– After a hurricane, I once watched as a gay man surveyed the beach at Fire Island, which was strewn with debris from many houses, including the carcass of a swimming pool, turned on its side, which was slowly floating out to sea. The gay man announced, “Don’t mess with Miss Ocean.”
– A friend was sitting in the balcony of a Broadway musical. In Act II, a young male character stepped to the front of the stage and unleashed his perhaps too powerful baritone, singing an eardrum-shattering ballad. After the song was over, in the pause just before the audience started clapping, my friend commented, in a voice that could be heard throughout the theater, “Get her.”
– A wonderful producer once told me that he liked the name of my play Jeffrey because “I knew it was gay but I have no idea why.”
– I was once being interviewed by a great guy named Chad Jones. He told me that he was starting a blog, and he asked if I had any ideas for a name. I suggested calling the blog Jonestown. He said that this could be misleading, since it would be a theater blog. I suggested calling it Cherry Jonestown. Then I said that this was a joke which only theater dogs could hear. Chad ultimately decided to call his blog Theater Dogs.
– On Hollywood Squares, the legendary Center Square, Paul Lynde, was asked the following question: “If you and a friend were lost in the woods, and your friend was bitten by a snake, what would you do?” Lynde replied, “I would get a new friend.”
– A beloved director was studying the set for someone else’s extremely turgid drama. This set was made entirely of industrial pipes painted black, against a gray backdrop. I asked the director what he would do, to fix this set. He said, “I would tie big pink bows all over it.”
