Moxie and Diversionary Collaborate to produce U.S. premiere

By Charlene Baldridge | SDUN Reporter

The Moxie and Diversionary theatres have a history of co-productions, and Diversionary’s former artistic director Dan Kirsch calls their latest collaboration, “Poster Boys,” “one of the best new plays” he’s read in a long time.

Penned by Canadian playwright Michelle Riml, the play explores “consumerism, office affairs, gay relationships, religion, love and truth,” according to straight.com, an online publication from Vancouver, where the play had its premiere in 2008.

Moxie Theatre’s artistic director, Delicia Turner Sonnenberg, says the “poster boys,” gay couple Jack and Carson, represent the norm in the play, while the lead straight character, Caroline, is an outsider.

Caroline, a fast-talking, seem ingly worldly advertising executive, hires Jack and Carson to promote a client’s “diversity” campaign. But when Jack turns out to be her ex fiancé, who left her waiting at the altar, Caroline’s slick façade begins to crumble. Confronting unresolved feelings about her former lover, Caroline is thrown into panic mode.

Further complicating the situation is the fact that Carson, Jack’s new lover, is a devout Catholic, and the Catholic Church is protesting the client’s campaign.

Riml’s inspiration for “Poster Boys” was a Vancouver news story about the Catholic Church’s opposition to a Canadian credit union’s campaign celebrating partnerships with the GLBT community. Yet despite its serious subject matter, Sonnenberg assures the play elicits lots of laughs. “There’s a hell of a lot of truth mixed in amongst the laughter,” as one Canadian critic put it. Moxie and Diversionary share a passion for producing new work that explores what it means to be human. Past co-productions were “Pulp!” and “Bluebonnet Court.”

Sonnenberg’s cast includes Julie Sachs as Caroline, John Anderson as Jack, Charles Maze as Carson and Justin Lang as Brad, Catherine’s co-worker, with whom she’s having an affair.

“Poster Boys” plays Thursdays-Sundays at Diversionary Theatre, 4545 Park Blvd. in Normal Heights, through July 31, diversionary.org ormoxietheatre.com or (619) 220-0097.