Gay San Diego - 21/Sep/2012

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Luke Macfarlane takes ‘Sam Bendrix’ out of La Jolla

Posted: September 21st, 2012 | Arts & Entertainment, Featured |

Cabaret-style play addresses LGBT history; comes to Hillcrest for West Coast premiere

By Anthony King | GSD Editor

Luke Mcfarlane as Sam Bendrix
(Photo by Suellen
Fitzsimmons/City Theatre
Company)

The La Jolla Playhouse ventures into Hillcrest with their latest Without Walls production, “Sam Bendrix at the Bon Soir.” The show, taking over Martinis Above Fourth from Sept. 24 – Oct. 10, was written by Keith Bunin and directed by Mark Rucker. The one-person play sees out actor Luke Macfarlane return to the role he originated last fall.

Macfarlane, who played one half of the gay couple on “Brothers & Sisters,” began discussing the Sam Bendrix role with Bunin while he was filming the ABC series. The two, who became friends, were looking to recreate a part of LGBT history that slightly mirrored Macfarlane’s own experience coming out in Hollywood.

“It was around the time that he was on a television show where [Macfarlane] was playing a gay character,” Bunin said of creating the play. Macfarlane was a semi-closeted gay actor at the time, who was thinking of coming out publicly.

“It was a very big thing to think about, because obviously it’s a big thing to weigh for an actor.” Bunin said. “We were talking about the history of people who had done that. I had been doing this research, and we talked about what it would have been like for someone like him, 50 years ago.”

The play focuses on the title character, a lounge singer, taking the stage one last time before he leaves New York City. Bunin, who set “Sam Bendrix” in 1958 very purposefully, said the show is a play disguised as a cabaret act.

“I’ve been interested in gay American history, and this particular generation,” Bunin said. “In a way, its sort of like an homage to these generations of gay men and women … who came from small towns and served in World War II, and then sort of discovered a community they didn’t know existed.”

While the show is grounded in music, featuring songs by Cole Porter, Kurt Weill and George Gershwin, Bunin said his research involved more than just musicians: he felt all artists, including poets and dancers, contributed to his understanding of the period and helped him in shaping the story.

“I hope they all show up in their own little ways, here and there,” he said. “There was this very strong subculture that was 10 years before Stonewall,” a point, he added, that is important for the audience to understand.

Bunin said he “cast” the audience as that of a cabaret act from the 1950s. “Sam, the cabaret singer, is talking to the audience as he would have been talking to the audience that night,” revealing more about his life than he first set out to do, Bunin said.

“The audience’s responsibility is to understand how dangerous that would be in 1958,” he said. “I think a lot of times when you see a period piece, the response of the audience is to feel, ‘oh, we’re past this’ or ‘I’m just grateful I’m not living in that time.’ Part of the fun of this is to feel like you’re in this space and this time, and [to] think about what … your reaction would be if you were hearing this in 1958.”

After appearing as part of regular company’s season in Pittsburg, Penn. last fall, where the play was staged in a typical theater setting, Bunin said he is excited Martinis Above Fourth will be the stage for the West Coast premiere.

“I’m actually excited about doing it in an actual cabaret space,” he said, calling Martinis the right size and saying Hillcrest is the perfect setting, primarily because of the predominately LGBT audience.

Choosing Hillcrest as the latest location for La Jolla’s Without Walls series was purposeful for Artistic Direct Christopher Ashley as well. The theater company staged two other productions as part of the series, one at the San Diego Botanical Garden and the other – conceived by Paul Stein – set in a series of automobiles.

“The central idea of Without Walls is presenting theatrical events in non-traditional spaces that allow you to experience the show in a completely new way,” Ashley said. “Keith’s play is set in a nightclub in 1958 – a decade before Stonewall, when being open about your sexuality could still land you in jail. By producing this play at Martinis Above Fourth, in the heart of Hillcrest, we get to highlight just how far the cause of equality has come.”

Macfarlane will take on “Sam Bendrix” Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday at 7:30 p.m., Saturday at 2 p.m., and Sunday at 2 and 7:30 p.m. from Sept. 24 – Oct. 10. Martinis Above Fourth is located at 3940 Fourth Ave. Tickets are $35 and can be purchased through the La Jolla Playhouse at lajollaplayhouse.org or by calling 858-550-1010. Food and drinks will be available before and after the show, but not during.