The Wilma Theater is hosting the latest show from the critically acclaimed Bearded Ladies Cabaret, “My Dinner with Dito: A How to be Gay Cabaret,” through July 27.
The show stars Bearded Ladies member John Jarboe and features guest performers Dito Van Reigersberg, also known as drag personality Martha Graham Cracker, and acclaimed Philadelphia actor Mary Martello.
Jarboe said the show harkens back to the early days of the Bearded Ladies Cabaret.
“Dito and I were in the first Bearded Ladies show, ‘Back in the Army,’ and we knew that we wanted to work together this summer and create a piece,” he said. “Specifically, I wanted to work with him.”
In the new show, the performers explore gay male iconography and stereotypes of what it means to be gay.
“As with every Bearded Ladies show, we ask hard questions,” Jarboe said. “This show is about exploring the culture of gayness and queerness. There’s a book that recently came out called ‘How to be Gay’ by David Halpern and it talks about the difference between political gay identity and cultural gay identity. This show is about an exploration of the culture that develops when gays were invisible and how does that culture change when it becomes politically visible. Every audience member gets a little bento box with different courses in it. Each course in the cabaret is designed to correlate to a different stage in gay development. What we’re saying is, by the end of the hour, you should be gay or closer to it.”
The Bearded Ladies started writing the show before the Supreme Court overturned the Defense of Marriage Act and, in light of that historic decision about LGBT rights, Jarboe said the new cabaret takes on an added significance.
“We weren’t really sure what we were making when we first started,” Jarboe said. “Dito and I originally wanted to do a Judy Garland show. And then we thought we couldn’t do that because it was so gay. It was the most obvious gay thing that we could do. We kind of engaged with that feeling of shame or embarrassment. Then we read ‘How to be Gay,’ and it was exploring some of those issues about what happens when we define ourselves as, ‘Oh we’re just like straight people except we sleep with other men.’ What is the other side of that? We’re not. We’re actually different. We were forged under particular conditions. I think DOMA being repealed is an amazing historic event, but this piece has really fueled that question for us. What does this mean for us? By no means is the fight over but we are seeing the political climate change. We’re starting to become more and more visible but what does that mean? What are the consequences of that culturally?”
The Bearded Ladies present “My Dinner With Dito: A How to be Gay Cabaret” through July 27 at The Wilma Theater, 265 S. Broad St. For more information or tickets, call 215-546-7824 or visit www.wilmatheater.org.