetContent-kOfYSG dRGWbI"><div class="ContentHearLeadAssetContentMedia-bLEIpi jjhWdS lead-asset__ntent__photo"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW jvZaPI rponsive-asset ContentHearRponsiveAsset-bREgIb hONbnm"><div data-tt="aspect-rat-ntaer" class="AspectRatContaer-bJHpJz jhURno"><div class="aspect-rat--overlay-ntaer"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa ContentHearRponsiveAsset-bREgIb hONbnm rponsive-image"><source media="(max-width: 767px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w, 960w" siz="100vw"/><source media="(m-width: 768px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w, 960w, 1280w, 1600w, 1920w, 2240w" siz="100vw"/><img alt="The st of “Whe Girl Danger.”" class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src="></picture></div></div></span></div></figure></div><div class="ContentHearLeadContentFullWidth-cvJzX hHaBOT"><figure class="ContentHearLeadContentCaptnCred-hSIIqJ kQVfzg"><div class="CaptnWrapper-jSZdqE iTuhkZ ptn ContentHearLeadAssetCaptn-hPWmSN kuCzGS"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ CaptnText-bHjzlu iUEiRd hWyo iXWezO ptn__text">The director of the show said, “The piece is larger than life, but ’s still life.” Her challenge has been to “keep the life part.”</span><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ CaptnCred-ejegDm iUEiRd iicloT jbIJNS ptn__cred">Photographs by Jgyu L for The New Yorker</span></div></figure></div></div></hear></div><div data-attribute-verso-pattern="article-body" class="ArticlePageContentBackGround-cNiFNN kbAoLA article-body__ntent"><div class="ActnBarWrapperContent-lasBkU cAHp"><div class="ActnBarWrapperComponent-cjwxLS bEeSLb"><div data-attr-viewport-monor="" class="ActnBarWrapper-dhxmQh kNjTbQ viewport-monor-anchor"><button 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iame-embed"><div data-ttid="IameEmbedContaer" class="IameEmbedContaer-hptgUZ fXVBaX"><div class="IameEmbedAspectRatWrapper-hFVJps BKpgQ"><iame class="IameEmbedContent-cMdiev csnuAY IameEmbedContent lazyload" height="90" width="100%" sandbox="allow-scripts allow-same-orig allow-popups" tle="Embedd Frame" data-src=" allowfullscreen="" allow="toplay *; encrypted-media *; clipboard-wre; toplay; fullscreen; picture--picture"></iame></div></div></figure><p class="has-dropp has-dropp__lead-standard-headg paywall">More often than not, if the poser and playwright Michael R. Jackson was or near the Lycm Theatre after a performance of his sui-generis h mil, “<a href=">A Strange Loop</a>,” durg s recent Broadway n, fans and crics would gather around him, not jt to have their <em>Playbill</em> tographed but to ntue the nversatn that the show had started. Usually, tak an activist star, like Jane Fonda—or whoever is playg Aladd—to e a post-performance motn outsi a theatre. But a wrer? A theatre nerd who wasn’t <a href=">L-Manuel Miranda</a>? A self-scribed “outsir’s outsir’s outsir” and a former her for “The Ln Kg”? The protagonist of “A Strange Loop,” which closed New York January and opens at London’s Barbin June, is, acrdg to the script, a “fat, Black queer” man named Usher, who n barely support himself as he attempts to wre a mil about the “strange loop”—the cycle of hope and rejectn that his heart seems trapped . Not exactly what you’d expect to be a box-office succs. If anythg, “A Strange Loop” is a show-biz story—plete wh referenc to <a href=">Stephen Sondheim</a> and Stt Rud—but ’s a show-biz story about how there is, effect, no real stage to ame, let alone nta, an artist wh Usher’s sensibili (which is to say, Jackson’s): that is, until Jackson rema the Amerin mil wh “A Strange Loop.”</p><p class="paywall">The show earned Jackson, who is forty-two, the 2020 Pulzer Prize for Drama and the 2022 Tony awards for Bt Mil and Bt Book of a Mil, among other honors. Ironilly, the show Jackson’s stand-, Usher, is hassled by his agent for his artistic “tegry,” which priv the agent of missns and barely allows Usher to eat. Where, the agent wants to know, is the material that n be translated to pal? Why n’t Usher dch the pury b and ghostwre some gospel plays for Tyler Perry? In other words, play racial volleyball: serve one Mary McLeod Bethune, then go for a Frerick Douglass kill. But Usher n’t even fd the . Stg his cramped apartment, Usher is vised by his (embodied) Thoughts—ensemble members who play the voic Usher’s head, as well as multiple mor characters. Thought No. 3, as Usher’s agent, don’t get very far wh the Perry pch:</p><blockquote class="BlockquoteEmbedWrapper-sc-SdiGL jPeLne paywall blockquote-embed"><div class="BlockquoteEmbedContent-RbGs gmbtPx blockquote-embed__ntent"><p>U<em class="small">sher</em>: Nothg that he wr seems real to me<br/>T<em class="small">hought</em> N<em class="small">o.</em> 3: Y, you thk he sucks.<br/>U<em class="small">sher</em>: Jt simple-md, hack buffoonery<br/>T<em class="small">hought</em> N<em class="small">o.</em> 3: But no Whe theaters will touch you. . . .<br/>U<em class="small">sher</em>: It’s te I’m still emergg. . . . Lookg to make my start<br/>But not so hungry that I’d ri the Chl Circu<br/>I’m to entertament that’s unrver art<br/>My missn is to figure out jt how to work .</p></div></blockquote><p class="paywall">Dpe his rolve, Usher is vised by other Thoughts, who ll him a “race traor” and an “ass licker,” bee he won’t play along. Then, sudnly, the Thoughts transform to the Anctors. Enterg one by one, they clare themselv to a startled Usher:</p><blockquote class="BlockquoteEmbedWrapper-sc-SdiGL jPeLne paywall blockquote-embed"><div class="BlockquoteEmbedContent-RbGs gmbtPx blockquote-embed__ntent"><p>U<em class="small">sher</em>: Wh-wh-who are you?</p><p>T<em class="small">hought</em> N<em class="small">o.</em> 2: I’m Harriet Mother-fuckg <em>Tubman</em>. And I got a problem w you.</p><p>T<em class="small">hought</em> N<em class="small">o.</em> 4: I’m Marc Motherfuckg <em>Mosiah Garvey</em> and I got a problem w you too.</p><p>T<em class="small">hought</em> N<em class="small">o.</em> 6: Jimmy Baldw.</p><p>T<em class="small">hought</em> N<em class="small">o.</em> 3: Zora Neale Hurston.</p><p>T<em class="small">hought</em> N<em class="small">o.</em> 5: 12 Years a Slave here. . .</p><p>T<em class="small">hought</em> N<em class="small">o.</em> 1: Whney.</p><p>U<em class="small">sher</em>: W-w-w-what do you want wh me?</p><p>T<em class="small">hought</em> N<em class="small">o.</em> 2: To get you together. Mak’ me get <em class="small">MY</em> Black ass up outta <em class="small">MY</em> twenty-dollar grave to put <em class="small">YO</em> Black ass on blast talk’ bad ’bout Tyler Perry.</p></div></blockquote><div><div class="ConsumerMarketgUnThemedWrapper-iUTMTf jssHut nsumer-marketg-un nsumer-marketg-un--article-mid-ntent" role="prentatn" aria-hidn="te"><div class="nsumer-marketg-un__slot nsumer-marketg-un__slot--article-mid-ntent nsumer-marketg-un__slot---ntent"></div><div class="journey-un"></div></div></div><p class="paywall">Then all the Thoughts sg unison:</p><blockquote class="BlockquoteEmbedWrapper-sc-SdiGL jPeLne paywall blockquote-embed"><div class="BlockquoteEmbedContent-RbGs gmbtPx blockquote-embed__ntent"><p>Who the fuck is you, <em>nigguh</em>?<br/>You look but you a’t no te <em>nigguh</em><br/>You make anctors blue<br/>Act’ bran’ new, <em>nigguh</em>, I n’t w you<br/>Tyler is a real <em>nigguh</em><br/>And not a cracker-pleas’ seal <em>nigguh</em><br/>He wr how our people feel<br/>Wh him at the wheel; <em>nigguh</em>, what ’t we do?</p></div></blockquote><p class="paywall">Whenever I saw the show, folks the dience waved their programs like New Ttament pag as the Anctors appeared, releasg om the bondage of acceptable onstage Black behavr, which often volv a performance of Black Invcibily—never md the yoke, we are ennobled, and will survive. By stg off and lampoong this ethos, Jackson was followg the tradn of artists whose work was a crique of race-as-entertament, and a refal to play to stereotyp. The works clu Gee C. Wolfe’s “The Colored Mm” (1986), Suzan-Lori Parks’s “Fuckg A” (2000), Thomas Bradshaw’s “Southern Promis” (2008), Robert O’Hara’s “Barbecue” (2015), Danai Gurira’s “Faiar” (2015), Donald Glover’s “Atlanta” (2016-22), Jackie Sibbli Dry’s “Fairview” (2018), and Michaela Coel’s astonishg televisn seri “I May Dtroy You” (2020). Jackson, Wolfe, and the rt explore how Black history and pop culture have ma and rema the worlds of their imagatns—and, by extensn, our own.</p><figure class="AssetEmbedWrapper-eVDQiB byBkf asset-embed"><div class="AssetEmbedAssetContaer-eJxoAx dBHGoQ asset-embed__asset-ntaer"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kKwZhx rponsive-asset AssetEmbedRponsiveAsset-cXBNxi eCxVQK asset-embed__rponsive-asset"><div data-attr-viewport-monor="" class="RponsiveCartoonWrapper-iTMMjI eXTYsS rponsive-rtoon AssetEmbedRponsiveAsset-cXBNxi eCxVQK asset-embed__rponsive-asset viewport-monor-anchor"><a class="external-lk rponsive-rtoon__image-lk" data-event-click="{"element":"ExternalLk","outgogURL":"" href=" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa RponsiveCartoonImage-hzNqyc ikeCcH rponsive-rtoon__image rponsive-image"><noscript><img alt="Woman stg on uch lookg at her phone and talkg to her hband." class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src=" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w, 960w, 1280w, 1600w" siz="100vw"/></noscript></picture></a><div class="CaptnWrapper-jSZdqE gdZTpI ptn RponsiveCartoonCaptn-dokfdF hJgaLQ rponsive-rtoon__ptn"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ CaptnText-bHjzlu iUEiRd hWyo bsWloa ptn__text">“Should I change our primary-re provir om YouTube to TikTok?”</span></div><div class="CaptnWrapper-jSZdqE iTuhkZ ptn RponsiveCartoonCred-bKlQqO faLAFb rponsive-rtoon__cred"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ CaptnCred-ejegDm iUEiRd iicloT bmQtfn ptn__cred">Cartoon by Ey Flake</span></div><div class="RponsiveCartoonCTA-eiqqMB iDCQRs"><div class="RponsiveCartoonCTAWrapper-CYIqa iTbFtf"><div class="RponsiveCartoonLkButtonWrapper-hqDAJK eSEhbj"><button aria-label="Copy lk to rtoon" class="BaseButton-bLlsy ButtonWrapper-xCepQ bqVKKv YsOBB button button--primary-pair RponsiveCartoonInButton-hBCBMq lpsjql" data-event-click="{"element":"Button"}" data-ttid="Button" type="button"><span 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20C8.48424 20 8.03652 19.5523 8.03652 19C8.03652 18.4477 8.48424 18 9.03652 18C9.58881 18 10.0365 18.4477 10.0365 19ZM11.0365 19C11.0365 20.1046 10.1411 21 9.03652 21C7.93195 21 7.03652 20.1046 7.03652 19C7.03652 17.8954 7.93195 17 9.03652 17C10.1411 17 11.0365 17.8954 11.0365 19ZM18.0365 19C18.0365 19.5523 17.5888 20 17.0365 20C16.4842 20 16.0365 19.5523 16.0365 19C16.0365 18.4477 16.4842 18 17.0365 18C17.5888 18 18.0365 18.4477 18.0365 19ZM19.0365 19C19.0365 20.1046 18.1411 21 17.0365 21C15.932 21 15.0365 20.1046 15.0365 19C15.0365 17.8954 15.932 17 17.0365 17C18.1411 17 19.0365 17.8954 19.0365 19Z" fill="black"></path></g><fs><clipPath id="clip0_3732_178638"><rect width="24" height="24" fill="whe"></rect></clipPath><clipPath id="clip1_3732_178638"><rect width="24" height="24" fill="whe"></rect></clipPath></fs></svg></div></button></div></div></div></span></div></figure><p class="paywall">One eveng before the world shut down, Jackson and I had dner at Orso, midtown, a favore of show-bs folk. Jackson is brown-skned, wh a betifully shaped head and large ey amed by glass that are habually smudged—they sometim make him look like a kid who knows a lot and is jt off to the library, beyond exced to learn more. The playwright was filled wh his ual verve. I was raised to reveal as ltle as possible when whe people were around, and to never talk about race their prence. But Jackson, I found, didn’t hold back, and, when me to sex and race, spoke his md wh great vigor and nsirable volume. He didn’t seem to notice that a number of whe ders turned to look at durg our nversatn. And he didn’t notice my disfort and anxiety—they n get ; they n always get —as he talked about whens a “whe space,” bee I didn’t tell him.</p><div data-attr-viewport-monor="le-recirc" class="le-recirc-wrapper le-recirc-observer-target-1 viewport-monor-anchor"></div><p class="paywall">It was the sprg of 2019, and Jackson’s new show, “Whe Girl Danger,” was a workshop. (Bee of the panmic, the show was postponed until this sprg; opens at Send Stage on April 10th as a -productn wh the Veyard Theatre.) Jackson—who wore a T-shirt wh l through the words “imperialist,” “whe supremacist,” “palist,” and “patriarchy,” until you got to the name of the late theorist bell hooks—talked about the transformative effect of theatre. “You have to do self-quiry,” he told me. “You have to know what is actually for real, not jt some lame-ass, woke-ass polil statement that you haven’t really thought through. Tell the tth.”</p></div></div></div></div><div class="RowWrapper-UmqTg HEhan full-bleed-ad row-mid-ntent-ad"><div class="StickyMidContentAdWrapper-fSBzwl drzyIa ad-stickymidntent"><div class="AdWrapper-dQtivb fZrssQ ad ad--mid-ntent should-hold-space"><div class="ad__slot ad__slot--mid-ntent" data-no-id="c1e6pd"></div></div></div></div><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK eRggVV grid grid-margs grid-ems-0 ArticlePageChunksGrid-hfxa bDFJoo"><div class="GridItem-buujkM kHPPIF grid--em"><div class="BodyWrapper-kufPGa bDyAMU body body__ntaer article__body" data-journey-hook="client-ntent" data-ttid="BodyWrapper"><div class="body__ner-ntaer"><p class="paywall">One piece that spoke to Jackson was Arthur Miller’s “<a href=">Death of a Salman</a>.” “I saw when I was neteen years old,” he said. “I don’t know anythg about beg an old whe man the forti. But the ia that you’re worth more ad than alive . . . However they did , that ia munited om that stage to my Black gay ass gog to N.Y.U. . . . I wept. I felt sympathy and empathy for this man. And what I wanted to do ‘A Strange Loop’ was to flip . Can I make some old whe man feel empathy for this young, Black, gay, mil-theatre wrer? Can I get them to unrstand that this is about the human ndn?”</p><p class="has-dropp has-dropp__lead-standard-headg paywall">In “Whe Girl Danger,” Jackson ntu to exame how humany gets tegorized—by race, genr, and class—and what those strajackets feel like when you try to break out of them and reach for somethg like eedom. In this mil, which he began to wre the fall of 2017, Jackson, an veterate fan of soap operas, has created a soap-opera town lled Allwhe, which Meagan, Maegan, and Megan—three versns of the same whens—n’t leave the hoe whout enunterg . . . danger. At the start of the show, as the three girls strike dramatic pos, a “Blackground Announcer” tells :</p><blockquote class="BlockquoteEmbedWrapper-sc-SdiGL jPeLne paywall blockquote-embed"><div class="BlockquoteEmbedContent-RbGs gmbtPx blockquote-embed__ntent"><p>Look both ways before crossg Megan or you jt might fd yourself a world of danger. Whe Girl Danger. . . .</p><p>Is clumss or is Zack? Eher way, Meagan n’t seem to stay out of danger. Whe Girl Danger. . . .</p><p>Maegan is startg to look a ltle th and all signs pot to danger. Whe Girl Danger.</p></div></blockquote><p class="paywall">The drama centers on maternal revenge, premaral sex, and—a huge plot pot—a Black girl named Keha Gibbs, who liv Blackground but wants to cross over to Allwhe. Why n’t she, too, live a whe wonrland? Why should she be relegated to Blackground, wh s back-burner stori of police btaly and s history of slavery? Keha wants to be volved the real sh, the whe-girl stuff that puts you at the center of your own story. Keha’s mother, Nell, who tells like is (and who may or may not have been spired by the “sassy” character played by Nell Carter the eighti s “Gimme a Break!”), don’t want her dghter to leave. While nng away, Keha sgs:</p><blockquote class="BlockquoteEmbedWrapper-sc-SdiGL jPeLne paywall blockquote-embed"><div class="BlockquoteEmbedContent-RbGs gmbtPx blockquote-embed__ntent"><p>Mother thks that I want too much<br/>That my Allwhe dreams are so out of touch<br/>She don’t unrstand the lcul<br/>That what’s good for me uld be good for <br/>I will risk my character to set my people ee<br/>By pure force I’ll change the urse of Blackground history!</p></div></blockquote><p class="paywall">Keha is a ltle disgenuo when she claims that she’s jettisong herself out of Blackground for her people. What she really wants—what her ternalized racism nsirs the ultimate prize—is a whe man. In some ways, she’s the flip si of Usher: all shaky, heteronormative id. In “A Strange Loop,” Usher sgs about his envy of whe girls, who, unlike him, seem ee to pursue their dreams:</p><blockquote class="BlockquoteEmbedWrapper-sc-SdiGL jPeLne paywall blockquote-embed"><div class="BlockquoteEmbedContent-RbGs gmbtPx blockquote-embed__ntent"><p>On days his Blackns feels like another hurdle<br/>That won’t get out of his way<br/>His ner whe girl starts kickg like a baby<br/>She wants to e out and play<br/>She don’t re if she ffl any feathers<br/>In fact, that is her M.O.<br/>Where he’s the kd of avoidg nontatn<br/>There’s not a bomb she won’t throw bee . . .<br/>Whe girls n do anythg, n’t they?</p></div></blockquote><p class="paywall">Part of the brilliance of “A Strange Loop” li the nflict between Usher’s self-awarens and the mands of the gay (and mil) marketplace. Toward the middle of the show, Usher sgs about the way our inti, no matter how seemgly fixed, are ma up of mismatchg parts that we are always tryg to hold together—or vom up:</p><blockquote class="BlockquoteEmbedWrapper-sc-SdiGL jPeLne paywall blockquote-embed"><div class="BlockquoteEmbedContent-RbGs gmbtPx blockquote-embed__ntent"><p>I don’t re about marriage<br/>And I will never be phg a loud ass baby<br/>Around a rriage<br/>No, I’ll jt walk around wh a swl on my face like<br/>I’m Betty Friedan<br/>Bee the send wave femist me<br/>Is at war wh the dick-suckg Black, gay man<br/>Who’s sometim lookg for now<br/>But also fifteen years later<br/>And so the Grdr crowd turns me to a chronic<br/>Stay-at-home masturbater . . .<br/>So I fall outsi of the norm<br/>’Cse I burn my bra to keep warm</p></div></blockquote><p class="paywall">At one pot “A Strange Loop,” Usher hooks up wh a whe “Daddy” type (played by a Black actor) who don’t nurture; he jt mands. In that terrible room, there is a gap between what our hero wants—love—and what he engag , or allows, bee of his silence: race play. It’s a terrifyg moment, and, if you’ve spent any time that room, the acts that Jackson scrib aren’t as dishearteng as his soulful acknowledgment of where the sire for love n lead you—straight to the crooked island of the lovels.</p><div class="Contaer-bkChBi byNLHx"></div><p class="paywall">Durg a seri of long talks that Jackson and I had after the Off Broadway n of “A Strange Loop” end, 2019, and before opened on Broadway, 2022, I thought about the fact that love—or the hope of love—plays such a strong part the stori that his characters tell. It’s rctive to read eher of his two mils as a leral transcriptn of his life. But, like any powerful artist, he borrows om what he knows—himself, and the world that ma him—the better to make and remake his world onstage.</p><p class="has-dropp has-dropp__lead-standard-headg paywall">Jackson was raised Detro, the much loved younger son—he has an olr brother—of Henry and Mary Jackson. His parents had been born the South and, while still young, emigrated north. Henry worked for many years as a police officer and, after that, as a secury nsultant for General Motors; Mary worked acuntg for the same pany. Jackson’s fay was “very, very, very volved” the church, he told me. He has played the piano sce he was eight, and acpanied two choirs at the church. “My mother was the church fancial secretary for more than thirty years, my dad was a tstee, and my brother and I went to vatn Bible school every summer—and so you knew people’s bs, and the drama and all that,” Jackson said. “Every Sunday you show up, and you play your part the church play. I always feel like I learned about theatre om church.” He also attend plays wh his mother. “I’ve always been a fan of theatre,” Mary Jackson said. “Mr. Jackson wasn’t. So Michael was always my date.”</p><p class="paywall">“I grew up a Black cy and a Black fay,” Jackson said. “I went to Black schools. I went to Black church. I went to Black fay rnns. Almost everythg I did was Black, Black, Black. It was so Black, to the pot that I thought the whole world was basilly that. And bee of that I rebelled agast . No different than when a whe person would rebel agast their own upbrgg.” Children, of urse, don’t generally get to pack up and leave, but they n enter the world of their imagatns. The imagary plac Jackson most loved to vis were soap operas. His great-nt Ruth, who babysat him before he started krgarten, would dip snuff and then turn on “Days of Our Liv” or other popular serials. He thrilled to that world, wh s weird cinc, plot twists, and outrageo wealth and misfortune. After he started school, his nt would keep him up to date. “I would ll her on the phone, and—you n ask my mom—I’d be, like, ‘Aunt Ruth, what happened?’ And then she would fill me , and we would be, like, ‘Oh, my God, n you believe Vivian buried Carly alive? . . . But I also liked the other stuff, like Jack and Jennifer makg love for the first time.”</p><figure class="AssetEmbedWrapper-eVDQiB byBkf asset-embed"><div class="AssetEmbedAssetContaer-eJxoAx dBHGoQ asset-embed__asset-ntaer"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kKwZhx rponsive-asset AssetEmbedRponsiveAsset-cXBNxi eCxVQK asset-embed__rponsive-asset"><div data-attr-viewport-monor="" class="RponsiveCartoonWrapper-iTMMjI eXTYsS rponsive-rtoon AssetEmbedRponsiveAsset-cXBNxi eCxVQK asset-embed__rponsive-asset viewport-monor-anchor"><a class="external-lk rponsive-rtoon__image-lk" data-event-click="{"element":"ExternalLk","outgogURL":"" href=" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa RponsiveCartoonImage-hzNqyc ikeCcH rponsive-rtoon__image rponsive-image"><noscript><img alt="Two fish get separated as Mos spls the Red Sea." class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src=" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w, 960w, 1280w, 1600w" siz="100vw"/></noscript></picture></a><div class="CaptnWrapper-jSZdqE gdZTpI ptn RponsiveCartoonCaptn-dokfdF hJgaLQ rponsive-rtoon__ptn"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ CaptnText-bHjzlu iUEiRd hWyo bsWloa ptn__text">“Abigail! Nooooooooo!”</span></div><div class="CaptnWrapper-jSZdqE iTuhkZ ptn RponsiveCartoonCred-bKlQqO faLAFb rponsive-rtoon__cred"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ CaptnCred-ejegDm iUEiRd iicloT bmQtfn ptn__cred">Cartoon by Hartley L</span></div><div class="RponsiveCartoonCTA-eiqqMB iDCQRs"><div class="RponsiveCartoonCTAWrapper-CYIqa iTbFtf"><div class="RponsiveCartoonLkButtonWrapper-hqDAJK eSEhbj"><button aria-label="Copy lk to rtoon" class="BaseButton-bLlsy ButtonWrapper-xCepQ bqVKKv YsOBB button button--primary-pair RponsiveCartoonInButton-hBCBMq lpsjql" data-event-click="{"element":"Button"}" data-ttid="Button" type="button"><span class="ButtonLabel-cjAuJN bBWXSg button__label">Copy lk to rtoon</span><div class="ButtonInWrapper-gFdzAL bPDyTT button__in-ntaer"><svg class="in in-pylk" width="24" height="24" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" xmlns="><tle>Copy lk to rtoon</tle><g clip-path="url(#clip0_3732_178637)"><path fill-le="evenodd" clip-le="evenodd" d="M16.3488 10.5017C16.2107 10.7357 16.2926 11.035 16.5318 11.17C16.7709 11.3052 17.0767 11.225 17.2148 10.991L18.4648 8.87225C19.5694 7.00002 18.9139 4.60601 17.0007 3.52508C15.0875 2.44415 12.6412 3.08562 11.5366 4.95785L9.53657 8.34782C8.432 10.22 9.08751 12.6141 11.0007 13.6949C11.1888 13.8012 11.382 13.8908 11.5785 13.9642C11.7819 14.0403 12.0058 13.9485 12.1147 13.764C12.2794 13.4849 12.1103 13.1276 11.8083 12.9992C11.7041 12.9549 11.6014 12.9044 11.5007 12.8475C10.0658 12.0368 9.57417 10.2413 10.4026 8.83712L12.4026 5.44715C13.2311 4.04298 15.0658 3.56187 16.5007 4.37257C17.9356 5.18327 18.4272 6.97878 17.5988 8.38295L16.3488 10.5017ZM7.6526 13.4983C7.79067 13.2643 7.70873 12.965 7.46959 12.8299C7.23044 12.6948 6.92464 12.775 6.78657 13.009L5.53657 15.1278C4.432 17 5.0875 19.394 7.00068 20.475C8.91385 21.5558 11.3602 20.9144 12.4648 19.0422L14.4648 15.6521C15.5694 13.78 14.9139 11.3859 13.0007 10.305C12.8127 10.1988 12.6195 10.1091 12.4229 10.0357C12.2195 9.95975 11.9956 10.0515 11.8867 10.236C11.7221 10.5151 11.8911 10.8724 12.1932 11.0008C12.2973 11.0451 12.4 11.0956 12.5007 11.1525C13.9356 11.9632 14.4272 13.7587 13.5988 15.1628L11.5988 18.5529C10.7704 19.957 8.93555 20.4382 7.50068 19.6274C6.0658 18.8167 5.57417 17.0212 6.4026 15.6171L7.6526 13.4983Z" fill="black"></path></g><fs><clipPath id="clip0_3732_178637"><rect width="24" height="24" fill="whe"></rect></clipPath><clipPath id="clip1_3732_178637"><rect width="24" height="24" fill="whe"></rect></clipPath></fs></svg></div></button><div class="AlertWrapper-gvFATk MdjE RponsiveCartoonLkAlertPopup-BPAXn kdMXRM shoppg-alert" role="dialog"><div aria-hidn="te" role="prentatn" class="AlertArrow-daOgye AlLda alert-arrow"></div><div class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ AlertMsage-jgAjgo bVCFRm ifgabc cxFROy alert-msage"><p aria-hidn="te">Lk pied</p></div></div></div><button aria-label="Shop" class="BaseButton-bLlsy ButtonWrapper-xCepQ bqVKKv YsOBB button button--primary-pair RponsiveCartoonInButton-hBCBMq lpsjql" data-event-click="{"element":"Button"}" data-ttid="Button" type="button"><span class="ButtonLabel-cjAuJN bBWXSg button__label">Shop</span><div class="ButtonInWrapper-gFdzAL bPDyTT button__in-ntaer"><svg class="in in-rt" width="24" height="24" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" xmlns="><tle>Shop</tle><g clip-path="url(#clip0_3732_178638)"><path fill-le="evenodd" clip-le="evenodd" d="M4 3H2V4H4.23828L6.99617 15.2631C7.11483 15.6982 7.50998 16 7.96094 16H18.0365C18.4875 16 18.8826 15.6982 19.0013 15.2631L20.9648 7.26312C21.1383 6.62698 20.6594 6 20 6H10V7H20L18.0365 15H7.96094L5.03652 3H4.58055H4ZM10.0365 19C10.0365 19.5523 9.58881 20 9.03652 20C8.48424 20 8.03652 19.5523 8.03652 19C8.03652 18.4477 8.48424 18 9.03652 18C9.58881 18 10.0365 18.4477 10.0365 19ZM11.0365 19C11.0365 20.1046 10.1411 21 9.03652 21C7.93195 21 7.03652 20.1046 7.03652 19C7.03652 17.8954 7.93195 17 9.03652 17C10.1411 17 11.0365 17.8954 11.0365 19ZM18.0365 19C18.0365 19.5523 17.5888 20 17.0365 20C16.4842 20 16.0365 19.5523 16.0365 19C16.0365 18.4477 16.4842 18 17.0365 18C17.5888 18 18.0365 18.4477 18.0365 19ZM19.0365 19C19.0365 20.1046 18.1411 21 17.0365 21C15.932 21 15.0365 20.1046 15.0365 19C15.0365 17.8954 15.932 17 17.0365 17C18.1411 17 19.0365 17.8954 19.0365 19Z" fill="black"></path></g><fs><clipPath id="clip0_3732_178638"><rect width="24" height="24" fill="whe"></rect></clipPath><clipPath id="clip1_3732_178638"><rect width="24" height="24" fill="whe"></rect></clipPath></fs></svg></div></button></div></div></div></span></div></figure><p class="paywall">Thgs started to heat up even more when Jackson was fourth gra, and an olr let him read her Jackie Colls novels. “ ‘Chanc,’ ‘Lucky,’ ‘Lady Boss.’ Lots of tumcence,” he said. “I was eply to . And bee I lived a hoe where I uldn’t look at dirty magaz, or porn, I uld read books.” In seventh gra, he got ught at school showg other kids the “good parts,” and his father ma him hand the books over. Then Michael disvered Alice Walker’s “The Color Purple.” “I was hungry for ,” he told me.</p><div data-attr-viewport-monor="le-recirc" class="le-recirc-wrapper le-recirc-observer-target-2 viewport-monor-anchor"></div><p class="paywall">Jackson attend Cass Technil High School, where his tert mic grew. He sang a youth choir and was a huge fan of <a href=">Tori Amos</a>—he saw her as part of a “whe girls’ club,” whose members got to exprs their feelgs song a way that no closeted boy dare risk. Later, a favore was <a href=">Liz Phair</a>, whose semal “Exile Guyville” had a semal effect on Jackson. (One of s tracks is lled “Strange Loop”; , Phair scrib herself as “adamantly ee.”) In high school, Jackson, the good church boy, was surround by Black queerns—“All the boys fuckg each other and breakg up wh each other, and all unr the radar”—but he felt outsi . I asked him why, and he told me, “Bee I didn’t go to the fe-ass-nigga fishg school.” When I suggted otherwise—that he was cute, too—Jackson shut me down: “It’s about beg a <em>fe</em>-ass nigga. And I was not that.” He was a bookish nerd, and his parents kept him on a tight leash.</p></div></div></div></div><div class="RowWrapper-UmqTg HEhan full-bleed-ad row-mid-ntent-ad"><div class="StickyMidContentAdWrapper-fSBzwl drzyIa ad-stickymidntent"><div class="AdWrapper-dQtivb fZrssQ ad ad--mid-ntent should-hold-space"><div class="ad__slot ad__slot--mid-ntent" data-no-id="aemu3"></div></div></div></div><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK eRggVV grid grid-margs grid-ems-0 ArticlePageChunksGrid-hfxa bDFJoo"><div class="GridItem-buujkM kHPPIF grid--em"><div class="BodyWrapper-kufPGa bDyAMU body body__ntaer article__body" data-journey-hook="client-ntent" data-ttid="BodyWrapper"><div class="body__ner-ntaer"><p class="paywall">Jackson didn’t e out until he was sixteen, an event that was precipated by what he refers to as the “trma” his gay-teen-age story le. He liked another boy his school, but the boy told him, over the phone, that he wasn’t terted. Jackson’s father was eavdroppg on the le, and, afterward, nonted his son. “My mother walked home at that exact moment om church,” Jackson told me. “It was the most hilar and horrifyg thg. And then turned to this whole oral about ‘God hat , ’s worse than murr.’ ” The juxtaposn between who Jackson’s parents are—“They like everythg. Every acplishment I’ve ever had, they’re super proud of me. They ed to go on school trips wh . They’re very volved”—and their reactn to his queerns is startlg. (In “A Strange Loop,” Usher’s mother’s worry and nfn about her son beg gay is eply touchg.) His parents have sce e to a kd of acceptance. “Michael was always termed to be Michael,” his mother said. But the fay don’t discs the subject. Jackson said, “For me, there’s the add thg—and I feel this about most Black folks—we don’t talk about sexualy. In general.”</p><p class="has-dropp has-dropp__lead-standard-headg paywall">In 1999, Jackson, who had been greatly enuraged his wrg by three high-school teachers, enrolled N.Y.U.’s Dramatic Wrg program. He attend a lot of theatre. He also found himself tryg to navigate New York’s gay scene. “All I knew was Blackns,” he told me. “And then I me to New York. . . . And the gay people I knew—bee I was at N.Y.U.—were whe. And those people beme my iends. So then we would go to Splash, or to Piec, or whatever—plac that were filled wh whe people, or people who were terted whe people. So, even if you saw somebody Black, they only had ey for whe people. And maybe the whe people had ey for them bee they were some kd of fetish. So then I was, like, ‘All right, I’ll orient myself toward whe men.’ And that proved to be disastro at every sgle turn.” The whe men were even ls terted him than the Black boys om his high school had been, which was “doubly terrible.” He found that he didn’t f well to what he lls the “gaytriarchy.”</p><p class="paywall">Recently, as panmic rtrictns were liftg, Jackson and I had dner at an Italian rtrant SoHo, and he told me about a whe guy he met onle durg those years. They exchanged a few msag, and then Jackson told the man that he is short. The whe guy’s rponse “was, like, ‘Michael, I’m so sorry, I thk that we h the first of the ltle bumps the road if we’re gog to possibly nsir datg. I’ve never dated anybody who was shorter than me, and I didn’t even realize bee you’re such an amazg nversatnalist, and I love talkg to you, and you’re so amazg over e-mail . . .’ And he was, like, ‘While we’re talkg about height, I also should mentn that I’m very tall and also I’ve never dated anybody whose penis was not at least the same size as me, or larger.’ ” Jackson still went out wh him. For their send date, the man suggted that they go to a speed-datg event. Jackson agreed. “This is where my self-teem was,” he said. “He matched wh three people, and I matched wh no one. Then, after that, we were walkg to the tra, and he was meetg someone else to go on a date wh, who he troduced me to.”</p><p class="paywall">Part of Jackson’s skill as a wrer is scribg not jt the pockets of pa we live but the hope that led there. Early “Whe Girl Danger,” Keha ref to be warned agast the dangers of the whe world. As she talks wh her mother, Nell, and Carole, another rint of Blackground, this exchange tak place:</p><blockquote class="BlockquoteEmbedWrapper-sc-SdiGL jPeLne paywall blockquote-embed"><div class="BlockquoteEmbedContent-RbGs gmbtPx blockquote-embed__ntent"><p>C<em class="small">arole</em>: Yeah, Keha; assiatn stks! And bis, our liv of nonstop pa and sorrow a’t so bad!</p><p>N<em class="small">ell</em>: Not to mentn the fact that them Allwhe suckas a’t noth’ but liars, schemers, manipulators . . . and <em>racists!</em></p><p>K<em class="small">eha</em>: Racist or not, I jt wanna be <em>seen, Ma!</em> I jt wanna be part of that <em>world!!!!!!</em></p></div></blockquote><p class="paywall">After graduatg om llege, Jackson held down a ln ad-end jobs, cludg workg as an her at Disney shows, on Broadway, between 2003 and 2008. He lived uptown, wh an ever-changg st of roommat. One day, the ps me to his apartment. “I’m not aaid of ps,” he told me. “My father was a p.” But, unbeknownst to Jackson, one of his roommat was allegedly alg dgs. Rather than fd out who was at flt, the ps threw Jackson onto a sofa and cuffed him. He started cryg. They soon realized that he wasn’t their spect, and uncuffed him, but they ntued to turn the place upsi down, makg small talk as they did . “My apartment was beg raid, but they’re havg a quotidian nversatn about rent, mute, and my nice apartment,” he told me.</p><p class="paywall">Dpe the ways that racism aims to shame you to acceptg s l, which clu stayg your own cultural box, Jackson’s tenr work about whe girl sgers, Black queens, and whe soap operas is evince of his abidg fah his imagatn. One mil he fell love wh was “Falsettos,” by William Fn—Jam Lape -wrote the book—which begs wh a song lled “Four Jews a Room Bchg”: “I’m bchg. He’s bchg / They’re bchg. We’re bchg / Bch, bch, bch, bch.” The song plays wh cultural stereotyp g humor and I-told-you-you-didn’t-tell-me forthrightns. “The work had s own personaly,” Jackson said. “It wasn’t tryg to imate anyone else.” He admired Sondheim for stayg te to his voice as an urban gay man. Sondheim’s mentor, Osr Hammerste II, once advised him not to wre songs about nature—after all, he wasn’t Hammerste. Sondheim was, as Jackson put , “an urbane, wty New Yorker, and a puzzle master. And so he’s gog to wre lyrics that are elliptil and sort of circle back, and are clever and super smart and dark and ironic and all that stuff. That’s him.”</p><figure class="AssetEmbedWrapper-eVDQiB byBkf asset-embed"><div class="AssetEmbedAssetContaer-eJxoAx dBHGoQ asset-embed__asset-ntaer"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kGxnNB rponsive-asset AssetEmbedRponsiveAsset-cXBNxi eCxVQK asset-embed__rponsive-asset"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO KhjZz AssetEmbedRponsiveAsset-cXBNxi eCxVQK asset-embed__rponsive-asset rponsive-image rponsive-image--expandable"><noscript><img alt="A portra of Michael R. Jackson." class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src=" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w, 960w, 1280w, 1600w" siz="100vw"/></noscript></picture></span></div><div class="CaptnWrapper-jSZdqE iTuhkZ ptn AssetEmbedCaptn-fNQBPI fmQnYP asset-embed__ptn"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ CaptnText-bHjzlu iUEiRd hWyo iXWezO ptn__text">Michael R. Jackson, who wrote “A Strange Loop” and “Whe Girl Danger.”</span></div></figure><p class="paywall">In llege, Jackson wanted to wre for the soaps. “I subscribed to <em>Soap Opera Digt</em>,” he relled. “I terned at ABC Daytime.” When he graduated, he applied for a job at CBS Daytime, and to N.Y.U.’s graduate program mil-theatre wrg. “If I had gotten that job the soaps, I wouldn’t be wrg mils,” he said. In grad school, a Black gay stunt performed a song he’d wrten about a one-night stand—an assignatn that ma him feel guilty, the song, and ask the Lord for fivens. As Jackson listened, he wrote down a le his notebook about “All those Black gay boys I knew who chose to go on back to the Lord.” He bed this ia wh Tori Amos’s “Pretty Good Year,” which led him to wre “Memory Song,” the first tune for what turned out to be “A Strange Loop.”</p><p class="paywall">Jackson was not amb to get his work produced, bee he didn’t thk stood a chance. But he was artistilly amb, and, as his posns grew, so did Jackson. (Therapy helped.) In 2006, the producer Maria Manuela Goyan ved Jackson to perform a baret act at Ars Nova, cludg some early songs and parts om a monologue he wrote between llege and grad school lled “Why I Can’t Get Work.” (He lled the piece “Fast Food Town.” ) The speaker the monologue ach to w the acknowledgment of whe theatre powerho such as <a href=">Tony Khner</a> and John Patrick Shanley, and equat gay sex wh ath even as he longs for :</p></div></div></div></div><div class="RowWrapper-UmqTg HEhan full-bleed-ad row-mid-ntent-ad"><div class="StickyMidContentAdWrapper-fSBzwl drzyIa ad-stickymidntent"><div class="AdWrapper-dQtivb fZrssQ ad ad--mid-ntent should-hold-space"><div class="ad__slot ad__slot--mid-ntent" data-no-id="m7qc"></div></div></div></div><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK eRggVV grid grid-margs grid-ems-0 ArticlePageChunksGrid-hfxa bDFJoo"><div class="GridItem-buujkM kHPPIF grid--em"><div class="BodyWrapper-kufPGa bDyAMU body body__ntaer article__body" data-journey-hook="client-ntent" data-ttid="BodyWrapper"><div class="body__ner-ntaer"><blockquote class="BlockquoteEmbedWrapper-sc-SdiGL jPeLne paywall blockquote-embed"><div class="BlockquoteEmbedContent-RbGs gmbtPx blockquote-embed__ntent"><p>It’s jt like the other day this guy tri to pick me up while I’m wag for the 6 on my way to rehearsal for this play I wrote and my first thought is “What if he’s got <em class="small">AIDS</em>? Condoms are bullsh, what if he’s a gift giver who’s tryg to lure you somewhere to fect you on purpose?” And this is all me my glor gay 20s when I should be lghg <em class="small">AIDS</em> the face and darg to e after me. But this is not what they tght me high school health. This is not what Dad tght me about his Melv who apparently ran around on his wife for years smokg crack and fuckg men on the DL and got <em class="small">AIDS.</em> . . . So even though that moment wag for the 6 I thk, “Maybe he’s jt to you,” I thk right after that, “He probably jt wants to gay bash you.” So that’s where I’m at; a bter ctody battle: thought vers thought and thought ws.</p></div></blockquote><p class="paywall">But a monologue is not a mil. While velopg “Fast Food Town,” Jackson created a new ma character, named Usher. The show was gog to be a mashup of Jackson’s wrg and Liz Phair’s, but, when he reached out, Phair told him that he should wre his own songs. His iend the director Stephen Brackett suggted stg Usher’s world entirely wh gay Black male actors, no matter the role. In 2015, Jackson learned that the trans actor Shaka Nayfack was startg the Mil Theatre Factory, where artists uld velop new work, and she ved him to jo. Folks began to get ; Usher’s experienc paralleled their own. The tim were tchg up wh Jackson. Days of our liv, ed. The young wrer won a Dramatists Guild fellowship, a Jonathan Larson Grant, and a Lln Center Emergg Artist Award. The Broadway producer Barbara Whman, who was annoyed that the New York theatre scene wasn’t stagg more work like Jackson’s, mted to helpg him produce the show. A number of theatr led up to stage . The Pulzer Prize-wng playwright Jackie Sibbli Dry told me an e-mail that one reason she loved “A Strange Loop” was that was a “relief to see work that was so self-terted—not a shady way. . . . It felt to me like a piece that wasn’t strictly tobgraphil but was terted the self . . . explorg his Blackns, his queerns, his muni—faial, artistic, sexual—and how they see a person like him.” She add that, also, “ is really fuckg funny.”</p><p class="has-dropp has-dropp__lead-standard-headg paywall">On a recent afternoon, I vised the rehearsal hall above the Send Stage theatre, where the pany was fishg up a n-through. After the actors were dismissed, Lileana Bla-Cz, the show’s director, met me wh a head of blond Cuban twists; on top of that, set at a jnty angle, she wore a bright-pk beanie. Bla-Cz was relaxed, thorative, and ready to lgh. On one si of the loft-like space there were imag tacked up on the wall: the actrs and edian Jackée Harry on the ver of an old <em>Jet</em> magaze, Ruth Bar Gsburg wearg black glov, a young Whney Hoton perched on a r, Diana Ross unr a cloud of big-ass hair. The are jt a few of the major reference pots for “Whe Girl Danger,” which has more than s share of diva drama.</p><p class="paywall">The show is more sonilly plex than “A Strange Loop”; Jackson mak elaborate e of the chos. In “A Strange Loop,” he had to vent a form to tell a story that had never been told before. In “Whe Girl Danger,” he’s g the nventns of a preëxistg form—the soaps—which allows him to be looser. “The piece is larger than life, but ’s still life,” Bla-Cz said. Her challenge as a director has been to “keep the life part of , the tth part of , the ‘what happens next’—all that sex and drama and passn and feelg—part of that ma those ladi watchg their stori the afternoon feel so alive.” Bee of the succs of “A Strange Loop,” Jackson uld work on “Whe Girl Danger” whout havg to live wh roommat or hold down a borg job. After checkg on a note wh the stage manager, Jackson, who was drsed a gray shirt and dark troers, joed me and Bla-Cz. He began to expla a soap stcture, scribg a plot “As the World Turns,” which aired on CBS om 1956 to 2010:</p><blockquote class="BlockquoteEmbedWrapper-sc-SdiGL jPeLne paywall blockquote-embed"><div class="BlockquoteEmbedContent-RbGs gmbtPx blockquote-embed__ntent"><p>J<em class="small">ackson</em>: Lily Snyr was adopted by wealthy Lucda Walsh, right? But turned out her birth mother was Iva Snyr.</p><p>A<em class="small">ls</em>: The sister?</p><p>J<em class="small">ackson</em>: No. I fet what Iva’s relatnship is. Iva was raped when she was thirteen by Josh.</p><p>B<em class="small">la</em>-C<em class="small">z</em>: Oh, no!</p><p>J<em class="small">ackson</em>: And then she gave birth to Lily. But Iva was Josh’s . So, Lily is a kd of child of ct.</p><p>A<em class="small">ls</em>: First , or send ?</p><p>J<em class="small">ackson</em>: That I don’t know. There’s this whole big thg about Lily beg wealthy. And then the love of her life, Holn, is related to the that raped her mom. And then, on top of all that, years later, they rennect, and Iva had given birth to tws.</p><p>A<em class="small">ls</em>: Y.</p><p>J<em class="small">ackson</em>: Rose, who got adopted and grew up Atlantic Cy and beme a showgirl. And yet somehow she me to Oakdale. And then was Rose and Lily. Tws. Cocintally.</p><p>B<em class="small">la</em>-C<em class="small">z</em>: And that’s what I kd of live for, the retellg of the crazy.</p></div></blockquote></div></div></div></div><div class="RowWrapper-UmqTg HEhan full-bleed-ad row-mid-ntent-ad"><div class="StickyMidContentAdWrapper-fSBzwl drzyIa ad-stickymidntent"><div class="AdWrapper-dQtivb fZrssQ ad ad--mid-ntent should-hold-space"><div class="ad__slot ad__slot--mid-ntent" data-no-id="xaozgb"></div></div></div></div><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK eRggVV grid grid-margs grid-ems-0 ArticlePageChunksGrid-hfxa bDFJoo"><div class="GridItem-buujkM kHPPIF grid--em"><div class="BodyWrapper-kufPGa bDyAMU body body__ntaer article__body" data-journey-hook="client-ntent" data-ttid="BodyWrapper"><div class="body__ner-ntaer"><p class="paywall">When I vised, “Whe Girl Danger” was due to start previews a uple of weeks. It had been a long procs. Watchg the n-throughs was like stg si a movie time wipe—some of the actors were different om when I first saw the show. I heard, too, how the mic had epened. But the key players remaed the same: those characters which, whether they knew or not, had started to take form subnscly all those years ago, back Detro.</p><div data-attr-viewport-monor="le-recirc" class="le-recirc-wrapper le-recirc-observer-target-3 viewport-monor-anchor"></div><p class="paywall">Some people thk that O. J. Simpson killed the soaps: havg real-life drama, real time, ma the shows feel obsolete. The world was subsumed by Lifetime movi, which borrowed soap plotl, and realy TV. Jackson will, if asked, gui you through soap history wh enthiasm, and he will also let you know that he’s never given up on the form. He’d like to eventually wre a sequel to “Whe Girl Danger.” He’s planng a mil adaptatn of the 2007 movie “Teeth,” based on a fantasy about vaga ntata, and a televisn project about how sex n be viewed posively wh a Black ntext. In the rehearsal room above the Send Stage, however, he was focsed on “Whe Girl Danger.” Bla-Cz was exced by the challenge of tryg to make soaps matter to a ntemporary dience. “I feel what’s so satisfyg about the work is that Michael is eply vted pop culture, and eply vted the history of media,” she said. “So he knows how to take the thgs that are faiar for , the thgs that we’ve some ways dismissed as not even anythg to pay attentn to, and he mak pay attentn to them.”</p><p class="paywall">It was the “dismissed as not even anythg to pay attentn to” that ma me rell all those young men and women of lor who surround Jackson outsi the Lycm. In some way, the mil had given them not jt a show but an dience; talkg to Jackson, and takg selfi wh him, was a way of feelg seen, and ls fotten. This was an aspect of the show that had moved the great star <a href=">Bette Midler</a>, too. She told me, by e-mail, “I thought was all the thgs people always say; ‘Brave, bold, go where no one has ever gone, blah blah blah’, but actually, spe of all this, or addn to all this, also manag to be hysterilly funny, illumatg, revelatory, movg, remarkably mil, heartbreakg and ultimately so human, that mak you want to weep, not jt for Usher, but for all of . And I did. I still n’t unrstand how he did .” Midler went backstage to meet Jackson after the show and offer her ngratulatns. Afterward, as they walked out onto the street, where a crowd had gathered, Midler noticed that his glass were splotched, and, exprsg Mom ncern, took them off and wiped the lens, g a b of her drs, like a hankie. ♦</p></div></div></div></div></div><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK eRggVV grid grid-margs grid-ems-0 PaywallInleBarrierWhWrapperGrid-fyrGfS jyGBoi"><div class="GridItem-buujkM kHPPIF grid--em"><div class="body body__le-barrier article__body article__body--grid-margs"><div class="ntaer ntaer--body"><div class="ntaer--body-ner"><asi class="PaywallInleBarrierWrapper-iBnuqk lfXXa-D" data-ttid="PaywallInleBarrierWrapper"><div class="ConsumerMarketgUnThemedWrapper-iUTMTf jssHut nsumer-marketg-un nsumer-marketg-un--paywall-le-barrier" role="prentatn" aria-live="pole" aria-hidn="te"><div class="nsumer-marketg-un__slot nsumer-marketg-un__slot--paywall-le-barrier"></div><div class="journey-un"></div></div></asi></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK eRggVV grid grid-margs grid-ems-0 ContentWrapperGrid-fvkmBv jfHKjr"><div class="GridItem-buujkM kHPPIF grid--em"><div class="body body__ntaer"><div class="ntaer ntaer--body"><div class="ntaer--body-ner"></div></div></div></div></div></div></article><div class="ContentFooterWrapper-jVNdRG bGJnrW ArticlePageContentFooterGrid-ccsXYy fzwwkW article-body__footer"><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK eRggVV grid grid-margs grid-ems-0"><div class="GridItem-buujkM kHPPIF grid--em"><footer class="ContentFooterMagazeDisclaimer-gzKAqo iZIuUU" data-ttid="MagazeDisclaimerWrapper">Published the prt edn of the <a href="/magaze/2023/04/10" data-reactroot="">April 10, 2023</a>, issue, wh the headle “Young and Rtls.”</footer></div></div><div class="RowWrapper-UmqTg HEhan"><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK eRggVV grid grid-margs grid-ems-0"><div class="GridItem-buujkM kHPPIF grid--em"><div class="LkStackWrapper-NFLYw kgtXXB lkstack" data-ttid="LkStack"><div class="SectnTleRoot-dBGvdq kjAxEG LkStackHear-lKjbE hejl lk-stack--headg" data-ttid="SectnTle"><h2 class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ SectnTleHed-dKqZet dxqEAa dqtvfu jttyjJ">New Yorker Favor</h2></div><div class="LkStackContent-jyKicS gPhyME"><ul class="LkStackList-gGcjdZ dnMwpz"><li class="LkStackBullet-kQRqul iQHwiG lk-stack--lk-em" data-ttid="LkStackBullet"><div><p>The killer who <a href="/unfed" class="InternalLkEmbedWrapper-fhjgJW cQLtaa">got to Harvard</a>.</p></div></li><li class="LkStackBullet-kQRqul iQHwiG lk-stack--lk-em" data-ttid="LkStackBullet"><div><p>A thief who <a href="/unfed" class="InternalLkEmbedWrapper-fhjgJW cQLtaa">stole only silver</a>.</p></div></li><li class="LkStackBullet-kQRqul iQHwiG lk-stack--lk-em" data-ttid="LkStackBullet"><div><p>The light of the <a href="/unfed" class="InternalLkEmbedWrapper-fhjgJW cQLtaa">world’s first nuclear bomb</a>.</p></div></li><li class="LkStackBullet-kQRqul iQHwiG lk-stack--lk-em" data-ttid="LkStackBullet"><div><p>How Steve Mart <a href="/unfed" class="InternalLkEmbedWrapper-fhjgJW cQLtaa">learned what’s funny</a>.</p></div></li><li class="LkStackBullet-kQRqul iQHwiG lk-stack--lk-em" data-ttid="LkStackBullet"><div><p>Growg up as the <a href="/unfed" class="InternalLkEmbedWrapper-fhjgJW cQLtaa">son of the Cowardly Ln</a>.</p></div></li><li class="LkStackBullet-kQRqul iQHwiG lk-stack--lk-em" data-ttid="LkStackBullet"><div><p>Amelia Earhart’s <a href="/unfed" class="InternalLkEmbedWrapper-fhjgJW cQLtaa">last flight</a>.</p></div></li><li class="LkStackBullet-kQRqul iQHwiG lk-stack--lk-em" data-ttid="LkStackBullet"><div><p>Fictn by Milan Kunra: “<a href="/unfed" class="InternalLkEmbedWrapper-fhjgJW cQLtaa">The Unbearable Lightns of Beg</a>.”</p></div></li></ul><div class="LkStackFooter-KfRyO ebnmps lk-stack--footer"><div><p><a href=">Sign up</a> for our daily newsletter to receive the bt stori om <em>The New Yorker</em>.</p></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="RowWrapper-UmqTg HEhan"><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK eRggVV grid grid-margs grid-ems-0"><div class="GridItem-buujkM kHPPIF grid--em"><div class="ContributorsWrapper-eNpWFu GWFsc ntributors" data-ttid="Contributors"><div class="ContributorBWrapper-bnVHbt gMon"><div class="ContributorBAvatar-bIGTqf eMWbvj"><a href="/ntributors/hilton-als"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW jvZaPI rponsive-asset"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa rponsive-image"><source media="(max-width: 767px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w" siz="100vw"/><source media="(m-width: 768px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w" siz="100vw"/><img alt="" class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src="></picture></span></a></div><div class="ContributorBContent-ubQdr jZTSSi"><div class="ContributorBHear-ledood XOIEx"></div><div class="ContributorBB-fBolsO giFhKz"><a href="/ntributors/hilton-als">Hilton Als</a>, a staff wrer at The New Yorker, won the 2017 Pulzer Prize for cricism. 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SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image rponsive-image"><noscript><source media="(max-width: 767px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w" siz="100vw"/><source media="(m-width: 768px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w" siz="100vw"/><img alt="Iphigenia Fort Hills" class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src="></noscript></picture></div></div></span></a></div><div class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ SummaryItemDek-CRfsi iUEiRd jxOIpm cPtisA summary-em__k">Anatomy of a murr trial.</div><div class="SummaryItemByleWrapper-boCfbi cuRXdL summary-em__byle-date-in"><div class="SummaryItemBaseByle-fFbXkY cgDBtc summary-em__byle"><div class="summary-em__byle__ntent"><div data-ttid="BylWrapper" class="BylWrapper-KIudk irTIfE byl"><p class="ByleWrapper-jWHrLH dSEWiO byle byl__byle" data-ttid="ByleWrapper" emProp="thor" emType="><span emProp="name" class="ByleNamWrapper-jbHncj fuDQVo"><span data-ttid="ByleName" class="ByleName-kwmrLn cYaBaU byle__name"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ BylePreamble-iJolpQ iUEiRd jslZfG gnILss byle__preamble">By </span>Ja Mallm</span></span></p></div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="SummaryItemWrapper-iwvBff ewgXAt summary-em summary-em--ARTICLE summary-em--no-in summary-em--text-align-left summary-em--layout-placement-text-below-sktop-only summary-em--layout-posn-image-right summary-em--layout-proportns-33-66 summary-em--si-by-si-align-center summary-em--si-by-si-image-right-mobile-false summary-em--standard SummaryCollectnGridSummaryItem-WColm dqlGhv" role="button" tabx="0"><div class="SummaryItemAssetContaer-gwhFFH VOyg summary-em__asset-ntaer"><a class="SummaryItemImageLk-dshqxb USLvL summary-em__image-lk summary-em-trackg__image-lk" href=" aria-hidn="te" tabx="-1" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-image-2" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" target="_self"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kGxnNB rponsive-asset SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image"><div data-tt="aspect-rat-ntaer" class="AspectRatContaer-bJHpJz jMoLpX"><div class="aspect-rat--overlay-ntaer"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image rponsive-image"><noscript><source media="(max-width: 767px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w" siz="100vw"/><source media="(m-width: 768px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w" siz="100vw"/><img alt="The Transn" class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src="></noscript></picture></div></div></span></a></div><div class="SummaryItemContent-eiDYMl bcywvc summary-em__ntent"><div class="RubricWrapper-dKmCNX kImuKS bric bric--disvery SummaryItemRubric-dguGKN fYiFyD summary-em__bric"><span class="RubricName-fVtemz cLxcNi">Annals of History</span></div><a class="SummaryItemHedLk-civM cZPaWG summary-em-trackg__hed-lk summary-em__hed-lk" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-hed-2" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" href=" target="_self"><div class="SummaryItemHedBase-hiFYpQ iIjKeM summary-em__hed" data-ttid="SummaryItemHed">The Transn</div></a><div class="SummaryItemAssetContaer-gwhFFH VOyg summary-em__asset-ntaer"><a class="SummaryItemImageLk-dshqxb USLvL summary-em__image-lk summary-em-trackg__image-lk" href=" aria-hidn="te" tabx="-1" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-image-2" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" target="_self"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kGxnNB rponsive-asset SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image"><div data-tt="aspect-rat-ntaer" class="AspectRatContaer-bJHpJz jMoLpX"><div class="aspect-rat--overlay-ntaer"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image rponsive-image"><noscript><source media="(max-width: 767px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w" siz="100vw"/><source media="(m-width: 768px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w" siz="100vw"/><img alt="The Transn" class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src="></noscript></picture></div></div></span></a></div><div class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ SummaryItemDek-CRfsi iUEiRd jxOIpm cPtisA summary-em__k">Lyndon Johnson and the events Dallas.</div><div class="SummaryItemByleWrapper-boCfbi cuRXdL summary-em__byle-date-in"><div class="SummaryItemBaseByle-fFbXkY cgDBtc summary-em__byle"><div class="summary-em__byle__ntent"><div data-ttid="BylWrapper" class="BylWrapper-KIudk irTIfE byl"><p class="ByleWrapper-jWHrLH dSEWiO byle byl__byle" data-ttid="ByleWrapper" emProp="thor" emType="><span emProp="name" class="ByleNamWrapper-jbHncj fuDQVo"><span data-ttid="ByleName" class="ByleName-kwmrLn cYaBaU byle__name"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ BylePreamble-iJolpQ iUEiRd jslZfG gnILss byle__preamble">By </span>Robert A. Caro</span></span></p></div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="SummaryItemWrapper-iwvBff ewgXAt summary-em summary-em--ARTICLE summary-em--no-in summary-em--text-align-left summary-em--layout-placement-text-below-sktop-only summary-em--layout-posn-image-right summary-em--layout-proportns-33-66 summary-em--si-by-si-align-center summary-em--si-by-si-image-right-mobile-false summary-em--standard SummaryCollectnGridSummaryItem-WColm dqlGhv" role="button" tabx="0"><div class="SummaryItemAssetContaer-gwhFFH VOyg summary-em__asset-ntaer"><a class="SummaryItemImageLk-dshqxb USLvL summary-em__image-lk summary-em-trackg__image-lk" href=" aria-hidn="te" tabx="-1" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-image-3" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" target="_self"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kGxnNB rponsive-asset SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image"><div data-tt="aspect-rat-ntaer" class="AspectRatContaer-bJHpJz jMoLpX"><div class="aspect-rat--overlay-ntaer"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image rponsive-image"><noscript><source media="(max-width: 767px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w" siz="100vw"/><source media="(m-width: 768px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w" siz="100vw"/><img alt="Blood Ti" class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src="></noscript></picture></div></div></span></a></div><div class="SummaryItemContent-eiDYMl bcywvc summary-em__ntent"><div class="RubricWrapper-dKmCNX kImuKS bric bric--disvery SummaryItemRubric-dguGKN fYiFyD summary-em__bric"><span class="RubricName-fVtemz cLxcNi">Annals of Crime</span></div><a class="SummaryItemHedLk-civM cZPaWG summary-em-trackg__hed-lk summary-em__hed-lk" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-hed-3" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" href=" target="_self"><div class="SummaryItemHedBase-hiFYpQ iIjKeM summary-em__hed" data-ttid="SummaryItemHed">Blood Ti</div></a><div class="SummaryItemAssetContaer-gwhFFH VOyg summary-em__asset-ntaer"><a class="SummaryItemImageLk-dshqxb USLvL summary-em__image-lk summary-em-trackg__image-lk" href=" aria-hidn="te" tabx="-1" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-image-3" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" target="_self"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kGxnNB rponsive-asset SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image"><div data-tt="aspect-rat-ntaer" class="AspectRatContaer-bJHpJz jMoLpX"><div class="aspect-rat--overlay-ntaer"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image rponsive-image"><noscript><source media="(max-width: 767px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w" siz="100vw"/><source media="(m-width: 768px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w" siz="100vw"/><img alt="Blood Ti" class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src="></noscript></picture></div></div></span></a></div><div class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ SummaryItemDek-CRfsi iUEiRd jxOIpm cPtisA summary-em__k">Two brilliant llege lovers were nvicted of a btal slayg. All the years later, why has the se bee a e?</div><div class="SummaryItemByleWrapper-boCfbi cuRXdL summary-em__byle-date-in"><div class="SummaryItemBaseByle-fFbXkY cgDBtc summary-em__byle"><div class="summary-em__byle__ntent"><div data-ttid="BylWrapper" class="BylWrapper-KIudk irTIfE byl"><p class="ByleWrapper-jWHrLH dSEWiO byle byl__byle" data-ttid="ByleWrapper" emProp="thor" emType="><span emProp="name" class="ByleNamWrapper-jbHncj fuDQVo"><span data-ttid="ByleName" class="ByleName-kwmrLn cYaBaU byle__name"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ BylePreamble-iJolpQ iUEiRd jslZfG gnILss byle__preamble">By </span>Nathan Heller</span></span></p></div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="SummaryItemWrapper-iwvBff ewgXAt summary-em summary-em--ARTICLE summary-em--no-in summary-em--text-align-left summary-em--layout-placement-text-below-sktop-only summary-em--layout-posn-image-right summary-em--layout-proportns-33-66 summary-em--si-by-si-align-center summary-em--si-by-si-image-right-mobile-false summary-em--standard SummaryCollectnGridSummaryItem-WColm dqlGhv" role="button" tabx="0"><div class="SummaryItemAssetContaer-gwhFFH VOyg summary-em__asset-ntaer"><a class="SummaryItemImageLk-dshqxb USLvL summary-em__image-lk summary-em-trackg__image-lk" href=" aria-hidn="te" tabx="-1" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-image-4" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" target="_self"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kGxnNB rponsive-asset SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image"><div data-tt="aspect-rat-ntaer" class="AspectRatContaer-bJHpJz jMoLpX"><div class="aspect-rat--overlay-ntaer"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image rponsive-image"><noscript><source media="(max-width: 767px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w" siz="100vw"/><source media="(m-width: 768px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w" siz="100vw"/><img alt="The Chameleon" class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src="></noscript></picture></div></div></span></a></div><div class="SummaryItemContent-eiDYMl bcywvc summary-em__ntent"><div class="RubricWrapper-dKmCNX kImuKS bric bric--disvery SummaryItemRubric-dguGKN fYiFyD summary-em__bric"><span class="RubricName-fVtemz cLxcNi">Annals of Crime</span></div><a class="SummaryItemHedLk-civM cZPaWG summary-em-trackg__hed-lk summary-em__hed-lk" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-hed-4" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" href=" target="_self"><div class="SummaryItemHedBase-hiFYpQ iIjKeM summary-em__hed" data-ttid="SummaryItemHed">The Chameleon</div></a><div class="SummaryItemAssetContaer-gwhFFH VOyg summary-em__asset-ntaer"><a class="SummaryItemImageLk-dshqxb USLvL summary-em__image-lk summary-em-trackg__image-lk" href=" aria-hidn="te" tabx="-1" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-image-4" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" target="_self"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kGxnNB rponsive-asset SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image"><div data-tt="aspect-rat-ntaer" class="AspectRatContaer-bJHpJz jMoLpX"><div class="aspect-rat--overlay-ntaer"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image rponsive-image"><noscript><source media="(max-width: 767px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w" siz="100vw"/><source media="(m-width: 768px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w" siz="100vw"/><img alt="The Chameleon" class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src="></noscript></picture></div></div></span></a></div><div class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ SummaryItemDek-CRfsi iUEiRd jxOIpm cPtisA summary-em__k">The many liv of Frédéric Bourd.</div><div class="SummaryItemByleWrapper-boCfbi cuRXdL summary-em__byle-date-in"><div class="SummaryItemBaseByle-fFbXkY cgDBtc summary-em__byle"><div class="summary-em__byle__ntent"><div data-ttid="BylWrapper" 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