A Strange and Separate People
Erik Haagensen
July 19, 2011: "A Strange and Separate People," playwright Jon Marans' follow-up to his superb Harry Hay bio-play "The Temperamentals," doesn't lack for dramatic subject matter: Infidelity, autism, male privilege, religiously observant gay Orthodox Jews, and reparative therapy intended to "cure" homosexuality are all part of it. Unfortunately, Marans hasn't yet managed to tie them securely to fully realized characters. With Jeff Calhoun's overwrought direction in the tiny Studio Theatre only emphasizing the script's penchant for melodrama, this rather odd three-hander, while exuding a tantalizing promise, bumps about awkwardly over the course of 90 intermissionless minutes.
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