Graduation Is Upon Me

On Saturday, I will be graduating UNLV with a Master of Fine Arts in Playwriting; it's a big accomplishment, not to be taken lightly. I'm actually really proud of myself. There were days that I thought I would never get through it and nights were I would write myself to sleep. 

Anyone who's gone through grad school can tell you it's no walk in the park. It's hard ass hell; it's been some of the toughest three years of my life. I remember in my first year one of the third year playwrights telling me that my first year would be the hardest and it actually wasn't. The hardest year has been this past one, but it's also been really rewarding.

When I receive my 'fake' diploma this Saturday (because most of us know that I won't receive the real diploma until June or July) I will look back on these last three years with found memory knowing that it was worth every tear, laughter, and sacrifice. I remember thinking the night before I moved to Vegas, "Am I doing the right thing?" Now I know that it was, I did do the right thing and I would do it all over again. 

I was having lunch with my friend Sarah last Thursday and we were talking about how being in grad school has been like living in a sheltered bubble for the past three years. We knew exactly how each year was going to be laid out for us. We taught, for the most part, the same classes, and the classes that we took as students were always at the same time, nothing ever changed. I knew that on Tuesdays and Thursdays I would teach Gay Plays from 11:45 am to 12:30 pm, that has been my schedule for the past two years. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining, I love to have a set routine, I actually live for a set routine. But now that security blanket will be gone and it's a little frightening.

 

One of the main reasons that I went to grad school was because I didn't like the real world. I was unhappy with the job that I had when I graduated undergrad. I applied to grad school so I could go back to that sheltered life I call school. Am I ready for the real world now? Who knows? But every day millions of people go out there and they seem to be fine; I think I'll be all right. I have to grow up sometime; I can't hide in Neverland forever.

Mike and Oscar at UNLV Graduation (May 2008)

Family Walk-Out

From my previous post some of you know that the Ten-Minute Play Festival just opened at the Paul Harris Theatre at UNLV. Well, we had a pretty good house today. I was helping with taking the tickets and passing out the programs and there was this family with three small kids, I would say they were all around 6 or 7 years old. They asked if the shows were kid appropriate and the House Manager (who happens to be my roommate and the director of my ten-minute) informed them that most of the shows are intended for a mature audience. Well, they still decided to walk in and see the shows. I thought, 'let's see which show they walk out on.'

The first show starts and right at the beginning two characters have guns pointing at each other, they shoot and collapse to the floor. The whole play is about trying to figure out how they killed each other. The main point is that there's violence on stage and the parents (who were sitting in front of me) were okay with letting their kids see the violence.

The second show, is a fun play about two unconventional people finding romance at the Hoover Damn. The only adult content in this show is when the two characters have a passionate kiss on stage, which is not really adult content, but let's go with that. But the parents didn't seem to mind the passionate kiss.

So now the third show begins, which just happens to be mine, everything is going fine until one of the characters says, "That's right you just like to have sex with men and not call yourself a-" The character gets cut off before he can say the word fag or queer. This is when the dad turns to the mom and within a minute, they gather their three children and leave. 

I wasn't surprised by this, I was just waiting to see how long they were going to last. But what I don't understand is how they can let their kids sit and watch two guys shoot at each other, not once, not twice, but three times and be okay with it. And when one male actor says to another male actor, have sex with men, they go running to the door. I just don't understand in what kind of society we live in that this is okay. I mean granted everyone is allowed to raise their children how they please, but if I was them and the House Manager tells me there is adult content in the shows, you better believe that my kids will not be entering that theatre, especially when they're only 6 or 7 years old. It's not "Charlie Brown" for crying out loud.

I don't really know why this bothers me, I just thought that we're getting passed all of this, but clearly people's actions are showing that we're not passed this. And who knows when we will. I just have to remind myself that the rest of the audience did stay and they seemed to enjoy the show. And I shouldn't let some ignorant people rain on my parade, but it's still annoying.

10 to 15-Minute Play Festival at UNLV

The UNLV Department of Theatre opens the 10 to 15-Minute Play Festival April 23rd in the Paul Harris Theatre. This evening of six original short plays continues to be popular with Las Vegas audiences and features new plays from MFA Playwrights in the program.

What happens when six playwrights take Las Vegas as a backdrop and write plays around that location? Six completely different and exciting plays.

My ten-minute, Remains of December, is a play about what happens when the past comes back for closure and let's out the horrible truth. The cast features Spenser Dewess, Rob Bartusch, and Chelsea Brim. Direction by Stephen Crandall.

Performances are April 23, 24, 25, 26 at 8 p.m. with matinees at 2 p.m. on April 26 and 27. Tickets are FREE for UNLV Students. Tickets are $7.50 and on sale at the UNLV Performing Arts Center Box Office. Box Office hours are Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The Box Office may be reached by calling 702-895-2787

I recommend that if you live in Las Vegas and want to see some original theatre, come check out these six plays. You won't regret it!

Remains of December Cast and Production Team. (from L-R) Oscar Limon (playwright), Spenser Dewess, Chelsea Brim, Rob Bartusch, and Stephen Crandall (director).

I Could Have Danced All Night

I've had a love hate relationship with the gay scene ever since I came out almost ten years ago. It's always the same scenario; the same boys with the same trendy clothes, the same music playing, the same expensive drinks, nothing's new-but yet I still go. I'm like a moth to a flame attracted to the scene. Why do I go back, week after week? Why do we all go back, week after week?  What's the force that attracts all of us to the club? It's not the expensive drinks, it's not the loud music, could it be the go-go boys or the cute shirtless bartender?  Maybe. But it has to be more than that. I wonder how long will this last? Can I continue doing this when I'm thirty-five, or let's say forty. Hopefully by then I'll be in a long-term relationship and I won't have to worry about going to the club, but what if I'm not that long-term relationship. I do have friends who are in their late thirties, early forties, who are single and they go to the club week after week. I just don't see myself doing that. I just can't.  

For me the reason that I go to the club has always been the hope that I could potentially meet that great guy. I know it sounds ludicrous to think that I could meet someone at a club, but I have friends who that's happen to.  

Anyone who's ever been to the club, knows how things work. Around two in the morning,  like clockwork, most of us begin scoping out all the guys. To figure out who were going to go to bed with. I'm not saying it's a good or bad thing, because sex with a stranger can be really hot, once in awhile, but it gets old when you're looking for something more substantial than that. It also comes with the territory, Las Vegas is a very transient city, just last night I was out with my friends and we met a guy who's name escapes me right now, but he was from Amsterdam, so we called him "Amsterdam" the rest of the night, and I could tell that he really wanted to get laid. I'm pretty sure he did get lucky; he was good-looking guy with a cute body and had a thick accent, which was hard to understand through the loud pounding music.

I wonder can you really find something that will surpass a one-night only at the club? At this point in my life, the cynical me, says no. But I could be completely wrong.

Getting back to last night, I had the best time with my friends. It was amazing because we were all there enjoying each other's companies, dancing the night away, getting a little drunk, not really looking to hook-up. At least for me, that's when I have the best time; when I'm there to enjoy myself. If I start paroling then it turns out to be a horrible night. But not last night, last night was one of those nights when you look back you remember how great it was. Two of my close friends were not present because they were working, but they were there in spirit.

I'm really thankful that I have these boys in my life. This is what I've always wanted, and it really saddens me that I'm going to have to leave them when I partake on my next adventure. When I finally get what I've always wanted I'm going to lose it. I know I'm being a little melo-dramatic right now, but my hope is that we'll always be in each other's life. But only time will tell.

Vegas Boys: (from L-R) Richard, Oscar, Mike, Jason, Robert, Rob, & Ace.