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Written in 1926, MAE WEST's controversial play "The Drag" will be onstage this weekend and next. If you're not in the Midwest, you can still enjoy a video of this production [link below]. 
• • Announcing that a "Boundary-pushing play on drag and homosexuality opens," scribe Ellen Harris (reporting from Iowa) gives us a preferential peek into the backstage prepping.
• • Ellen Harris writes: The cast members of Dreamwell Theatre’s The Drag sweated and sang their way through rehearsal in the cramped quarters at the First Baptist Church on June 10, utilizing the borrowed attic to the best of their combined abilities.
• • “It’s a garret for theater,” said first-time director Chuck Dufano about the less-than-ideal practice space.
• • Since the beginning of May, Dufano and his cast and crew have rehearsed The Drag, a 20-century play written by silver-screen star Mae West. This presentation, a Dreamwell Theatre production, will be performed at the Universalist Unitarian Society, 10 S. Gilbert St., at 7:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday and June 26-27, 2009.
• • “The play as a whole is very serious,” Dufano said. “But with [the 1920s-era songs] and drag bits in between, it interjects a lightness. It’s a great commentary, really.”
• • The performing arts — particularly theater — are known for its support and acceptance of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community. Unsurprisingly, Mae West felt comfortable using her sex-symbol status to educate the public on matters of a delicate, discreet nature. Her first big play, titled Sex, led to her prosecution in 1927 by New York City officials on charges of questionable morality. Her subsequent eight-day incarceration helped propel West into fame. Her next piece, The Drag (written that same year), never had a Broadway première — the Society for the Suppression of Vice (a Prohibition-era institution dedicated to supervising the morality of the public) promised to banish the play.
• • The Drag, a severely dated presentation on homosexuality and drag culture, follows a few days in the life of Rolly Kingsbury, a wealthy, unhappily married man whose secret life of queers and queens takes a giant toll on his personal and professional lives.
• • Seasoned actor (and UI alum) T.J. Besler plays the tormented and confused Kingsbury, using small mannerisms — such as the touch of a hand upon a shoulder — to illustrate his longing for something other than his wilting flower of a wife, performed by Wartburg College graduate Becca Robinson.
• • Besler, whose résumé is full of various dramas and musicals, cited the diverse cast of The Drag as part of its community appeal.
• • “There are homosexual cast members, there are heterosexual cast members,” he said. “I think it’s great.”
• • Though originally written as three acts of straight dialogue, Dufano and music director Elisabeth Ross decided that some 1920s-era music would lighten the darker nature of the play. Almost every character gets a melodic spotlight, belting famous tunes such as “The Man I Love” and “Making Whoopie.” Ross, a UI graduate teaching elementary music in the area, assisted the actors in preparing to burst into song, as actors are wont to do in musical theater.
• • “There are a lot of really awesome voices here,” Ross said. “I think they make [the song interludes] work.”
• • Dreamwell is observing June’s Gay Pride Month, producing The Drag in conjunction with Pride Fest activities. Various Iowa City establishments, such as Studio 13, 13 S. Linn St., will host gay-community events, such as tonight’s cabaret and Saturday’s drag show. The celebrations in the city are testament to the community’s support of all of its denizens.
• • Robinson, The Drag’s female lead and a member of Dreamwell Theatre’s board, applauds the social and political efforts of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender organizations.
• • “This struggle has been going on [forever],” she said. “In this current time, when we see some advances are really starting to be made, it’s a reminder of how long they’ve taken to get there, how far they’ve come, and how much further they’re going to go.”
• • The essence of that era is evident in the language of The Drag. Terms such as “degenerates” and “moral lepers” are used when describing “victims of moral depravity” — namely, the gay men whose lifestyles are described in a physician’s book, one of the key set properties in the production. There is a scene in which a judge argues for homosexuals to be institutionalized, jailed, or sent to an asylum to deal with their “curse.”
• • Robinson is quick to explain the controversial moment.
• • “I feel like the dated bits are balanced by the fact that there are very ‘out’ homosexual characters who aren’t ashamed of what they are and who are having a really wonderful time,” she said.
• • However far society has come, some arguments that the play presents seem strikingly familiar. Debates about feminine versus masculine behavior and nature versus nurture as it relates to sexual development — these discussions are as recent as Miss California Carrie Prejean’s decrowning and the legalization of same-sex marriage in Iowa.
• • As Iowa has progressed, so has the theater. Though a constant haven for those who feel outcast by societal norms, even the performing arts have held antiquated views on sexual identity — West’s characterizations in The Drag are a prime example. The play may unpleasantly surprise audiences with its terminology, but the innuendo of the delightful drag queens (so honored by the title) draws more than enough laughs from the crowd.
• • “I think the show has something for everyone,” Besler said. “No matter what point of view you’re coming from.”
• • "The Drag" is onstage here: Universalist Unitarian Society — — 10 S. Gilbert Street, Iowa City, Iowa 52240.
• • NOTE: A slide show along with a video that shares song numbers from Mae West's play "The Drag" can be seen online currently — — http://www.dailyiowan.com/2009/06/18/Arts/11739.html
— — Source: — —
• • Article: "Boundary-pushing play on drag and homosexuality opens"
• • Byline: Ellen Harris | Staffwriter
• • Published in: The Daily Iowan — — www.dailyiowan.com
• • Published on: 18 June 2009• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
• • The serious-minded comedy "Courting Mae West" by Greenwich Village playwright LindaAnn Loschiavo, set during 1926 — 1932, explores Mae West's legal woes surrounding "The Drag" and "Sex." Scenes in Act I dramatize Mae's interactions with her drag queen cast, the police raid on 9 February 1927, and the tense aftermath at Jefferson Market Police Court.
• • Using fictional elements, the text is anchored by true events and has several characters who are based on real people: actress Mae West; Beverly West; Jim Timony; Texas Guinan; a news seller on Sixth Avenue and West 9th Street; and Sara Starr, based on the Greenwich Village flapper Starr Faithfull, whose death inspired John O'Hara's novel "Butterfield 8" and a dozen other books.
• • "Courting Mae West: Sex, Censorship, and Secrets" has attracted the attention of a theatre owner and Is now seeking a co-producer.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Source:http://maewest.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • 1927 news headlines • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWestNYC
Mae West.
MAE WEST's controversial play "The Drag" will be onstage not far from the cornfields of the Midwest this weekend. Don't miss it.
• • Deanna Howard's feature in The Iowa City Press-Citizen gives some background. 
• • Deanna Howard writes: The second play of Dreamwell Theatre's season of "inciting theatre" is none other than Mae West's play, "The Drag." Organizers chose "The Drag" to coincide with local Gay Pride festivities.
• • "It's a chance for today's LGBT population to see how far we've come in the way of the social mindset, as how familiar some of the struggles are to our own today," said director Chuck Dufano.
• • "Things might get a little bizarre ... which is all in keeping with any good gay pride festival."
• • Dreamwell presents "The Drag" at 7:30 p.m. this Friday and Saturday and June 26—27, 2009 at the Universalist Unitarian Society. ...
• • Mae West wrote the play in the mid-1920s.
• • "For its time, it was a daring script," Dufano said. "She allowed gay men to speak in their own voice."
• • It's an interesting play because while it was cutting-edge then, by today's standards it's rather backwards, Dufano said.
• • "The Drag" centers on Rolly Kingsbury, a judge's son, who is set to inherit the family's ironworks business.
• • Kingsbury's marriage crumbles when the secret of a past affair with a man comes to light, as well as an affiliation with the local drag community.
• • Iowa City resident Gary Tyrrell plays one of the drag queens, Clem, in the production.
• • Growing up, Tyrrell was often encouraged to suppress his feminine side, to be ashamed of it.
• • Being in "The Drag" has allowed Tyrrell to come to grips with his childhood. He's enjoying the opportunity to show off his feminine side on stage. "It's been a lot of fun," Tyrrell said. "It's a good story. It has a lot of fun music from the Roaring 1920s."
• • WHERE: Universalist Unitarian Society — — 10 S. Gilbert Street, Iowa City, Iowa 52240.
— — Source: — —
• • Article: "Dreamwell presents 'The Drag'"
• • Play part of local Gay Pride events
• • Byline: Deanna Howard | Staffwriter
• • Published in: The Iowa City Press-Citizen — — www.press-citizen.com/
• • Published on: 18 June 2009
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
• • The serious-minded comedy "Courting Mae West" by Greenwich Village playwright LindaAnn Loschiavo, set during 1926 — 1932, explores Mae West's legal woes surrounding "The Drag" and "Sex." Scenes in Act I dramatize Mae's interactions with her drag queen cast, the police raid on 9 February 1927, and the tense aftermath at Jefferson Market Police Court.
• • Using fictional elements, the text is anchored by true events and has several characters who are based on real people: actress Mae West; Beverly West; Jim Timony; Texas Guinan; a news seller on Sixth Avenue and West 9th Street; and Sara Starr, based on the Greenwich Village flapper Starr Faithfull, whose death inspired John O'Hara's novel "Butterfield 8" and a dozen other books.
• • "Courting Mae West: Sex, Censorship, and Secrets" has attracted the attention of a theatre owner and Is now seeking a co-producer.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Source:http://maewest.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • 28 March 1927 court trial • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWestNYC
Mae West.
The Drag — — a play written in 1926 by MAE WEST — — is in rehearsal.
• • Though the roles originally scripted for drag queens (Clem, The Duchess, Winnie, etc.) were meant to be played by real transvestites, Dreamwell Theatre has opened up the casting to females for their June 2009 production.
• • Dreamwell's web site noted: In The Drag, which opened to an “avalanche of condemnation,” as one biographer put it, Mae West argued that homosexuality had no class identification. In The Drag, West drew on the exuberance of the drag queens who had become her friends and “sisters” to challenge society’s strictures on the subject of homosexuality. Chuck Dufano will direct. The production promises to be challenging and rewarding as the entertainment at the drag ball is unscripted. Chuck Dufano, the director, plans to incorporate dance, music and songs of the time as well as any other vaudevillian type of talent that presents itself at auditions.
• • A read-through took place earlier this month and full-on rehearsal is in progress in preparation for a June 19th opening night with a cast of over a dozen actors.
• • The Drag is the story of Rolly Kingsbury’s failing marriage to Clair, his past secret affair with David Caldwall, his growing lust for Allen Grayson, and his affiliation with the very "out" drag community. By giving gay characters a voice, Mae West argued that homosexuality had no class identification and challenged social mores on the subject.
• • Performances will be offered next month on these dates: June 19, 20, 26, 27 at the Unitarian Universalist Society.
• • The Drag can be seen at the Unitarian Universalist Society, 10 S. Gilbert, Iowa City, Iowa 52240.
• • For more details, you can phone: (319) 337-3443 or (319) 541-0140.• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Source:http://maewest.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • none • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWestNYC
Mae West.
This snatch of dialogue from a MAE WEST comedy will introduce a bit of news.
• • The Chump: I don't suppose you believe in marriage, do you?
• • Tira: Only as a last resort... What do you do for a livin'?
• • The Chump: Oh, uh, sort of a politician.
• • Tira: I don't like work either.
• • Surely, some elected officials work harder than others, however, eleven Oval Office residents have slept soundly at the famed Hotel Fort Des Moines, which is becoming a Hilton. The hotel has hosted both presidents and presidential candidates — — including Calvin Coolidge, Woodrow Wilson, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, and Richard Nixon.
• • Owner Jeff Miller said the renovations will take at least a year, which might inconvenience some political candidates since his rooms have been a popular stopping place for those with large entourages who need to be in Iowa. Over the years, notable guests have included the likes of Mae West, Nikita Krushchev, William Jennings Bryan, Charles Lindbergh, Liz Taylor, and others.
• • In fact, the web site shows Mae's photo and states: If our lobby could talk, it would tell you how a cast of characters including Hollywood film diva Mae West came up and saw us sometime in the 1930s.
• • If our lobby could talk, it would tell us how Richard Nixon tromped though on his way to a landslide victory in 1972, only to resign two years later. . . .
• • Opened in 1919, the hotel was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.
• • It cost $1.3 million to construct back in 1919. According to general manager Paul Rottenberg, "It was built as a 'super' hotel. Every room had its own bath; there was circulating ice water to every room; and the water passed through ultraviolet light to be purified."
• • Happy 90th Birthday to the Hotel Fort Des Moines [1000 Walnut Street | Des Moines, IA 50309].• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Source:http://maewest.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • none • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWestNYC
Mae West.
Here's another opportunity to see "The Drag" by MAE WEST — — or to be cast in the production.
• • In Iowa Dreamwell's Artistic Director decided to present a season with a theme of "Inciting Theatre."
• • Their season opens with Ibsen's “An Enemy of the People," a play from 1882. Dreamwell is using a new translation and has cast women in several male roles to modernize it.
• • Then in late June, Dreamwell Theatre will present a play written by 1930s screen legend and sex symbol Mae West.
• • Rachael Lindhart, secretary and active member of the volunteer company, does not expect insurgence, rioting, padlocks, nor police raids in Iowa City even though she is aware that "The Drag" (which was doing its out-of-town tryouts back in January 1927) opened to an “avalanche of condemnation,” as one of Mae's biographers phrased it. Rachael Lindhart says Mae West’s “The Drag” was one of the first plays to portray gay men in a sympathetic light. Before “The Drag,” homosexual characters were used to add a more comedic element.
• • Subjects that were deemed unlawful or offensive to good citizens are considerably less so these days, however, Rachael Lindhart insists that the theater’s history of sparking debate is essential to the development of today’s dramas. By presenting a bill of old controversies, Dreamwell pays tribute to those brave playwrights who paved the way for modern vanguards of the stage.
• • “We have a history of somebody’s gotta be first,” Rachael Lindhart says. “There are a lot of things that we need to talk about from the stage that aren’t easy. I hope that this season will make people think that they should perhaps see a play before they condemn it.”
• • Auditions for "The Drag" will be held in Iowa during April and May in 2009. To audition, contact Brian Tanner: brian@dreamwell.com.
• • Dreamwell Theatre’s 2009 Season includes these four: “An Enemy of the People” [written by Henrik Ibsen]; “The Drag” [written by Mae West and directed by Chuck Dufano] on June 19th, 20th, 26th, and 27th, 2009; “Master Harold and the Boys” [written by Athol Fugard]; “Playboy of the Western World” [written by J.M. Synge].
• • All performances take place at 7:30 pm at the Unitarian Universalist Society, 10 S. Gilbert Street, Iowa City. Tickets are $12 with discounts available for seniors and students. 
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • The serious-minded comedy "Courting Mae West" by Greenwich Village playwright LindaAnn Loschiavo, set during 1926 — 1932, explores Mae West's legal woes surrounding "The Drag" and "Sex." Scenes in Act I dramatize Mae's interactions with her drag queen cast, the police raid on 9 February 1927, and the tense aftermath at Jefferson Market Police Court.
• • Using fictional elements, the text is anchored by true events and has several characters who are based on real people: actress Mae West; Beverly West; Jim Timony; Texas Guinan; a news seller on Sixth Avenue and West 9th Street; and Sara Starr, based on the Greenwich Village flapper Starr Faithfull, whose death inspired John O'Hara's novel "Butterfield 8" and a dozen other books.
• • "Courting Mae West: Sex, Censorship, and Secrets" has attracted the attention of a theatre owner and Is now seeking a co-producer.• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
________
Source:http://maewest.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • 1927 trial • •
NYC
Mae West.
MAE WEST appears in a playful short story by Bess Streeter Aldrich: "How Far Is it to Hollywood?" [published in Cosmopolitan Magazine's July 1934 issue].
• • Her short story begins this way: 
• • Greta Garbo and Mae West sat on the back fence and swung their legs over the tops of the milkweeds and the boxes of empty tin cans.
• • Greta was small and dark, with black hair cut like a boy's, and restless jack-in-the-box movements. Mae was fair and pleasantly plump with a wide-eyed and innocent complacency that, if one were very critical, could justifiably be termed stodginess.
• • Miss Garbo lived at the Brysons'. In fact, she was known to Mr. and Mrs. Bryson . . . and most of her playmates as Angie Bryson. Miss West lived at the Thomases'. In fact, she was known to Mr. and Mrs. Thomas . . . as Emma-Jo Thomas. To carry this statement still further . . . it was only to Emma-Jo that Angie was Greta Garbo; and inversely and frankly, it was only to Angie that Emma-Jo was Mae West . . . .
• • The girls come across an abandoned home where the previous owner has left cartons of movie magazines behind. They cannot believe their luck. Reading about these screen queens of the 1930s gives the star-struck friends the idea that they must visit Tinseltown. But how would two schoolgirls finance a trip to Hollywood? They decide to inventory their possessions and perhaps sell some of their treasures.
• • "When they met and took an inventory of resources, Miss West had accumulated a small glass of jelly, some caps for a toy gun and a package of radish seeds. Miss Garbo's plunder consisted of a pair of Louise's silk hose, a card of buttons and the current number of her father's railroad magazine. Each apologized faintly for the humble characteristics of the contributed merchandise, but hope springs eternal, and one can never tell just what a fickle public craves."
• • Bess Streeter Aldrich [17 February 1881 — 3 August 1954] was an author born in Cedar Falls, Iowa.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Source:http://maewest.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • 1934 • •
NYC
Mae West.
