December 6–12, 2019 Brooklyn Paper • www.BrooklynPaper.com • (718) 260-2500 AWP 7
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But not narrow: New play “The Straights,” at Jack theater through Dec. 21, tells a road trip story of two
women and a non-binary person after President Trump’s election.
The home ‘straight’
Queer road trip play debuts at Jack’s new space
By Kevin Duggan
for Brooklyn Paper
They are queens of the road!
A new play follows a group of
female and genderqueer characters
who go on a cross-country road trip in
the aftermath of the 2016 presidential
election. “The Straights,” which opened
this week at Jack theater’s new location
in Clinton Hill, subverts the typical
male-dominated road trip genre — exemplified
by beatnik author Jack Kerouac’s
“On The Road” — by showing
the struggle of queer people in the year
after the election of Donald Trump, according
to its director.
“It’s about how do we create a community
and survive and stay strong through
that,” said Will Detlefsen. “It’s a play
that centers queer people of color, specifically
not men. That felt special when
most road trip stories are dominated by
men, such as ‘On the Road.’ ”
In the first half of the two-hour play,
written by Taylor Adamson, the three
characters set out on a journey of lighthearted
THEATRE
shenanigans, including hitchhiking,
drugs, shoplifting, and selfies,
while also reflecting on the trends and
then-new outrages of the early Trump
administration.
“We think of it as a period piece set
in 2017, because that year there was this
melancholy cloud above it all,” Detlefsen
said. “There was the travel ban, the White
House’s LGBTQ website was being taken
down — it felt very threatening.”
In the second, darker part of the play,
the characters reach their destination and
have to deal with serious issues that test
their relationships — the details of which
are spoilers, said the director.
The play’s title is layered with meanings,
including the straight and open
road, the heterosexual tropes associated
with the road trip genre, and a reference
to the protagonists’s drug use and not
being “straight-edge” sober, according
to Detlefsen.
The show is part of Jack’s first season
in its new performance space on
Putnam Avenue, which opened in September.
The venue’s directors signed a
10-year lease on the new, larger space,
after seven years at their previous digs
just four blocks away. The new space
lets the arts group deepen its connection
with the brownstone Brooklyn neighborhood
and provide an art hub for longtime
residents and newcomers, said one
of the group’s directors.
“We can really settle in and continue
and invite the folks back who have been
to our previous space,” said Alec Duffy.
“We offer a crossroads for people of
different backgrounds, people who’ve
lived in the neighborhood for a long
time as well as people who have just
moved in, offering a channel for exchange
which we think is critical for a
more vibrant city.”
“The Straights” at Jack 18 Putnam
Ave. between Grand Avenue and
Downing Street in Clinton Hill, www.
jackny.org. Dec. 6–21 at 7:30 pm.
$20.
Photo by Will Detlefsen
Opens this
Friday December 6th!
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