Lavender Fest Reviews: ‘Stuck’ and ‘Yesterday is Dead’

Maria Chryssopoulos wows in “Yesterday is Dead.” (Photo by Merrielle Gatlin.) From July 16 to 20, queer performers took the stage at Out Front Theatre for Lavender Fest, a performing arts festival spotlighting and celebrating queer Southern stories. Among the 10 shows featured in the festival were “Stuck,” an intimate reunion of two high school best friends by New York playwright and actor JJ Ivey, and “Yesterday is Dead,” a one-woman show journeying through lesbian identity, 100 years ago to today, by Mellon Grant recipient Maria Chryssopoulos. Both shows had strong emotional hearts and earnest attempts at portraying different, complex aspects of queer Southern life. Stuck “We were happy then. We should be happy now.” “Stuck” tells the story of high school best friends Dale and Drew, reuniting after 15 years when Drew returns home during the pandemic when Dale comes knocking at his door, late at night and drunk. What follows is a night of nostalgia, grief, and the kindling of an old flame never realized. Drew, played by Ivey, is the queer kid who got out of his hometown to try to make something of himself. Dale, played by Royce Johnson, is the (assumed) straight man who never left his hometown, twice married with a child born when he was only 18. “Stuck” tackles queer themes – the complexities of sexuality (huge thank you to Ivey for acknowledging bisexuality!), the struggles of being fat in the gay community, and, of course, the flirtation and eroticism between Dale and Drew – but the true heart of the show lives in its themes of growing up. The audience questions Dale’s intentions with Drew throughout the entire show: is he truly in love with him, or is he just desperate to return to his youth, Drew only a representation of the last time Dale was truly happy? Ivey’s ending to the show is smartly open for interpretation; whether Dale genuinely wants a relationship with Drew or was just drunkenly looking for an escape from a life he hates is up to each audience member. Whatever conclusion you come to, Ivey’s writing is faithfully empathetic. Dale is never indicted for being selfish or immature or manipulative; he was forced by fundamentalist Christianity to grow up too fast and become a father when he was still a child, and all you can feel for him is sympathy for having his youth stolen from him.   Ivey’s narrative voice is rooted in their Tennessee upbringing, the dialogue clearly handled by someone who knows the South, and while there are moments when the dialogue feels awkward, like Ivey and Johnson are clearly reciting a script instead of having a genuine conversation, there are also moments of authentic truth. Drew bares his soul – and Ivey bares their body – while talking about how difficult it is to be both ignored and fetishized as a fat person by gay men. Ivey is shirtless (and later fully naked), baring the loose skin of weight loss that Drew says he’s insecure of, so you know, as an audience member, that this is a moment of genuine vulnerability from Ivey. It’s moving to witness and evidence of Ivey’s skill as a storyteller: they are dutifully committed to radical honesty, even when it’s their own skin in the game.   “Stuck” isn’t perfect, but it is an intimate, sexy, funny, and above all else truthful look at the messiness and grief of being queer and closeted in the South. Related stories:• Actor’s Express staging Pulitzer Prize-winning musical ‘A Strange Loop’• Georgia Council for the Arts announces more than $1.3 million in grants Yesterday is Dead   Taking notes during Chryssopoulos’ performance of “Yesterday is Dead” was a challenge because it meant tearing my eyes away from the show. Chryssopoulos’ one-woman show follows a non-traditional narrative structure: she is Maria, speaking directly to the audience about the unpublished manuscript Yesterday is Dead by Ellen Lois Frazar she found in the UGA Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library, then suddenly she’s Joel, the 1920s college student and musician and main character of said manuscript. Joel is soft-spoken and romantic, a young lesbian desperate to love and be loved. Then, just as suddenly as she was Joel, she’s Maria again, traveling 100 years into the future with just a few steps across the stage. Where Joel is soft and shy, Maria is brash and honest in her frustrations with the realities of being a lesbian, both 100 years ago and today.   This structure continues throughout the show: Joel journeys through college, falls in love with Pat, and has her heart broken, while Maria interrupts to share her thoughts on the manuscript as it relates to her own experiences coming out to her mother and father, being called the devil by a man at the lesbian bar, and struggling with the binary expectations of lesbian dating. With references to other 20th century lesbian works like “Odd Girls and Twilight Lovers” by Lillian Faderman and “The Well of Loneliness” by Radclyffe Hall, literature is the vehicle Maria uses to pose the question: what really has changed for lesbians in a century? Chryssopoulos’ writing is perfect, well-researched without a word out of place. Even with its complex narrative structure, her themes and ultimate conclusion are clear, every piece falling into place to complete a puzzle so moving and beautiful you’ll leave the show wanting to weep. Just as perfect is her performance. Chryssopoulos is absolutely magnetic; she swings from funny to earnest, defeated to hopeful, with pinpoint accuracy and embodies every character as if they are no different from Maria Chryssopoulos herself. “Yesterday is Dead” is a show you’ll want to keep up with, because if there comes another chance for you to see it, you do not want to forgo the opportunity. I promise, you’ll regret it. The post Lavender Fest Reviews: ‘Stuck’ and ‘Yesterday is Dead’ appeared first on Rough Draft Atlanta.