Sorry Miss. Jackson...
So lets talk about Saturday night. Yes lets!
I decide to go to a play called Don't Feel. The Death of Jeffery Dahmer. Yes thats right. A fucking Jeffery Dahmer play. Ok in my defense I didn't know anything about Jeffery Dahmer till I was already on my way to San Francisco and had bought a ticket. I knew it was going to be intense. But intense doesn't even cut it. Lets clarify. Jeffery Dahmer killed 17 men in different gruesome excruciating ways and then had sex with their bodies. Yea. Am I the only person in the world who didn't know about this story? Certainly feels like it. The main reason I wanted to go to this is an old student from Dell Arte wrote and performed it and I had heard he was an amazing actor. So this was my opportunity to check him out in action. So I get there and its packed. There is a man in an orange jumpsuit slumped in a corner with blood running down his head. Static from a radio is buzzing in the speakers. There is a naked mannequin with a BDSM mask on. And an empty refrigerator. Woo! it can only go one way from here!
To be honest though. The actor did an amazing job. And I can only say that it takes so much courage as an actor to tackle a character like that. Apparently the story of Jeffery Dahmer had been haunting him for years. He wrote the script and did all the research 2 years ago and has been waiting for a chance to put it on the stage. As horrendous and awful this story is, its one that should be told. because this guy was a human being. As much as we would like to shut our eyes and say this person was a monster so that we feel better about mankind it just isn't true. There is a darkness to everyone. And we all have our closets. But what does it take to bring someone to point where they can do something so terrible to another fellow human being? Jeffery grew up in a religious home where being gay was as hell worthy a sin as hacking someone to pieces with a meat cleaver. There was so much shame in him that the only way he could imagine being with a man is if that man was dead. There was obviously a lot of other things going on as well with him but its terrible what denying who you are can bring out in a person. And its sad. Really heartbreakingly sad. In no way was the play justifying his actions or condoning them but its purpose was to bring understanding. It was performed at a venue that only hosts queer art. A safe place for LGBQ artists to express themselves. The actor himself was gay and he said that is the main reason he chose to tackle this subject. After Dahmer was imprisoned he became a born again Christian. The religious community pinned his actions as symptoms of a sickness. For them that sickness was homosexuality. Its mortifying that people still think this way and would spread this sort of ignorance to their children and their children's children. Dahmer was beaten to death by an inmate whose nickname in the cell was "Christ." Ironic much? One man who saw the show said that he was Christian and wanted to walk out of the show the first five minuets. But he stayed through the entire thing because he said the actor was so brilliant. He came up to the director and said that the play had given redemption to a monster. The director retorted,"well isn't that what you folks do?" Kind of love that.
Anyway they whole show really put me in a funk. It showed me again just how powerful theater can be but it was also just plain disturbing. And part of me wondered why on earth i subjected myself to that.
So fully disturbed I set out into the night to get completely and utterly shit faced. Andrew and i did some bar hopping, landing at a bar just around the corner from his place. The bartender was an awfully nice fellow and kept refilling my vodka tonic for free. I was feeling all warm and happy when suddenly the room started spinning and i lost all control of my limbs. Andrew who seems to have a sixth sense about these things realized it was time to go and guided me out the door. He described me after as one of those toys made out of wood and string where you press the button at the bottom and they go all limp and collapse. You know the ones? Well someone kept pressing my button all the way home. Andrew was doing a great job catching me each time till i pulled a doozy on him and I fell forward unto the pavement severely skinning my knee. I guess after that I kept asking to do it again because it felt good and it sobered me up some. But Andrew pulled me inside and I puked my guts up all night. Charming. I. Am. Never. Drinking. Again.
So that was my adventurous night and even though I have yet to fully recover from that hang over and that show I am still glad that it happened. Just got to figure out why now.
I decide to go to a play called Don't Feel. The Death of Jeffery Dahmer. Yes thats right. A fucking Jeffery Dahmer play. Ok in my defense I didn't know anything about Jeffery Dahmer till I was already on my way to San Francisco and had bought a ticket. I knew it was going to be intense. But intense doesn't even cut it. Lets clarify. Jeffery Dahmer killed 17 men in different gruesome excruciating ways and then had sex with their bodies. Yea. Am I the only person in the world who didn't know about this story? Certainly feels like it. The main reason I wanted to go to this is an old student from Dell Arte wrote and performed it and I had heard he was an amazing actor. So this was my opportunity to check him out in action. So I get there and its packed. There is a man in an orange jumpsuit slumped in a corner with blood running down his head. Static from a radio is buzzing in the speakers. There is a naked mannequin with a BDSM mask on. And an empty refrigerator. Woo! it can only go one way from here!
To be honest though. The actor did an amazing job. And I can only say that it takes so much courage as an actor to tackle a character like that. Apparently the story of Jeffery Dahmer had been haunting him for years. He wrote the script and did all the research 2 years ago and has been waiting for a chance to put it on the stage. As horrendous and awful this story is, its one that should be told. because this guy was a human being. As much as we would like to shut our eyes and say this person was a monster so that we feel better about mankind it just isn't true. There is a darkness to everyone. And we all have our closets. But what does it take to bring someone to point where they can do something so terrible to another fellow human being? Jeffery grew up in a religious home where being gay was as hell worthy a sin as hacking someone to pieces with a meat cleaver. There was so much shame in him that the only way he could imagine being with a man is if that man was dead. There was obviously a lot of other things going on as well with him but its terrible what denying who you are can bring out in a person. And its sad. Really heartbreakingly sad. In no way was the play justifying his actions or condoning them but its purpose was to bring understanding. It was performed at a venue that only hosts queer art. A safe place for LGBQ artists to express themselves. The actor himself was gay and he said that is the main reason he chose to tackle this subject. After Dahmer was imprisoned he became a born again Christian. The religious community pinned his actions as symptoms of a sickness. For them that sickness was homosexuality. Its mortifying that people still think this way and would spread this sort of ignorance to their children and their children's children. Dahmer was beaten to death by an inmate whose nickname in the cell was "Christ." Ironic much? One man who saw the show said that he was Christian and wanted to walk out of the show the first five minuets. But he stayed through the entire thing because he said the actor was so brilliant. He came up to the director and said that the play had given redemption to a monster. The director retorted,"well isn't that what you folks do?" Kind of love that.
Anyway they whole show really put me in a funk. It showed me again just how powerful theater can be but it was also just plain disturbing. And part of me wondered why on earth i subjected myself to that.
So fully disturbed I set out into the night to get completely and utterly shit faced. Andrew and i did some bar hopping, landing at a bar just around the corner from his place. The bartender was an awfully nice fellow and kept refilling my vodka tonic for free. I was feeling all warm and happy when suddenly the room started spinning and i lost all control of my limbs. Andrew who seems to have a sixth sense about these things realized it was time to go and guided me out the door. He described me after as one of those toys made out of wood and string where you press the button at the bottom and they go all limp and collapse. You know the ones? Well someone kept pressing my button all the way home. Andrew was doing a great job catching me each time till i pulled a doozy on him and I fell forward unto the pavement severely skinning my knee. I guess after that I kept asking to do it again because it felt good and it sobered me up some. But Andrew pulled me inside and I puked my guts up all night. Charming. I. Am. Never. Drinking. Again.
So that was my adventurous night and even though I have yet to fully recover from that hang over and that show I am still glad that it happened. Just got to figure out why now.