Some of the best, and lowest cost, theater around is at Pima Community College’s West Campus. The Theater Arts Program there is willing to attempt sometimes-difficult and thought-provoking stage works – and have fun. They do a musical each season, with successful versions of Spam-A-Lot, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and, now, the Tony-Award winning Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. It is amazing what they can do on stage with minimal resources. Priscilla sets a record for costume changes, around 500 that have to be seen to be believed.
Priscilla busts stereotypes, starting with the audience. Old white folks have been getting a bad rap lately, but the Sunday matinee, with a majority of old white men and women in the audience, rose as one to give the play and cast a long standing ovation at the end. Priscilla is not “safe” theater. Homophobes won’t like it, but they can learn from its humanity. I expect that at least some members of the student cast had to deal with their own prejudices during rehearsals.
Directed by Todd Poelstra, with choreography by Mickey Nugent and a live orchestra conducted by Dr. Mark Nelson, Priscilla has 22 student cast members who work their buns off and look like they are having fun doing it. That, and the more than two dozen songs, makes for good musical theater. And the message is universal, which accounts for Priscilla’s popularity. As the program notes say, “it’s about finding your family and yourself.”
Tick, a Sydney Australia drag queen, (Gino Cocchi), accepts an offer to perform his act at a resort managed by his estranged wife Marion (Hailee Kayfes) in remote Alice Springs. After persuading his friends and fellow performers, Bernadette (Dan Uroff), an older transgender woman, and Felicia (Adrian Encinas), a flamboyant and sometimes obnoxious younger drag queen to join him, the three set out in a large tour bus they name Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. Priscilla is a marvel of stagecraft. Pima excels at inventive ways to do more with less.
On their way they meet a variety of characters and face homophobic abuse When Priscilla breaks down they repaint it lavender to cover up the vandalism. The trio later meet Bob (Evan Taylor), a middle-aged mechanic from a small outback town who joins them on their journey. Before they arrive at Alice Springs, Tick reveals that Marion is actually his wife, as they never divorced, and that they are going there as a favor to her.
In Alice Springs we learn that Tick and Marion have an eight-year-old son, Benji (Sam Savin), whom Tick has not seen for years. Tick is nervous about his son’s possible reaction to his drag queen persona and anxious about revealing being gay. He finds out that Benjamin already knows and is fully supportive of his father’s sexuality and career. By the time their contract at the resort is over, Tick and Felicia head back to Sydney, taking Benji back with them, so that Tick can get to know his son. However, Bernadette and Bob, having fallen in love, decide to remain in the Outback.
Many of the songs are from the disco era, and there are bows to the Village People, keeping the stage always an active place. Dancers, costume changes, and a trio of singing Divas (Clarissa Rodriguez, Morgan Smith and Mandysa Brock) move the action along at a fast clip. One warning: the language is what people really say when they talk, so consider it “R” rated.
But what Priscilla, Queen of the Desert is ultimately all about is love and tolerance, about accepting people for who they are, about not marginalizing those labeled as different. A final song is “We Belong.” And thanks to Pima Community College’s Theatre Arts Program, we do. All of us, in all our wild and wonderful diversity.
“Priscilla” will be performed Thursday – Saturday, March 1-3, at 7:30 p.m., and on Sunday, March 4 at 2 p.m. Tickets are $18 with senior and student discounts; reserved seating. Call the Box Office at 520-206-6986 or online at www.pima.edu/cfa.