"8 The Play" (Sept. 21, Long Beach, CA)

[pkristen]

I'll be seeing the show in Long Beachon 9/21, which has the following blurb: "PUBLIC THEATRE of Long Beach, CA is thrilled to present a staged reading of “8,” a new play by Academy Award-winner Dustin Lance Black (Milk, J. Edgar). “8″ tells the story of the real life court case Perry v. Brown, which aims to overturn California’s Proposition 8. An open-format talk-back will follow the reading.
"

The official website has many dates and locations that may be near you:
http://www.8theplay.com/

[pkristen]

This was a weird play for me to see.

Politics is a subject that will make my eyes glaze over. Don't get me wrong: I vote -- I'm a firm believer that you do not have the right to complain if you don't vote. But I have no interest in indepth discussions about laws and candidates and such.

But the act of censorship that was the crux of my interest in this. After all, I've learned that people don't want to publicly discuss gay things because they're so concerned about protecting children and their sensitivities plays right into maintaining their ignorance.

Since I currently live in Las Vegas, I made special plans and expenses to drive to Long Beach just to see this show. But as the time grew nearer, I was tired and distracted by the other things I try to do whenever I have a trip to Southern California. Even up to an hour before, I tried to talk myself out of it so I could have a quiet evening relaxing in a hotel room.

Yet, my curiosity and stubbornness to justify my efforts got me to get off my butt to go.

And I'm glad I went. It was interesting to see a play made out of court transcripts and witnessed dialogue. While I didn't necessarily agree with all of the points that were pursued for chipping away at why lesbians and gays should marry, but then it could be my personal attitude that I don't go around asking permission or approval from people to be who I am.

I highly recommend going if this play is presented near you (and apparently it's presented many places over the world.)