University of Virginia Library

Gender Identity

What is ridiculous is that
the gender identity of the
characters does not correspond
to the gender identity of the
actors themselves. The director
has cast some of the more
"feminine" actors in
"masculine" roles and vice
versa. The actor playing Hank,
the butch, certainly has a more
"feminine" carriage and
address than the actor playing
Emory, the fem. Not
type-casting stereotyped
characters seriously strains the
characterization.

What more can I say about
the authenticity of a
production that presents as a
hustler a young man who
crosses his legs and fluffs his
hair on stage, who looks more
like he was from Phillips
Exeter than Times Square? The
production suggests that what
was once a coterie play – a
production by Village gays for
Village gays, can not now
become a popular play for a
Virginia audience.

Not only does the Virginia
Player's production of The
Boys In The Band distort the
current lifestyle of the gay
subculture, it manages to
distort the past life-style, too.