Can a burglar be gay? Queen City Theatre’s ‘P.S. Your Cat is Dead’ breaks LGBTQ stereotypes
Who says burglary is a bad thing? Queen City Theatre Company is looking to rope in its audience with its latest play, “P.S. Your Cat is Dead,” premiering Aug. 25.
The setup of the show: It’s New Year’s Eve and Jimmy has been robbed twice, abandoned by his girlfriend and lost his job. Oh, and he has no idea his beloved feline Bobby Seale has met that great litter box in the sky. Now Vito, the openly gay burglar, has roped him up in his own kitchen — and he kind of likes it.
The comedy is based on the novel by James Kirkwood, Jr. published in 1972 and was originally adapted from a play. Queen City Theatre’s founders, Artistic Director Glenn T. Griffin and Executive Director Kristian Wedolowski, are hoping audiences enjoy the madcap nature of the comedy while engrossing themselves with timeless themes of acceptance and finding love.
I recently talked with Griffin and Wedolowski to talk about the production.
What made you want to bring this show to Queen City Theatre?
Glenn Griffin: “When we started our season, I was looking for something that, even as a comedy, has a message, and this show was actually one of the very first shows on Broadway that portrayed a homosexual man (Vito) being very open about who he was and not caring what people thought. And it wasn’t like ‘Boys in the Band’ where, yes, they were onstage but they were all like ‘Ugh we’re gay, my life is so horrible, I’m just going to die alone,’ and here was someone who was like ‘Nope, I’m gay, I’m happy about it.’ And so I always kind of wanted to do this show and the script itself is still very modern and it’s not dated at all and it still brings up a lot of things of who we are, why we do what we do and just as people.
“That’s our mission. We try to show the human experience. It’s about two people meeting each other in a crazy situation and finding they have more in common than they thought and they could possibly be lovers.”
Kristian Wedolowski: “The show was very ahead of its time. Even though it was set in the ’70s, it is very daring and revealing for the time it was written. The show is extremely funny but also, as Glenn was saying, it has the message of acceptance.”
Is there any subtext in your version of the play given House Bill 2?
GG: “All of our shows, including this one, is very much unapologetic, where we say we are what we are. … Don’t judge before you get to know us. At first, Jimmy says he’s with a girl and straight, and at first he says how can a burglar be gay, and he (Vito) says, ‘What are you talking about? Anyone can be gay.’ Jimmy is discovering who he is, and it really is that journey that he takes, and I feel that all of our shows, including with ‘Casa Valentina,’ it really is about learning a little bit before you start judging because we all really are similar. Stop putting your laws before our rights.”
A lot of people have been making art in Charlotte as a way to combat HB2. When HB2 happened, did you feel a sense of duty to be more or less outrageous?
GG: “When HB2 happened, I couldn’t believe it and it was at the same time we were doing ‘Casa Valentina.’ It’s almost like I was glad we were doing it, but I almost wish we were doing it now; it would be much more of a show about the early transgender movement and that discovery. I do feel that art is so important. It’s a way of protesting what is going on especially (since) people in the theater (will) look at it and they’re slowly beginning to be educated without realizing it. They think, ‘Oh my god, that’s what’s going on now.’
“When we did the show ‘Bent,’ it was about WWII and the Holocaust, but at the same time, we showed things are not different at all nowadays.”
KW: “When we did ‘Casa Valentina,’ so many people wrote to us. We had one woman who comes to see all of our shows and she came up to us and said, ‘I’m not your typical audience, but your shows are so powerful.’ We got so much feedback about HB2 and we started conversations.”
“P.S. Your Cat is Dead” runs Aug. 25-Sept. 3. Queen City Theatre Company, Duke Energy Theatre, 345 N. College St., Charlotte. Buy your tickets here.
Photo: Courtesy of Queen City Theatre
This story was originally published August 24, 2016 at 11:49 PM with the headline "Can a burglar be gay? Queen City Theatre’s ‘P.S. Your Cat is Dead’ breaks LGBTQ stereotypes."