As actor Jos N. Banks dons a dress for Orlando Shakes’ hit production of “Kinky Boots,” theater officials around Central Florida are keeping a wary eye on a different drama playing out in Tallahassee.
The Florida Legislature is considering a bill that puts restrictions on “adult live entertainment,” including drag performances — and puts the burden of keeping minors away on artistic venues. Proponents say the measure keeps children safe — the bill, in fact, is titled “Protection of Children” — but critics say the legislation flies in the face of artistic freedom, usurps parental rights and could have a chilling effect on what adult audiences will see on Florida stages.
“Is ‘La Cage aux Folles’ going to be a target? Will people not do that show anymore?” pondered Winter Park Playhouse executive director Heather Alexander, referring to the award-winning musical about a drag performer that inspired the hit movie “The Birdcage.”
One thing is sure: Even before the bill becomes law, nervous theater executives are acting by asking theatergoers for IDs, adding or emphasizing content ratings on their art, changing backstage procedures and even turning away potential patrons.
There’s good reason for their anxiety: The stakes are high.
Any theater leader will tell you that a large chunk of income comes from profits on selling alcohol — and that’s where the state is focused.
After The Plaza Live in Orlando hosted a touring drag show with children in the audience, state officials took steps to revoke its liquor license — even though undercover state agents said they witnessed no lewd acts.
That case is still pending, but the lesson isn’t lost on Donald Rupe, artistic director of Orlando’s Renaissance Theatre.
“We’re stuck between a rock and a hard place,” said Rupe, whose theater hosts a weekly late-night drag show. “We’re not taking any chances. A mile and a half away, the Plaza Live might lose their liquor license. We can’t let that happen to us.”
The Renaissance always has asked for age-verifying ID at the bar, Rupe said, but now the theater is posting age restrictions on its website and requiring proof of age for certain shows, such as the upcoming “Cocaine Play,” that could be considered “adult live entertainment.”
But how to define that term in the realm of artistic freedom is a sticking point.
According to the bill, the term refers to “any show, exhibition, or other presentation in front of a live audience” that depicts or simulates “nudity, sexual conduct, sexual excitement, specific sexual activities,” “lewd conduct” or “the lewd exposure of prosthetic or imitation genitals or breasts.”
But does a kiss display “sexual excitement” or “sexual conduct”?
‘Patently offensive’
The legislation, introduced in the Senate by Sen. Clay Yarborough, a Republican from Jacksonville, and in the House by Rep. Randy Fine, a Republican from Brevard County, continues with further discussion on what is prohibited.
It states that a show can’t “predominantly appeal to a prurient, shameful or morbid interest,” cannot be “patently offensive to prevailing standards in the adult community of this state as a whole with respect to what is suitable material or conduct for the age of the child present” and can’t be “without serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value for the age of the child present.”
Yarborough has said the bill wouldn’t prevent any shows or parades from taking place — just not in front of children if they were inappropriate.
“There has to be a balance about what’s appropriate and is not appropriate for children,” he said in a recorded interview with USA Today.
But who will determine what is appropriate for any children watching, and who will decide what has “literary, artistic, political or scientific” value, Rupe wondered.
“The proposed legislation is general and vague so they can use it whenever they want, and that’s not fair,” Rupe said. “Hopefully people realize how authoritarian it is. It’s totally absurd.”
Strengthening safeguards
In the meantime, other theaters are also strengthening safeguards.
Winter Park Playhouse generally restricts its shows to those age 15 and older, Alexander said, and that information has been made more prominent on its website.
The theater this season presented “Nunsense: A-men,” a gender-bending musical comedy. The flap over the Plaza Live’s drag show “was happening as we opened a show with five men playing nuns,” Alexander said. “We were aware we might have pushback. Thankfully, we did not.”
In the coming season, the playhouse will stage “Ruthless,” in which a man plays a female showbiz agent for campy laughs.
“It’s in the context of the show,” Alexander said. “There’s no language, there’s nothing sexual. … We will keep cautiously moving forward.”
Orlando Shakes has traditionally issued content advisories for its shows, said spokesman Michael Laderman. But for “Kinky Boots,” the theater unveiled a new designation: PG-MA, echoing TV’s rating for mature content.
Laderman said the rating was for the Tony-winning musical’s adult language, alcohol use and stage violence — not the fact the show is about an unlikely friendship between the owner of a failing shoe factory and a vibrant drag artist.
Rated PG-MA
Nonetheless, next to the PG-MA rating, the theater website warns that “Minors must be accompanied by a parent or adult guardian.”
Orlando Fringe, which hosts visiting artists at its annual theater festival in Loch Haven Park, also has traditionally offered content ratings — submitted by the performers. For May’s festival, which includes the show “Dungeons and Drag Queens,” Fringe leadership is keeping a more watchful eye on them, executive director Alauna Friskics said.
“This year we took a closer look,” Friskics said. “We worked with the artists so that we were providing the most accurate rating.”
“Dungeons and Drag Queens” is recommended for ages 18 and older.
The organization also for the first time arranged its schedule so that any show with sexual content would not share backstage space with any show with minors in the cast.
But there’s a frustration among Friskics and other arts leaders that drag is being painted with a broad brush as inherently lewd or sexual.
“Not every drag show is meant for children, of course, just like not every movie is meant for children,” Rupe said. But the art of drag “is about the illusion, it’s about the spectacle.”
He has seen plenty of drag performances where the artists “are not nude, they’re not stripping. They’re sometimes comical.”
Friskics agreed.
“Pushing the boundaries of gender expression can come in a wide range of art forms, many of which are completely appropriate for all ages,” she said. “By threatening this expression, we run the risk of losing perspective or understanding of something that might look or feel different.”
Children’s shows
Interestingly, many of the biggest and best-known shows featuring drag coming to Central Florida in the months ahead are aimed at children.
The Bay Street Players will open a production of the popular, award-winning show “Matilda: The Musical” in May. Based on Roald Dahl’s classic novel for young readers, the show typically has a man dress in drag to play Miss Trunchbull, the villainous teacher to young Matilda.
“We are honoring the original intention of the authors and producers,” said spokesman Joseph Vatter of the Eustis theater’s production. “The young people in the cast and crew of this show, along with children and parents in our community, are excited about the production as it is being presented.”
The upcoming touring-Broadway season at the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts in Orlando features both “Mrs. Doubtfire,” based on the family film in which a man disguises himself as a woman to grow closer with his children, and “Peter Pan,” in which the title character is traditionally played by a woman in male garb.
“We are monitoring the proposed legislation and having active conversations with our state officials,” wrote arts-center spokeswoman Jacklyne Ramos in an emailed statement. “At this time, it is our understanding that our shows and events are in line with the proposed legislation and state guidelines.”
Some theater officials say the law takes away parents’ rights to decide what is appropriate for their own children.
“As a mother, I want to be able to decide if my daughter can attend a live performance of a drag show the same way I can allow her to sit at home and watch an R-rated movie,” Friskics said. “Stripping this parental choice for live performance is unjust to theater and performing arts.”
Rupe already has turned theatergoers away — from a production of “Josephine,” an award-winning musical about the life of Josephine Baker, a burlesque dancer turned American hero for her work as a spy during World War II.
There’s no drag in the show, but in one scene depicting Baker’s famous “Banana Dance,” the performer bares her breasts.
“Josephine is an exhibitionist, but this play is hugely educational,” Rupe said. “And we had parents who wanted to bring their kids and we had to tell them no.”
‘Heads in the sand’
He worries about a chilling effect — or that the legislation is the tip of the iceberg.
“They start with one thing and then they go after the next thing,” he said.
This week, Yarborough submitted an amendment to the bill that would add parades and other events requiring a government-issued permit to the types of entertainment covered by the legislation.
“It’s not an attack on a particular group,” he said in the USA Today interview, which was released Wednesday. “It is saying there’s a standard for children.”
Rupe understands nonprofits generally stay out of politics because they often rely on government funding, but he thinks on this issue arts leaders need to be more vocal.
“I don’t see enough of the arts community responding and reacting,” said Rupe. “The arts people have their heads in the sand about how it might affect them. … I think we have a responsibility to say drag is innately part of what we do and has been for a thousand years.”
Friskics said her organization, which allows any performer picked through a lottery to participate in its festival, would continue to support drag artists.
“We honor freedom of expression in every way possible, including drag,” she said. “We do feel strongly about this subject and what Fringe stands for.”
Perhaps the last word will come from the public — and if “Kinky Boots” is any measure, Central Floridians are not put off by drag.
Before it even opened, the show had reached 80% of the theater’s financial goal, according to Laderman.
“It’s right up there with the bestselling shows the Shakes has done over the years,” he said.
In fact, “Kinky Boots” has sold so many tickets the theater received special permission from the city to open additional parking and add a seating area outside its Loch Haven Park home to accommodate patrons.
“We’re doing a production of a very well-known Broadway musical that is really fun,” said Laderman of the show’s popularity.
Although the pending legislation was discussed by theater leadership, he said, there’s nothing about “Kinky Boots” that should cause alarm.
“It doesn’t depict sexual activity or sexual conduct or nudity,” he said.
And the musical is only drawing on theater history, he said, pointing out that at one time women were barred from the stage and men performing in drag was the norm.
“Without drag,” he said, “there would be no Shakespeare.”
Follow me at facebook.com/matthew.j.palm or email me at mpalm@orlandosentinel.com. Want more theater and arts news and reviews? Go to orlandosentinel.com/arts.
