By Aaron Krause
Even as a young and inexperienced playwright, South Florida’s Ronnie Larsen demonstrated a sharp sense of humor and a keen ear for dialogue, particularly between gay men.
How do we know? Because 30 years ago, at age 25, Larsen penned his first play, Scenes from My Love Life. In it, he captures the vanities and joys of gay men, but also speaks to general audiences.
Back in 1994, the play received critical acclaim and played to sold out houses for six months in San Francisco. But the piece is also popular today. The proof is at The Foundry in Wilton Manors. There, the LGBTQ-oriented nonprofit, Plays of Wilton (POW), and the Peacock Residences, are presenting a funny, sexy, and believable 30th anniversary professional mounting of Scenes from My Love Life. The roughly 90-minute production with no intermission, for which tickets are selling fast, runs through Sunday, Oct. 13 at The Foundry. That is POW’s intimate black box theater space.
With sensitivity, impactful pauses, smart staging, and deft pacing (also, transitions between scenes occur with cinematic-like fluidity), Larsen directs a talented nine-person cast. It comprises Christopher Ross-Dybash, Garry Staegemann, John Crossan, Adam Clinard, Elan Ezra Harari, Joseph Guidetti, Matthew Almeida, Scott Jordan and Harry Redlich.
Each performer creates a distinct, believable character. They sound as though they’re saying Larsen’s dialogue for the first time with sincerity and spontaneity. The actors are also are funny and unmask their characters’ vulnerabilities when necessary. The performers, who could project their voices more at times, also listen to each other. Meanwhile, backstage artists such as Preston Bircher (lighting design) and Melqui Dominguez (set design) also do their part to bring the world of Larsen’s play to believable life.
Dominguez’s sparse set consists mostly of a dark brick wall upstage, a few pieces of furniture, and a stand-alone door and doorframe. The red-painted door and black door frame lend the production an elegance that suggests the characters are classy. Also, the play’s title, in red capital letters, serves as an attention-catching backdrop upstage.
Bircher’s realistic lighting design is often dim, which reinforces an intimate, personal aura. Bircher also appropriately uses hues such as red to stand for passion. During other times, the lighting is brighter for more animated scenes.
The sound design by Panos Mitos is mostly effective and includes mood-enhancing music. Also, the uncredited costume designer clothes the actors in character-appropriate outfits.
Be forewarned: Scenes from My Love Life contains swear words as well as graphic sexual language and scenes (full nudity and the depiction of sexual acts).
Certainly, much of the material in the play should be off limits to youngsters. Frankly, it may delight a segment of the population and turn off others. But if you feel you can stomach the lurid stuff, the piece also touches on more relatable and universal themes. They include commitment, addiction, dealing with illness and a health crisis, life’s fragility, the ups and downs of relationships, and the desire to connect with others.
As its title suggests, Scenes from My Love Life does not feature a traditionally structured plot. Rather, the play amounts to a series of brief snapshots from the love lives of nine gay men in 1994 San Francisco. While Larsen generally paints them in broad brush strokes, the brief scenes shine with humanity.
Isaac is a sex addict dating Chris (Isaac’s frustrated boyfriend). In addition, Steve is Isaac’s best friend, Richard is Isaac’s and Steve’s flighty friend, Mike is a prissy sweater queen, Bill is a man obsessed with personal ads, Larry is Bill and Allen’s friend, Allen is a doctor, and Gene is a drag queen.
Obviously, the play takes place well before the free LGBTQ dating and social networking app Grindr came into being (its launch came in 2009). Also, the Internet’s release into the public domain came in 1993, a year before Larsen set his play. So, naturally, the World Wide Web didn’t yet offer the many instant modern-day conveniences.
Back in the 90s, as the play suggests, gay men searched for love and sex by calling hotlines, going to sex clubs, and placing ads in newspapers.
Today, 30 years after its stage debut at Theatre Rhinoceros in San Francisco, Scenes from My Love Life makes us ponder how far we’ve come in society in areas such as technology (newspapers, for instance, seem to be phasing out in favor of online news) and in achieving equal rights for the LGBTQ community and others. Of course, same sex marriage wasn’t legal back in the 90s (it wouldn’t become legal until 2015), so gay men and lesbians had to figure out other ways to form and maintain relationships. Naturally, we would also like to think we are well past the times when people, referring to gays and lesbians, would declare “those people are sick,” as Isaac recalls his father saying. Unfortunately, though, we’re living during a time when the LGBTQ population and others are coming under attack in an alarming number of incidents. Look no further than Florida.
But Scenes from My Love Life is not a cautionary piece about how far we’ve regressed as a society. Instead, much of the play is light-hearted and features jokes to which many of us can at least chuckle. For example, Isaac is preparing to meet his birth mother for the first time.
Isaac: She says that when I called her for the first time, she knew right away that I was gay.
Steve: What, did you have Barbra Streisand playing in the background?
Isaac: From my voice. She knew from my voice.
Steve (in mock gay tone): She knew from your voith.
Often, dialogue is snappy. For instance, the aforementioned conversation continues:
Isaac: Do I sound like that?
Steve: No, of course not.
Isaac: Do I sound gay?
Steve: No.
Isaac: How do I sound?
Steve: Like Isaac.
Isaac: Is that good or bad?
Steve: You sound fine.
Isaac: Now I’m listening to myself talk.
Steve: Of course you are, you’re an actor.
In Scenes from My Love Life, Larsen is writing what he knows – it is advice many a writer has received over the decades. He has said that with Scenes from My Love Life, he wanted to put his experiences as a gay man onstage. But the piece also includes references to live theater and acting. That is not surprising when you consider how long Larsen has worked in theater and how many hats he’s worn in the field – actor, producer, director among them.
Many know Larsen for his risqué plays such as Cocksucker: A Love Story, Bathhouse the Musical, Making Porn, The Penis Talk Show as well as Scenes from My Love Life. But more recently, Larsen has been writing and producing plays with thought-provoking and deep material for a more general audience. With a combination of humor and pathos, Larsen makes us laugh and moves us. When he writes about the LGBTQ population, Larsen doesn’t limit himself to stories about coming out or looking for love. Rather, he creates vibrant characters who are living full lives and dealing with themes and concerns that most of us encounter.
In Scenes from My Love Life, the characters deal the best they can with the AIDS crisis. And while the medical community has made significant strides since the early days of that crisis, it still presents a formidable health challenge for many. In addition, our current experience with COVID and its unknowns keep the AIDS crisis from being a forgotten, distant memory.
Scenes from My Love Life opened at the Foundry shortly after the world premiere of the mostly sold-out world premiere engagement of A Shonda closed. And it appears as though other shows are in the aisles, waiting their turn to take the stage at POW. Doubtless, with a playwright as talented as Larsen, it’s hard not to await future shows without anticipation. Stay tuned.
Scenes from My Love Life, by Ronnie Larsen, through Sunday, Oct. 13 at The Foundry, 2306 Dixie Highway in Wilton Manors. For tickets, www.ronnielarsen.com.
