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Opening this week is the Florida premiere of Slipping, an edgy play that hits on a hot topic: gay teen bullying. And true to Studio@620's mission, it's using the shows as a forum for more than intriguing theater.
"We take a subject and do a creative thing around it, and it's an opportunity for the community to get involved," said director Bob Devin Jones. After each performance is a talk-back, and on Tuesday there is a roundtable discussion.
The play by Daniel Talbott follows Eli, an openly gay high school senior who is dealing with his father's violent suicide and feeling numb and ostracized after being dumped by his abusive boyfriend. He moves with his mother to Iowa to start over, but life is still complicated.
It's too easy to label Slipping as just a "gay play."
"It is a play about growing up both gay and straight," playwright Larry Kramer (The Normal Heart) writes in an introduction. "It is a play about love and how it is so hard for so many of us to face it, to stare it in the face, to know what to do with it."
If it seems a natural fit for your teen, full disclosure: There is some nudity and risque language, including f-bombs.
"We don't shy away from that one way or the other," Jones said.
He added there isn't a target audience, but he wants to give the community as a whole a chance to sound off.
"We know the society we live in, and we can't pretend that everyone gets equal time at the mike."
Slipping has a pay-what-you-will preview performance at 7 tonight. Shows are at 7 p.m. Friday and Sunday and 3 and 7 p.m. Saturday, with more performances through Feb. 19 at 620 First Ave. S, St. Petersburg. $20, $15 seniors/students. (727) 895-6620. www.studio620.org. A free social justice roundtable discussion on bullying is at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday (no performance). St. Petersburg City Councilman Steve Kornell, former city council candidate Darden Rice and others are expected to attend.
Kelly Smith, Times staff writer
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