When Joan Jett Blakk told us to lick Bush in '92
Neon shades of violet—not rainbows—radiate from Tarell Alvin McCraney and Tina Landau's world-premiere docu-party celebrating the true story of queer activist Terence Alan Smith, aka drag queen Joan Jett Blakk. That choice of color in David Zinn and Heather Gilbert's euphoric and chaotic scenic and lighting design feels like more than just a chic and clubby aesthetic choice: staged at a time when mainstream American culture is advancing the rights of some queer communities while regressing them for others, Landau's production recalls, via loudspeakers and bold-type signage, real-life historical rallying cries for the margins of the margins.…
When Joan Jett Blakk told us to lick Bush in '92
Neon shades of violet—not rainbows—radiate from Tarell Alvin McCraney and Tina Landau's world-premiere docu-party celebrating the true story of queer activist Terence Alan Smith, aka drag queen Joan Jett Blakk. That choice of color in David Zinn and Heather Gilbert's euphoric and chaotic scenic and lighting design feels like more than just a chic and clubby aesthetic choice: staged at a time when mainstream American culture is advancing the rights of some queer communities while regressing them for others, Landau's production recalls, via loudspeakers and bold-type signage, real-life historical rallying cries for the margins of the margins.…