Acting in the Gay Bay
June 23, 2000
By Leon Acord
SPECIAL TO THE SF EXAMINER
"If you're gonna be an actor, you better butch it up!"
How many times did I hear this in my early career? It even led me to give up my dream for a while. Growing up in Indiana, I never saw gay characters on TV or in the movies -- much less openly gay actors. What hope did I have?
I knew if I went to Los Angeles, I could either be a closet case (not really an option), or a "professional homosexual" like Paul Lynde -- better, but still not for me.
Thank God I moved to San Francisco! Yes, it's an uphill battle to make it as a working actor in the Bay Area. Though there are lots of independent films made here, few actually pay real money. And there aren't enough commercials, CD-ROMS and Nash Bridges episodes for everyone. But the trade-off is certainly worth it to me.
In the past year, I've played leads in three plays, two of which were gay-themed (Dream Boy, Message to Michael). My most successful film role (so far!) was the "gay best friend" in Some Prefer Cake, a lesbian comedy feature shot in the Bay Area. And my one-man show Last Sunday in June, which I performed last year, was a comical exploration of the San Francisco Pride Parade.
Alas, gay theatre is no longer the cutting-edge avant garde it once was. As fewer & fewer people -- gay & straight -- attend live performance, more gay theatres resort to a "soft-core" mentality to get people in the seats (i.e., Jeff Stryker's Doing Time, All-Male Peep Show, Barebacking.)
Theatre Rhinoceros, once San Francisco's preeminent gay theatre, seems to be quickly slidng down that slope. New Conservatory, however, seems to be making conscious efforts to lose its "Nude Conservatory" nickname -- their just-completed Millennium Pride Season offered several thought-provoking productions with nary a bare butt in sight.
And things are slowly improving in Hollywood -- see Ellen, Rupert Everett, et al.
Just the same, I'm staying here. San Francisco's agents and casting directors are an enlightened bunch -- they allow gay/besian actors to be themselves between roles.
And as artists, we get to explore in our work themes that are important to us. I've been allowed to play characters who speak to my heart and sole, who are experiencing things I can truly relate to.
I've worked more here than I might have in Los Angeles. And the more I've worked, the more I've grown. As a result, I've become a much stronger actor and, ironically, am able to play further and further "outside" myself. And as it happens, this summer I'm playing a "straight" lead in the independent feature film Dating the Devil. Okay, okay -- so I'll need to butch it up a tad.
__________
Leon Acord, a Hoosier by birth, has been a Californian by choice for 15 years. He lives in the Castro with his vast collection of Wonder Woman memorabilia.
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