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Peer Reviews Looking for
Normal Entire contents are copyright © 2007, Deborah Ward. All rights reserved.
"Hey Mom, guess what? Dad and I are the same cup size!" No, we're not talking about the hard, molded plastic that fits snugly into a jock strap. We're talking about a pubescent girl and her transgendering father. Sound strange? Abnormal? Immoral? This play, Looking for Normal, is anything but normal. There is nothing I can say to praise this production enough. Even if you never go to the theatre, I must urge you to see this. Not into things unexplored by us heterosexuals? Not comfortable in gay/lesbian theatre? Let me tell you my story. Had I known that Pandora Productions was a GLBT theatre, I must shamefully admit that I would have passed this review onto someone who knew more about that community. So, I find my seat in the intimate theatre, get cozy and start people-watching. "Wow, there are a lot of really GQ-type guys in here," I thought, as I straightened my hair and sat up a bit straighter. "Wait," I thought, "There are a WHOLE lot of hot guys in here, but they're all together." Then as I look through the program, I see advertisements with the letters GLBT. "What's that?" I mused. (Yes, I'm a little slow.) I turned one more page in the program and I finally get it! This is gay/lesbian theatre! One would have thought that I was Einstein stumbling upon the idea that mass can produce energy through acceleration! A bit uncomfortable at first (especially since the prop in the middle of the stage was a king-size bed), my slight discomfort soon fled as Roy (Bob Zielinski) and Erma (Georgette Kleier) took stage. I was consumed, hypnotized. I have never experienced better acting or directing. How does one play cover so many topics through so many different perspectives? A few of the topics this play explores are menopause, impotency, infidelity, puberty, absentee mothers, Alzheimer's and gender dysphasia through the eyes of those experiencing each, those caring for each, the dead, the church, the boss, the son struggling with young adulthood, the middle-aged mother and father taking the same hormones that their pubescent daughter produces too much of! I cried, I laughed. I questioned my own beliefs. Not to worry, I left with the same beliefs I came with, but also with amazement that the actors and directors had turned this play of written words into a true human experience.
Looking for Normal
Starring Georgette Kleier and Bob Zielinski Apr. 12 - 22, 2007
Posted Apr. 16, 2007
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