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O CTOBER 7, 2011
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WWW.JUSTOUT.COM
Gender Roles
Defunkt theatre queers a classic with creative casting
BY ERIN ROOK
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Would she have to act like a man, whatever
and Tony-winning play Glengarry Glen Ross
that means?” Kern says. “We were really in
in 1984, his tale o f a group o f desperate real
terested in what [it does] to have women
estate salesmen over two days emphasized
using derogatory terms about women to at
the role o f masculinity in success. The up
tack men.”
coming production by defunkt theatre com
On the receiving end o f most o f those at
pany queers that narrative with creative
tacks is Kerns’character, officer manager John
casting that invites a reinterpretation o f the
Williamson. The salesmen see Williamson as
original script.
less o f a man because he doesn’t go out on
“The original play as written, I would say, is
s e r v i n g c u s t o m cocktails,
s n ac ks , al l on t h e t o p flo or
W hen David Mamet wrote the Pulitzer-
BEER
MOMS
sN E L L nw20th&keamey
a brutal examination o f real estate salesmen
“They’re constantly attacking Williamson,
vying for dominance and survival in a very
calling him fairy,” Kern says. So he and
competitive sales environment,” says M at
Carter thought it would be interesting if the
thew Kern, an artistic di
“This is still a world in which
was, in fact, gay. “I t ’s not
“It’s not a nice story but
everything that is of value
like I ’m up there gaying it
it’s fun to watch. [M am et’s]
just a master o f language.”
The company is prepar
ing a performance o f the
play that, through mixed-
gender casting, adds layers
is described in a masculine
way... so there becomes
up, it’s just sort o f who I
am. So we’re not doing
anything overt.”
Still, aside from the
this issue [of] how would a
woman survive in this envi
insults,
Kern
says
the
original script makes it
o f contemporary interest
ronment? Would she have
easy to
to the already timely, if
to act like a man, whatever
liamson is gay, especially
changes have been made
to the script or the set
ting, but the two main
-*»
actor playing Williamson
rector for defunct theatre.
rather macho, story. No
tnvaoes
sales “sits” and has a quieter personality.
imagine
W il
with a woman playing
that means?”
-MATTHEW KERN,
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR, DEFUNKT
Levene,
the
salesman
who most often derides
the office manager.
characters— ruthless Ricky Roma and old-
Kern points to a moment in the script
fashioned Shelley “The M achine” Levene—
when Levene pleads, “Joh n , my daugh
will be played by women, Grace Carter and
te r ...” in a final bid to garner sympathy.
Lori Sue Hoffman.
W ith a woman in the role, and W illiam son
Kern says he and Carter, the company’s
reading as gay, the moment becomes an
other artistic director, had considered an all
exercise in heterosexual privilege, as if
female cast, but felt that a mixed-gender
Levene were saying to childless W illiam
ensemble would create more dynamic shifts
son, “I have a daughter so I matter more
in the relationships between the characters.
than you,” Kern says.
“This is still a world in which everything
that is o f value is described in a masculine
Williamson’s response, fittingly, is “Fuck
you.”
way... so there becomes this issue [of] how
In the 1992 film adaptation, W illiamson
would a woman survive in this environment?
(played by Kevin Spacey) talks about having
Iways a party
in...
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Photo b» Ta» lor B. Photograph»