'MO - August 2008 - (Page 24)

p/reviews LIGHTS! CAMERA! BooK reVieW CLOSET? Family Outing BY TROY JOHNSON reviewed by terri schlichenmeyer By Douglas Carter Beane Directed by Fracaswell Hyman AUGUST 15 - SEPTEMBER 13 Neal Bledsoe as Mitchell, Quinlan Corbett as Alex, Megan Hill as Ellen and Christa Scott-Reed as Diane hen a Hollywood agent sinks her teeth into a client, nothing will keep him (and her) from the big time! This Tony-nominated story of the surprising relationship between a closeted movie star and a “rent boy” is a slick send-up of the star system, combining witty wordplay with the glamour of a Hollywood blockbuster. The result is a scathing and delicious take on sex, love and the high cost of celebrity. This play contains Nudity and Sexual Content. If this were a Hollywood movie it would be rated R. Viewer discretion advised. W TICKETS 206.269.1900 www.intiman.org Artwork by Jeff Kleinsmith, Dustin Summers and Sasha Barr Adolescence is hard. First, your face erupts like Mt. Aetna, making it impossible to be suave and James Bondish. Your hormones start acting like the Incredible Hulk and for a reason you can’t comprehend, being near somebody who used to have cooties becomes as important as breathing. Your voice changes, your body morphs, your brain mushes, and getting to First Base will never have the same meaning again. Author Troy Johnson had a typical adolescence, with one big difference. In the new book Family Outing, he explains how one word changed everything. Troy Johnson had a relatively normal childhood. When he was three, his parents divorced. Later, Johnson’s mother moved with her children to San Diego so she could attend college. Johnson remembers playing with his friends, riding bikes, ﬁghting with his sister in brutal sibling rivalry, and loving his mother ﬁercely. A normal childhood. Normal, that is, until the day his mother’s friend, a woman he calls Tattle Dyke, outed his mother. Johnson was 10 years old. Johnson says that kids are vulnerable and need what he calls the “adequately neutered caretaker” image. They don’t want to think of their parents doing it. Upon hearing the word “sexual” in the same sentence as “mother,” the way he looked at his mom changed. While he always kind of knew what went on behind closed doors, there was suddenly no mistaking it: she did it, and she did it with women. And from then on, his mother could see him in the shower. His lesbian mother couldn’t. “Gay mom was an undesirable alter ego whom I was willing to ignore as a gesture of goodwill to the mom I loved.” Shaken, but pretending otherwise, Johnson told almost no one. He kept his mother’s gayness to himself, and he became angry at her. He lashed out, becoming destructive. He made fun of effeminate boys and used the word “fag” around his mom. He noticed that nobody came to her defense. He barely noticed that his teenage attitude was hurting her. (continued on page 30) 24 celebrating seattle’s gay community http://www.intiman.org

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of 'MO - August 2008

'MO - August 2008 Contents Letter From The Editor Voices Coors Joins the Fight to Erase Hate Pet Project ’mo-BIZ: Ajaxx63 Northern Xposure Returns Lambert House Offers Youth Support Beijing, China The 2008 Gay Softball World Series in Seattle Form & Function: Vacation Nutrition An Account of the STP Bicycle Classic Book Review: Family Outing by Troy Johnson Capitol Hill Guide Live Event Review: Teatro ZinZanni’s Quest for a Queendom SceneOut: People@Places

'MO - August 2008

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