Even A Puppet Can Be Gay
By Stan Jenson
Wonderboy is a sensitive, adolescent boy: He sits on his window ledge watching the world go by, too vulnerable and delicate to participate. He is terrified by occasional glimpses of himself as a sexual being with erotic longing, for he knows he is fragile and bruised by the ugliness of the world. His gay longings are one more reason he can’t join the mainstream. He longs to step through the window, believing that somehow his sensitivity can serve him and make him someone special. And, oh yes, Wonderboy is a puppet. He is the central character of the Joe Goode Performance Group’s production of “Wonderboy” at the Irvine Barclay Theatre on Jan. 23.
Joe Goode was raised in Virginia and started dance classes at age 7, following his older sister’s lead. He soon learned that dance classes were where he really felt comfortable, able to shine and gain the attention a child wants. He continued to dance as he entered college but switched his major to theater because it was the late ’60s and he felt that words, not dancing in a pair of tights, would help him change the world. However, Goode’s training and passion was in dancing, so he decided to combine spoken word with his dances. Much to his surprise, everyone loved his work, and he stumbled into the genre of Dance Theater, a movement that was then happening in Europe and Asia.
Goode’s work in Dance Theater includes many elements. There are characters, stories, songs, live music, spoken dialogue and even direct addresses from the performers to the audience. In 1986, a couple of dancers joined him to use acting, dancing and personal stories to share in the creation process, and the Joe Goode Performance Group was born.
Goode marveled that even though probably nine out of 10 male choreographers were gay, their onstage work was always dogmatically heterosexual. He wanted to change that and tell his own story as a gay man. The works he created are not only about being a gay man, but also are incorporated in virtually aspects of his life. A solo piece Goode created and performed that brought him attention around the world was called “29 Effeminate Gestures.” He looked at the stigma of effeminate gestures, where they came from and what they meant. He recognized that he had certain fears about being effeminate, so he created a piece that combined dance and language to explore his own insecurities.
For “Wonderboy,” Goode turned to San Francisco puppeteer Basil Twist, who created the 3-foot-6-inch adolescent puppet, and instructed the company in how to operate it. It is a Bunraku-style puppet, patterned in the classic Japanese tradition in which three operators stand behind the puppet to control its movements. In Japanese Bunraku, the operators are totally covered in black; in “Wonderboy,” the seven dancers in the company take turns operating him, so — even though they are visible to the audience — the boy soon takes on a life of his own.
Wonderboy’s story is a personal revelation, according to Goode, because it discloses some of his youthful pains and fears but it ends joyfully. As the troupe tours around the country, Goode is repeatedly told, “That was my story, too.” Wonderboy’s sensitivity and feelings of “not belonging” seem to be universal to most artists, whether gay or not.
Goode notices that despite the homo-centric content of his works, his audiences tend to be mainstream. He notes that there have been few instances in which the audience wasn’t ready and willing to accept his characters, although his plays were protested against by a religious group in Columbia, S.C. He believes that the audiences who attend general-arts series are educated, cosmopolitan and accustomed to a variety of alternatives.
“Wonderboy” will be presented on Jan. 23 at 8 p.m. at the Irvine Barclay Theatre, located at 4242 Campus Drive in Irvine. Tickets are $38 and $33, and available at the theater box office, by calling (949) 854-4646, or online at www.thebarclay.org or www.ticketmaster.com.