THIEF RIVER SIDE PROJECT THEATRE
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What these players of power politics don’t seem to understand is that when one celebrity calls another a faggot, the hateful message filters down to real people in real-life America. Things get a little more miserable and confusing for kids wrestling with their sexuality. For every out-and-proud Ellen DeGeneres or Neil Patrick Harris there’s a Tim Hardaway proclaiming that homosexuality “shouldn’t be in the world” or a self-hating Ted Haggard declaring himself “completely heterosexual” after three weeks of counseling. The invisibility that once cloaked “the love that dare not speak its name” has been replaced by an openness unthinkable half a century ago–but increased public awareness has by no means led to universal respect.
In Thief River, Gil and Ray are seen as teenagers in 1948, as middle-aged guys in 1973, and as old men today. Theirs is an enduring love but not a happy one: they spend most of the years geographically separated and emotionally estranged. When revelation of their affair leads to a homicide, Gil leaves town while Ray stays to take care of the family farm, marry, and raise a family. The two meet again 25 years later when Gil–a leisure-suited urbanite with a cute, much younger boyfriend–returns for the wedding of Ray’s son. It’s the first flowering of gay pride, and even skeptical straight folks are willing to be tolerant. But as one character notes, “You don’t have to like what you tolerate. That’s what toleration’s for.” Which is why Ray chooses to stay in the closet.
