Scarlet Masque Theatre Journal New Beginnings and Fond Farewells Vol. 1 | Page 9

2
this essay is embarrassingly narrow with regard to the scope and diversity of projects
researched, understand that I am limited by the expected output of this essay along with the
politics associated with gender roles and sexuality in academic research, where a
“whitewashing” of sorts oftentimes occurs. This gives us much to learn about the white,
cisgendered, homosexual male “giants” like the previously mentioned Isherwood and Vidal, but
relatively little input to the plight of mixes of minority groups such as transgender artists, lesbian
artists, and queer artists of color. In addition to that, only theatre that was produced in New York
City is the only work researched for this paper. Although the output of queer drama is enormous
in this city, the histories of these stories given are limited to those perceived by the societies in
which they were created and the societies that responded to them. For these reasons, I have
chosen to examine five “pieces” of theatre, Mart Crowley’s play The Boys in the Band (1968), Al
Carmines’ play The Faggot (1973), the WOW Café Theater company (1980-Present), Tony
Kushner’s two-part epic Angels in America (1993), and Jonathan Larson’s musical RENT
(1996). The scope of this paper is chosen to try and best accommodate for the previously
mentioned limitations, and give a broader sense of the responses and creative processes of
queer drama throughout modern history and what they inform the reader about their respective
sociopolitical landscapes.
The Boys in the Band (1968) 1
Mart Crowley was pretty much everything but successful before the opening of The Boys
in the Band in 1968. Crowley was born in Vicksburg, Mississippi in 1934 and went to Catholic
University to study drama with aspirations of becoming a scenic designer. This ultimately
backfired, but he did find a passion in writing. His first move to New York came when he was
called to work on the film Splendor in the Grass, starring Natalie Wood. After doing some bit
Christopher Bram. 2012. Eminent Outlaws: The Gay Writers Who Changed America. New
York: Twelve. 137-147.
1