20 Imag From the Naked Age of Erotic Gay Theater

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The pretty gay guy on 90210? Jerry Douglas's Tubstrip, a risque edy set a gay bathhoe, was a popular sensatn when produced onstage 1973-1974, the era of gay liberatn and the sexual revolutn.

The play, often dismissed by mastream crics but hailed as "funny, sexy, and important" by the gay prs, ran for 140 performanc off-Broadway, then toured to eight ci over ne months, and returned to Broadway starrg the legendary adult film star Casey Donovan the lead role. Dpe s unprecented succs and acclaim, the play was not officially published until wh the but publitn of the script of the play, this edn clus a foreword by Jordan Schildcrout tled "Tubstrip and The Erotic Theatre of Gay Liberatn", which exam the signifince of the play as one of a wave of erotic gay plays (most of them fotten or lost) that emerged between 1969 and 1974.

He went on to have a major reer gay male pornography, directg numero award-wng films between 1989 and 2007, such as More of a Man, Flh & Blood, Dream Team, and Schildcrout is Associate Profsor of Theatre & Performance at SUNY Purchase. Larry Gilman plays Brian, the gay bathhoe attendant lookg for love the era of sexual liberatn.

Lee Barton, reviewg the play for The Advote, lled "funny, sexy, and important, " but wonred whether mastream crics uld "tolerate anythg gay that is so open and healthy.

Some crics regard the tour as "homosexploatn, " but the Philalphia Enquirer lled "somethg of an event the history of gay liberatn... Assertg as do not the sickns but the validy of homosexual affectn and homoerotic appeal. One San Francis review praised Tubstrip as an exemplar of gay liberatn, remarkg, "When is the last time you walked out of a play or film about gays and felt good?