Most relationships grow even more strained when sexual orientation is involved, and two Festival comedies serve as both entertainment and public-service announcements. In Cathy Plourde's Protect Us, the son (Sean McGuire) of a gay couple (Joe Quinn and Keith Anctil) is discouraged by his dads from believing himself gay. Suddenly, up shows federal Officer Butinsky (Heather Perry Weafer) of the Homo Land Security agency, who is on guard against homosexual recruitment, but who also, it turns out, has his or possibly her own problems. The ironies of Plourde's script are cute, if a touch heavy-handed, and the script is played with tongue firmly in cheek.
Closing the evening is Michael Kimball's Reorient, in which a gay man and a lesbian (Nick Schroeder and Reba Short) have for practical reasons signed on to become heterosexualized by a "successfully reoriented" husband-wife team (Keith Anctil and Heather Perry Weafer). The resulting romp is alternately arch and lewd, and truth-to-self is ultimately reaffirmed as a timelessly arousing touchstone.
Megan Grumbling can be reached at mgrumbling@hotmail.com.
Related:
Lesbians unite, Mixin' it up, Everybody poops, More 
- Lesbians unite
For centuries, sundry artists have extolled Maine as a locale for all sort of idylls and creations. This weekend, a series of plays will limn our state's romanticism with seductive specificity: as a setting for imaginative and sensual women loving women.
- Mixin' it up
First on my dance card this fall is the Good Theater's The Little Dog Laughed (September 17-October 11), a scathing comedy about Hollywood, a closeted actor's indiscretions with a hustler, and his agent's desperate clean-up duties.
- Everybody poops
Recently selected as one of 17 regional artists to exhibit at the DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park's Biennial in January 2010 (alongside fellow Mainer Randy Regier), and awarded a grant from the Maine Arts Commission in support of her interactive sculpture "The Cashmere Iron Maiden," Greta Bank is struggling to find studio time on top of being a mother of two.
- Next generation
Are you or the kids feeling pent up?
- Paying the price
Our afflicted protagonist (Keith D. Anctil, alternating shows with Jennie Hahn) would like to lead you on a thought experiment.
- Scurrilous scurryings
Pull out your hip flasks, everybody, because a mean fog’s rolled in and some creepy shit has been seen down by the docks: mysterious shipments; creatures torn to shreds; strange thuds, scurries, and squeaks.
- Back in the acts
When it comes to dramatics, there’s plenty to toast at this year’s end.
- No alibi needed
Earnest also boasts one hell of a big, imperious foil of British womanhood.
- Cold + comfort
Unlike last year’s lingering Indian summer, this autumn seems downright classical, so far, in its quintessential early chill.
- Bunny babies
It seems that mild young Mary Toft, in a twist on the old idiom, is birthing like a bunny.
- All in the family(1)
“Home” isn’t necessarily a discrete, concrete place.
- Less
Topics:
Theater
, Entertainment, GLBT Issues, Special Interest Groups, More
, Entertainment, GLBT Issues, Special Interest Groups, Performing Arts, Theater, Theatrical Plays, Christopher Price, Theater Festivals, Paul Haley, Maine Arts Commission, Less
