If there’s one man on the planet who can make us laugh until we pee our petticoat, it’s master of comedy Del Shores. From the Sordid Lives movie and TV series to Dharma & Greg and Queer As Folk, he’s always had one finger lubed up and ready to probe the funny bones of millions.
Yet even within his funniest works are serious undertones and deeply introspective moments that evoke nearly as many tears as guffaws. So it’s with great anticipation and excitement that we finally get to delve into the darker recesses of Shores’ creative genius.
This Friday, Uptown Players presents Yellow, a play that chronicles one year in the life of a seemingly perfect family in Mississippi. The story centers on Bobby (Jeff Plunk) and Kate (Kristen McCullough) and their two high-school children, Dayne (Justin Duncan) and Gracie (Zoe Kerr), along with Gracie’s gay best friend Kendall (Grant Bower) whose love of theater is in sharp contrast to the beliefs of his abusive and ultra-religious mother, Sister Timothea (Deborah Jones).
Written and directed by Shores, Yellow deftly weaves together variations on themes that have been his bread and butter for so many years, primarily issues of homosexuality in the face of fundamentalism, prejudice and intolerance presented with a heavy dose of quirky Southern charm.
Rest assured, there will still be laughs, but prepare to see a whole new side of one of the LGBT community’s best and brightest playwrights.
Because if there’s one thing gays crave, it’s a healthy dose of drama.
Uptown Players presents “Yellow”
Written and directed by Del Shores
February 22-March 10
Tickets: $25 – $35
www.uptownplayers.org
