Acts of Gaiety: LGBT Performance and the Politics of Pleasure

292 Pages·2012·2.646 MB·English

by  Sara Warner

Acts of Gaiety

Acts of Gaiety
LGBT Performance and the
Politics of Pleasure
Sara Warner
The University of Michigan Press
Ann Arbor
Copyright © by the University of Michigan 2012
All rights reserved
This book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, including illustrations, in any
form (beyond that copying permitted by Sections 107 and 108 of the U.S. Copyright
Law and except by reviewers for the public press), without written permission from the
publisher.
Published in the United States of America by
The University of Michigan Press
Manufactured in the United States of America
c Printed on acid- free paper
2015 2014 2013 2012 4 3 2 1
A CIP catalog record for this book is available from the British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
Warner, Sara.
Acts of gaiety : LGBT performance and the politics of pleasure / Sara Warner.
p. cm.— (Triangulations: lesbian/gay/queer theater/drama/performance)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978- 0- 472- 11853- 3 (cloth : acid- free paper)—
ISBN 978- 0- 472- 02875- 7 (e- book)
1. Gay theater— United States. 2. Homosexuality and theater. 3. Gays and
the performing arts. I. Title.
PN2270.G39W37 2013
792.086'640973— dc23 2012025917
To Mary Jo Watts
a continuous source of strength and guidance,
and without whose unflinching loyalty, devotion
and faith, this book could never have been written

Contents
Preface ix
Acknowledgments xxiii
Introduction 1
1. “Scummy” Acts: Valerie Solanas’s Theater of the Ludicrous 31
2. Guerrilla Acts: Marriage Protests, 1969 and 2009 72
3. Expatriate Acts: Jill Johnston’s Joker Citizenship 105
4. Terrorist Acts: The Maladapted Hothead Paisan,
a Lesbian Comedy of Terrors 139
5. Unnatural Acts: The Tragic Consequences of Homoliberalism
in the Five Lesbian Brothers’ Oedipus at Palm Springs 163
Afterword 189
Notes 195
Bibliography 231
Index 249

Preface
At approximately 7:00 p.m. on May 1, 1970, just moments after Kate Millett,
chairwoman of the National Organization for Women (NOW), called to or-
der the second annual gathering of feminist groups from across the country,
the lights in the auditorium at Intermediate School 70 on West Seventeenth
Street in Manhattan went out, plunging the audience of three hundred ac-
tivists into total darkness. One of the conference coordinators fumbled her
way to the podium to ask everyone to remain calm and seated while they
determined the cause of the power outage, only to discover that the micro-
phone, too, had gone dead. A commotion erupted in the back of the room,
and a group of people, some emitting rebel yells, ran down the aisle toward
the stage. The lights came back on to reveal a phalanx of women, fists raised,
wearing purple T- shirts with “Lavender Menace” stenciled across the front.
Some held placards that read “Women’s liberation is a lesbian plot,” “Take
a lesbian to lunch,” and “We are your worst nightmare, your best fantasy.”
The audience, visibly shaken, denounced the demonstrators for comman-
deering the meeting to promote their lesbian agenda. Millett, who had been
informed in advance of the protest, urged the crowd to listen to the women.
One of the insurgents, Rita Mae Brown, stepped forward and addressed
the assembly. A well- known firebrand and philanderer, Brown had recently
staged a public resignation from her position as the NOW newsletter editor
in response to the organization’s attempt to purge lesbians from its roster.
Surveying the spectators as if she were cruising a Greenwich Village bar,
Brown asked, “Does anyone want to join us?” This was the cue for Karla Jay,
who was planted in the audience, to jump up and scream, “Yes, yes, sisters!
I’m tired of being in the closet because of the women’s movement.”1 As