Who Was Lynn Riggs, the Gay Cherokee Playwright Behd 'Oklahoma!'? | History | Smhsonian Magaze

Contents:

• THIS STAGE PRODUCTN OF ‘OKLAHOMA!’ BREAKS DOWN BARRIERS WH GENR-SWAPPED, GAY CHARACTERS
• BEHD ‘OKLAHOMA!’ LI THE REMARKABLE STORY OF A GAY CHEROKEE PLAYWRIGHT
• CLASSIC 'OKLAHOMA!' MIL TURNED TO A GAY PLAY
• THE VOICE OF CHICAGO'S GAY, LESBIAN, BI, TRANS AND QUEER COMMUNITY SINCE 1985
• GAY OKLAHOMA TRAVEL GUI
• THE 10 BT GAY MILS OF ALL TIME

THIS STAGE PRODUCTN OF ‘OKLAHOMA!’ BREAKS DOWN BARRIERS WH GENR-SWAPPED, GAY CHARACTERS

Raise your curtas of prenceptn and image a mil: There’s a spunky, sexually adventuro gay boy pursued by a hardworkg man, a few years olr, who wants tame the young’un and his wanrg eye and get domtic.

For gay theater lovers, OSF’s Oklahoma! A gay man, director Rch — who sce 2007 has also been Artistic Director of OSF s entirety — has long been attracted to the ia of mountg old-fashned Oklahoma! Was based on, intified as gay, ” he not.

BEHD ‘OKLAHOMA!’ LI THE REMARKABLE STORY OF A GAY CHEROKEE PLAYWRIGHT

For queer dience members, there are l Osr Hammerste’s origal script and lyrics that take on amg new shas of meang when livered among characters now portrayed as gay or lbian:. In Riggs’ Oklahoma, wasn’t easy to be a small-town Cherokee boy who was not only amb but also gay. As bgrapher Phyllis Cole Brnlich put her 1988 book, Hnted by Home: The Life and Letters of Lynn Riggs, “Newly eed by the regnn of his own homosexual orientatn, he neverthels was nstantly wary of Oklahoma’s judgments.

As a gay man, Vaill found himself intifyg wh the bewilred way Jud mov through the world, tryg to unrstand why people spise him. “When you’re a young gay kid, you don’t know you’re gay, ” Vaill says.

He’d always been fascated by the story of Bce Goff, a gay Tulsa archect who signed some of the cy’s most betiful buildgs. Gay Rights,. " has been revised to a new versn of the beloved stage play, removg the straight upl and replacg them wh gay upl.

CLASSIC 'OKLAHOMA!' MIL TURNED TO A GAY PLAY

The New York Tim reports the new play is the brachild of a gay man named Bill Rch who first gave the ia life at the Oregon Shakpeare Ftival 2016, where he is the artistic director.

It's jt the latt activist effort to twist classic Amerin entertament to pro-gay entertament. For example, as CBN News reported, Netflix recently produced an adaptatn of the 1908 novel Anne of Green Gabl, which was revised to clu multiple homosexual characters. READ: Pulse Nightclub Survivor to CBN News: ‘It wasn’t a gay to straight thg.

THE VOICE OF CHICAGO'S GAY, LESBIAN, BI, TRANS AND QUEER COMMUNITY SINCE 1985

A gay man a mted relatnship at a time when marriage equaly seemed like an impossible dream, he was sure that would be revelatory. Text 'GAYTRAVEL' to 1-800-GAY-TRAVEL (1-800-429-8728). — Travel Guis wh a Gay Perspective.

GAY OKLAHOMA TRAVEL GUI

The BEST Gay-Friendly Hotels, Rorts, Bars/Clubs & Events Oklahoma. Gay Oklahoma. What's the Gay Scene Like?

MUST EAT: Gay-Friendly Dg. MUST VISIT: Gay-Friendly Bars & Nightlife. Lol Expert: Gay Scene Oklahoma.

MUST EAT Oklahoma Gay-Friendly Dg. MUST VISIT Oklahoma Gay-Friendly Bars & Nightlife.

THE 10 BT GAY MILS OF ALL TIME

Most of the bt of the cy’s nightlife, pecially the gay scene is suated the NW 39th Entertament District. It is once a btlg tourist stop on Route 66 and is now the most happeng place OKC, wh many gay bars and dance clubs. That is, Curly and Lrey were lbians; the sendary romantic uple, Will Parker and Ado Andy, were gay men; Lrey’s Aunt Eller was a trans woman; and Ali Hakim, the travelg peddler, was an exuberant bisexual man.

I saw that productn the pany of Ted Chap, the longtime chief creative officer of the Rodgers & Hammerste anizatn, now a un of the Conrd Bicycle Mic Company, on the day that Jtice Anthony Kennedy, the Supreme Court’s swg vote on gay marriage, announced his retirement. The Tony awards have always been a gay affair, plete wh out hosts like Neil Patrick Harris and wners like David Hy Pierce famoly thankg their partners at the podium.