"Wig Out!" brings the vibrance of ball culture (and a "Dexter" fave) to the off-Broadway stage

Nathan Lee Graham as Rey-Rey in Wig Out!

Theater queens and house ball enthusiasts look out, because there is something special coming up just for you right off-Broadway.  

Wig Out!is a new off-Broadway play that takes its cues from the underground ball scene made somewhat famous by the classic film Paris is Burning, and if the NY Times review is any indication, it promises an utterly fabulous night at the theater. 

Taking place during a drag-ball face-off between two rival “houses” (competitive groups of mostly black and Latino gays who engage in vogueing face-offs), the play features a slew of NY theatre actors, with the most well-known faces being Dexter’s Erik King as the father of the House of Light and DanielT. Booth, who appears as the mother of the House of Di’Abolique and has previously appeared on Project Runway under the stage name “Sweetie”.  

Although the Times review is practically a rave, the reviews for the show in the New York press have been decidedly mixed, with the general consensus being that the show is more entertaining when its characters are at battle. However, the play itself represents a great deal of progress, as it presents a subculture of the gay scene that is generally given very little attention. 

Erik King and Glenn Davis in Wig Out!
            

In a previous post, I detailed my first excursion into the ball world, and it is a vibrant and thrilling one filled with characters and personalities that seemingly live and breathe for the scene. The fact that these people with all of their complexities, hopes, dreams, and sexual fluidity are now given a voice on the New York stage is quite thrilling, and seems to be indicative of the renaissance that is giving rise to different voices and faces on and off-Broadway. 

With the bisexual black leads in the Tony Award-winning Passing Strange and the gay and ethnically-diverse cast of characters of Wig Out!, a movement seems to be underway in today’s theater. The stuffiness and overdone themes of Broadway’s past seem to be giving way to a vibrant future filled with different stories, new faces, and edgier themes. Wig Out! definitely seems to be leading the charge to this future, and I, for one, will be checking this show out the first chance I get. It seems like anyone who is looking for something fresh and different in live theater should do the same.

For more info and tickets, check out the Vineyard Theatre website.