Standg on Ceremony: The Gay Marriage Plays - Variety

Contents:

• STANDG ON CEREMONY: THE GAY MARRIAGE PLAYS TICKETS
• STANDG ON CEREMONY: THE GAY MARRIAGE PLAYS
• STANDG ON CEREMONY - THE GAY MARRIAGE PLAYS
• STANDG ON CEREMONY: THE GAY MARRIAGE PLAYS PAPERBACK – JANUARY 1, 1854
• STANDG ON CEREMONY: THE GAY MARRIAGE PLAYS NEWS & FEATUR

STANDG ON CEREMONY: THE GAY MARRIAGE PLAYS TICKETS

And so I’m happy to report that Standg on Ceremony: The Gay Marriage Plays, which opened last night at the Metta Lane Theater, has enough lghs, tears, and well-spoken sentiments to overe s ocsnal fumbl and longurs and provi a movg affirmatn of the power of love.

STANDG ON CEREMONY: THE GAY MARRIAGE PLAYS

Makg their pots wh the heavy hand and d w characteristic of the genre, they left me wh the skg feelg of a weddg gut at the start of a long night of then, like an irreprsibly nutty great-nt, Harriet Harris took the microphone Pl Rudnick’s The Gay Agenda, playg one Mary Abigail Carstairs-Sweetbuckle, a csar for tradnal fay valu who spearheads such groups as the Christian Fay Fortrs and Fuck wh the Fay and You Die. Harris, who plays mented hysteria wh wild ic verve, ptur the speratn of a woman who hears gay voic her head, rebg her for her weight and her taste ratg, and se her world beg taken over by gay culture. “I’m sorry, but the gay people n’t have marriage or Oprah or Anrson Cooper!

STANDG ON CEREMONY - THE GAY MARRIAGE PLAYS

This one, My Hband, ncerns an NYU profsor named Gabrielle Fkelste whose iends’ gay children have all gotten married such spectacular fashn that she puts a fake weddg announcement for her eligible son The New York Tim. There’s history behd “Standg on Ceremony: the Gay Marriage Plays, ” a feel-good show celebratg gay marriage. Although both plays are meant to ame, they make the same ser pot: that gay marriage is whout precent, and, for better or worse, partners who marry are facto creatg their own tradns.

In “London Mosquo, ” Mois Kfman go so far as to qutn the very ncept of a gay marriage ceremony.

STANDG ON CEREMONY: THE GAY MARRIAGE PLAYS PAPERBACK – JANUARY 1, 1854

Lookg beyond the ceremony self, some scrib prent humoro acunts of how the right to marry has created unexpected social and polil pfalls for gay upl. In “My Hband, ” Harris (“Thoroughly Morn Millie”) giv an antic performance as an aggrsively lovg mother who is sperate for her gay son (Mark Consuelos) to marry, so she won’t be outdone by her iends. Harris is also a rt “The Gay Agenda” as Mary Elizabeth Carstairs-Sweetbuckle, a nservative lady who tri to be more open-md than her hband (who lik to say that Satan created gay people as a crafts project), but be nvced that gays are takg over the world.

Standg On Ceremony: The Gay Marriage Plays News & Featur. Around 2010 as the untry was the middle of a heated bate as to whether gay marriage should be ferally legalized or left to each state to ci, several natnally regnized playwrights band together to wre short plays for an eveng of theatre lled Standg on Ceremony: The Gay Marriage Plays. In each play, gay upl navigate their way through the nfg and sometim absurdly funny landspe of what means to be married one state, civil unned another, margalized on the ter, or forced to exprs love secretly a dorm room durg the late 60's.

STANDG ON CEREMONY: THE GAY MARRIAGE PLAYS NEWS & FEATUR

AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTTheater Review | 'Standg on Ceremony: The Gay Marriage Plays'You Won the Right to Wed; Now Com the Tough PartStandg on Ceremony: The Gay Marriage PlaysNov. 13, 2011It would not be appropriate to brg a few handfuls of rice to toss at the climax of “Standg on Ceremony: The Gay Marriage Plays, ” a llectn of monologu and short plays that opened on Sunday night at the Metta Lane Theater.

This mostly genial, often funny omnib is sentially a staged celebratn of the recent advanc wng maral rights for gay and lbian upl, and how the changg laws are changg fal entry, Jose Rivera’s “Pablo & Andrew at the Altar of Words, ” picts the exchange of vows between two highly verbal fellows as their loved on look on. ” (Gee, now that I thk about , they uld probably have borrowed the tle too, appendg the words “to My Gay Weddg” to the end.

Rudnick that are, unsurprisgly, the ic highlights of the “The Gay Agenda, ” Mr. ”She then reunts how her seemgly iendly gay neighbors have filtrated her very psyche, to the pot that she’s hearg voic her head — a gay voice, yet, tellg her she uld afford to shed a few pounds, among other afonts. Mary Abigail jt wants the rampant madns to stop, notg how the media are awash “sympathetic, outrageoly flamboyant gay characters.

” Big-screen romantic edi now all feature a “sassy gay bt iend, ” she huffs.

Consuelos, dog his yeoman’s work well), whose lack of a hband has sudnly bee a source of agonized ’s mortified that her fellow liberal-md New York mothers of gay men and lbians are crowg about their offsprgs’ lavish weddg celebratns and perfect partners. “I mean, fe, you’re gay, ” she pants anxiety, “but ’s not enough!

Thomas) be more accurate fg the l of the gay-marriage game as they currently stand. (For those not up to speed, California voters halted gay marriag after jt a few months of legaly.

“That’s not an optn D Mo, ” Hannah patiently Kfman’s “London Mosquo” movgly suggts that the advanc civil rights for gay men and women have e too late for many long-uned partners. LaBute, the ntemporary theater’s relentls chronicler of man’s humany, to remd that the advanc civil rights for gay men and women have by no means eradited the prejudice that some Amerins feel toward homosexuals. STANDING ON CEREMONYThe Gay Marriage PlaysShort plays by Mo Gaffney, Jordan Harrison, Moisés Kfman, Neil LaBute, Wendy MacLeod, Jose Rivera, Pl Rudnick and Doug Wright; nceived by Brian Shnipper; directed by Stuart Ross; productn supervisor, David Gallo Dign Ltd.

Standg on Ceremony: The Gay Marriage Plays. Standg on Ceremony: The Gay Marriage Plays, which will be staged as se-specific and immersive vigt throughout the Drake Performance and Event Center, explor the risk of mment, the terror of forever, and the lible power of love, for every sgle one of .

But "Standg on Ceremony: The Gay Marriage Plays" turns those assumptns on their llectn of mi pro-gay marriage plays that opened Sunday off-Broadway at the timate Metta Lane Theatre was funny and movg and as varied as the different playwrights, which clu Pl Rudnick, Neil LaBute and Doug a humoro rewrg of the tradnal marriage vows for a gay uple to the dramatizatn of a real-life argument on Facebook to a play about anti-gay vlence to one which a uple grappl wh the new realy of homosexual marriage, the piec are each smartly wrten and, sce they n only n about 10 mut, have absolutely no six actors, who play multiple parts, are Beth Leavel ("The Drowsy Chaperone"), Richard Thomas ("Race"), Craig Bierko ("The Mic Man"), Mark Consuelos ("All My Children"), Polly Draper ("thirtysomethg") and Harriet Harris ("Thoroughly Morn Millie"). In one, "The Gay Agenda, " Rudnick creat the anti-gay marriage activist, Mary Abigail Carstairs-Sweetbuckle, who reveals her own bigotry, though sists, "I don't hate anyone.