In a Second-Floor Rehearsal Space in Ravenswood, Actor Terry Guest Straddles His Scene Partner. The two Share a passionate kiss as the show’s intimacy director looks on, giving notes.
“After the kiss, can I run my hand up towards Your booty?” that skene partner, Co-Star Paul Michael Thomson, Asks During a Skene Break. Guest Conssents and the Intimacy Director, Victoria Nassif, Notes the Change.
“More Booty Should Lead to More Ticket Sales,” Jokes Guest.
He has a vested interest in Such Things, as the Creator of “At the Wake of a Dead Drag Queen.” The story Theater Production, Which Begins Previews April 26 at the Raven Theater, is a tragic love Story on guests, a drag Queen who died from complications of HIV.
THEN AN UNKNOWN PLAYWRIGHT, GUEST INITIALLY PENNED THE Script During President Donald Trump’s First Term. AFTER it debut, the play – which guest describes as a “sexy, hilarious, southern gothic epic” – Went on to tour six cits.
“It makes me very proud of that kid for MAKING IT,” Said Guest, Thinking Back to His Younger Self. He was 24 THEN AND AT A CROSSROADS IN HIS CAREER. A leap of faith helped Him pivot from Acting to Writing. “I decided to take a risk and try something that was Curious about but i’d never really done,” he said.
To guest, who is a queer black man, “At the wake of a dead drag que” is personal, connecting Him through art forms to his uncle and to southern drag culture. This is the play that sparked his career, winning Him Awards and Helping to Pull Himself Out of Despair When His Acting Career Stalled.
But the play (Which HAD Its World Premiere at Story Theater in 2019), is Also Returning at A Precipitous Moment, As the Federal Government Has Cut Funding for HIV Research and Prevention Projects and as the National Endowment for the Arts Has ISSED New Guidelines Saying it won’t end Arts Groups that Promote “Diversity, Equity and Inclusion” or “Gender Ideology.”
The timing is not lost on its create.
“It is a Little Disisheartening, Honestly, that the play is so relevant now,” Said guest.
A Real-Life Character Brought Back from the Dead
In “At the Wake of a Dead Drag Queen,” The Audience Attends the Funeral of a Drag Queen Named Courtney Berringers. Before she’s laid to rest, Berringers Leads the audience Through Her Life, Told Through monologues and songs.
Guest Plays Berringers, A Character Spring with Bits of His Own Experience. “The Character is an amalgamation of my uncle and of myself at 25, all blurred together,” he said.
GUEST GREW UP IN GEORGIA, WHERE IT STARTED HIS CAREER PATH IN A Musical Theater Class while A Freshman in High School.
“I didn’t really grown up around theater, so i didn’t know about it specific art forms,” he said. “I just knew i wand to perform.”
Instantly, he was hookeed: “I hadn’t engaged with an art form at that point in my life so many queer people were involved in. SOEing and learning about this theater and all these musicals and 100 years of history, and all of these. Like i found a place for me. ”
Guest Studied theater at Kennesaw State University But Dropped Out before Graduating. Headed to Atlanta, where he spent years working as an actor.
“I was getting to the top of the totem pole in Atlanta theater,” he said, “And I was 24 and had ben doing it sins 19.
That Summer, Guest Visited Chicago for the First Time. He love the city and moved here in 2015. But after arrival, acting roles dried up.
“I didn’t work for three years, and i thought i had made the Biggest Mistake of My Life,” Guest Said. He Supported Himself With A Job at A Coffee Shop in Lake View.
It was during this gap that guest leaned into wrink. “At the Wake of a Dead Drag Queen” was his first script, and he based on his uncle anthony, the first family Member he hadn who was gay.
“In 2005, he sat with down and he told with that he was gay,” guest recalled. “I remember being like, ‘oh, my God, this is amazing.’ Andn he told me, right after that, that he had aids, and that just was Very confusing and painting for me.
Anthony, who actually performed under the drag name courtney berringers in rural georgia, died months after the conversation. While he never got to witness his uncle’s performances, guests used to the Life and Experiences to Fill in Blanks in the script.
“I was Writing it, Always Knowing That I Wauld Play It,” He Said, “But I Did Not Necessarily Know or Thing There Be A Production of it.”
Guest workshopped his pages in chicago, reading at at local open-my nights and graduating to self-product full readings Around Town by 2018.
By Chance, Paul Michael Thomson, A Governing Artistic Ensemble Member at the Story Theater, Saw a Reading. Thomson Encoured Guest to Apply for the Company’s Emerging Playwright Residency.
“I say it was unlike anything that i’d seen before,” Said Thomson. “It reminded with Tennessee Williams and the Memory-Play Tradition in American, But Done with a New Cast of Characters and Centering a New Story.” Guest landed the residency and the story staged the World Premiere of the Play a year late.
Whitney Houston Ballads, a love Story and humor throughout
Thomson Said he admires the depth of the story.
“One of the Things that that is play is about is how how terry’s character and my character have Have hiv,” Said Thomson, WHO IS WHITE. “But our access to the Treatment is so much different Because of Our Racial Identity, Because of Our Class Identity.” That distinct reality Becomes a full in the Production.
The Show’s Director, Michael Burke, Said Guest Has a Key Ability to Discuss Heavy Topics in His Writing that Still Translate to Enjoyable Stage Plays. There are whitney houston balads, a love story and humor throughout.
“(Guest) Writes Stories About People Who Are Real and Going Through Experiences that are true,” Said Burke. But he’s also not afraid to be “Playful and Imaginative.”
Now, at 35, guest is the same age as his uncl anthony when he died. This time around, he is apprroaching the role with a frespective, and more experience. He’s tightened the script and will be joined by the actor and director from the original production, all of the have become friends over the years. But the work, he says, Still “Sounds like Anita Baker song if you’ve been smoking cigarettes on the front porch all Night on a hot Summer Evening, with a little bit of whiskey.”
For it Creator, The Play Not Only Speaks About His Own Life and His Uncle’s; It Also Speaks to Society at Large.
“In the very first version of this play, there was an epilogue that talked about how the President has removed funds from the cdc and with their hiv and aids research,” Said Guest. He was Writing This Around 2016, and eventually, The HIV/AIDS Funding Was spared. He was relieved at the time to cut the epilogue, as it was no longer relevant. Now it is.
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