Friday, October 24, 1997
A revealing look at pornography
THEATER: Tragicomedy poignantly portrays ’80s era of sexual
awareness
By Sam Toussi
Daily Bruin Contributor
Warning: You can’t read this article without an open mind.
The play "Making Porn," showing at the Zephyr Theatre on Melrose
Avenue, is about the gay-porn industry. So if your best friend is
Ralph Reed, maybe you should put this article down.
The play, however, is legitimately good. It could have been
gratuitous, using the gay-porn plot just to hook an audience with
shock value. But not unlike the new film "Boogie Nights," the play
examines the people involved in the porn industry with a
sympathetic heart.
The play, set in San Francisco in the early 1980s, centers
around two producers and live-in lovers, Jamie and Arthur (Rob
Miller and Peter Nevergic), who are making a gay-porn film called
"Cops." In casting their film, they employ three very different
men: Ray (Ney Fonseca), an old hat at gay porn; Ricky (Mark Allen
Anderson), a newcomer (no pun intended) trying to put himself
through law school by doing porn, and Jack (Steven O’Brien), who is
really straight and is married to Linda (Joanna Keylock).
Yes, the play has its share of porn paraphernalia, including
more dildos than you could shake a, well, dildo at. It also
includes nudity and extremely strong adult content.
You’re still reading? Good.
Every character in the play is searching for something, whether
it be money, acceptance or even love. And their struggles to find
them are incredibly touching and funny.
If you look past all those dildos.
Rob Miller is the soul of the play as he tries to escape the
abusive claws of Arthur. With his mussed hair and nasal voice, he
is the embodiment of anybody who has ever been too scared or weak
to leave a bad situation. Yet, when he meets Ricky, he lights up.
Miller’s performance is so touching and real that the audience
cannot help but feel good watching Jamie get a second chance at
love.
O’Brien, however, does not offer the audience the same
expressiveness,which is really a shame.
As a married heterosexual, Jack is the most confused of the lot.
The money is good doing porn, but Jack really wants a career as a
legitimate actor, which complicates his situation even more. But
O’Brien doesn’t draw his audience in. The audience never feels for
Jack or, to be precise, O’Brien. The writing saves O’Brien because
even if an audience member is not homosexual, he can still
understand his predicament.
The script, by Ronnie Larsen, is crisp and well-written. His
characters are real and lively, and his dialogue is sharp, poignant
and funny. The play is especially touching in the second act, when
the characters’ world begins to unravel.
Here, Larsen introduces the ideas of greed and heartlessness of
the ’80s. Because the play is set during this era, the specter of
AIDS looms over the characters. And when the plague begins to
spread, the play enters the realm of tragicomedy. Larsen examines
the industry’s decision to begin using condoms and why the decision
to use them was so difficult. He also examines how the money-making
machine destroyed so many people’s lives.
"Making Porn" won rave reviews in New York, most notably from
the Village Voice. That really doesn’t mean anything. If anything,
it means the Village Voice read the synopsis and decided to like
it.
But any rave reviews "Making Porn" receives, it deserves. There
are few plays that can make an audience feel a gamut of emotions,
ranging from love to fear, from laughter to pain.
"Making Porn" stands out in that it shows a world we assume has
no heart, and to some extent, that’s true. In the process though,
"Making Porn" also shows some lively, sympathetic characters who do
have heart and will die trying to find it.
THEATER: "Making Porn" is playing at the Zephyr Theatre, 7456
Melrose Ave. Tickets are $22. For information, call
213-951-9545.