Clothes of the other gender

I saw a play yesterday evening, Casa Valentina by Harvey Fierstein, the gay actor and playwright. The production was by the Jewish Ensemble Theatre. It isn’t a Jewish play (though at least one character is Jewish). It is a play about minorities and their struggles with the wider world.

The play is about men who like to dress as women. The play is set in 1962 and then such men were described as transvestite. I don’t hear that word much anymore. Now the usual term is transgender. That word means a person who is physically one gender and mentally another. Most of the time the person feels the need to align the body to the mind, though the way that is accomplished depends on the individual (and sometimes their financial situation). Sometimes it is enough to wear clothes of the other gender.

The play is based on a real setting of a resort in the Catskills. It was a place where heterosexual men could leave wives and families for a weekend or longer and dress as women, complete with feminine names.

In the play the resort is owned by George and his wife Rita. They met when George came into Rita’s wig shop looking for a feminine wig. So George doesn’t have to hide from Rita. She sometimes helps him dress to become Valentina. At least during the weekend of this story she also runs the resort’s kitchen and welcomes the guests.

But the resort isn’t making enough money. Not enough men are coming for these transgender days and those days are scaring away the rest of the guests. George is looking for ideas for ways to keep it open.

At the start of the play Jonathon arrives. He’s never indulged in such a weekend and terrified about going through with it. This isn’t like wearing women’s clothes when he knows nobody is around. When he first appears in feminine attire as Miranda the other guests – Valentina, Bessie, Terry, Gloria, and Charlotte – declare she needs a makeover and promptly set to work.

One more guest arrives, a judge close to retirement who becomes Amy within the safety of the group. He doesn’t want a scandal that would jeopardize his pension.

Charlotte proposes a solution to George’s problem. She’s started the process to align this group with a national transvestite organization that Charlotte leads. That would bring in guests from across the country, a big boost to attendance and income. But there are two troublesome parts to her proposal.

First, it means coming out. This is a well-known debate within the LGBTQ community. The more out we are the more we will be accepted by others. This has great long-term benefits. But coming out can also carry great risks for an individual by causing separation from loved ones, the loss of friends, the loss of a job and career, the loss of social respect, and sometimes even the loss of safety. Several in the group are not willing to accept that cost.

Second, it means denouncing homosexuals. Charlotte is sure homosexual men will always be depraved people and associating with them will only hurt their own efforts of social acceptance.

Since the time of this play many times acceptance of gays and lesbians came at the expense of transgender people. And many gays and lesbians argued that it had to be that way – they didn’t want their acceptance slowed down by this other group.

Gloria wants nothing of this second part of the proposal. Gay men were pivotal in her own self-acceptance. She will not turn against them.

Over time we learn why others don’t support this part – they are gay. Within this play it means they are men who both like to dress as women (gender identity) and are attracted to other men (sexual orientation).

Towards the end Rita frets that every time George becomes Valentina she wonders if George will return.

The acting was excellent with these seven men playing well rounded feminine characters. The costumes were fabulous! And the stage was well laid out to show various rooms of the resort. In all, an enjoyable and thoughtful evening.