BY ADAM M. SCHENCK
Millennials, Greatest Generation, Gen Xers, Baby Boomers—it’s easy to dismiss self-appointed experts who separate out groups of people based on arbitrary birth dates. Yet, within a social movement like the gay rights movement, could the gradual ebb and flow of legal rights and social acceptance change the lived experience of different generations?
“Le Switch,” a play by Philip Dawkins produced by Jungle Theater, aims to investigate just that question.
The Jungle Theater, so well situated in Minneapolis’ trendy LynLake area, matches its production values to its surroundings. We have watched the Greenway become populated by luxury apartments; now we can count a luxe space for live theater that was there all along.
“He’s great,” I overheard one of my fellow audience members say of lead actor Kasey Mahaffy as David, and I agree. It’s not every local theater production that boasts a lead that has played across the country and in Los Angeles-based TV shows you have likely watched.
Other cast members also bring gravitas. Youthful local actor Michael Hanna portrays Benoit, David’s love interest, shining in a scene featuring his dancing prowess. Emily Gunyou Halaas, graduate of South High, depicts Sarah, David’s fraternal twin sister, as she navigates Manhattan’s tortuous romantic scene. Michael Wieser (Zachary) and Patrick Bailey (Frank) play David’s friend and gay elder, respectively, and find their unique places in a comedy with true heart.
David’s youth, we find, was perhaps the most difficult during the gay rights movement. For him, the pressures of the closet drove him to attempted suicide. He has prevailed in his career as a professor of library science, but in his love life his upbringing has taught him that gay relationships cannot be “real.”
As in our own recent history, the introduction of same-sex marriage creates opportunity for legal bond but also distance—Sarah and David’s Jewish parents spent their marriage miserable, so the twins made a pact to never be married. Will they both break that promise before this play ends? So goes the question that creates the tension of this comedy.
One detail I noticed in “Le Switch” is the way in which the play’s program educates the audience member on the ideas of the play. In a quick century, being “gay” went from punishable by law to medical disorder to organized movement to legally recognized and now socially accepted.
Different characters personify the generations of gay people as they move from the closet to openness. But David says he is “a straddler” between the generations.
The only complaint I have about the play is that David’s internal conflict becomes overly external, particularly for an inveterate categorizer and librarian who should be logical. I heard a variation on the line “He’s perfect, why can’t you commit?” too many times.
Despite this, the viewer has ample opportunity to admire a much-loved stage design from Kate Sutton-Johnson and creative, thought-provoking lighting design from Barry Browning. And I don’t know if the bagpipes were sound designer Sean Healey’s idea, but never have I wanted to play bagpipes as much as I did after enjoying “Le Switch.” Vocal coach Keely Wolter integrates the play’s multilingual elements believably; I thought Benoit (Michael Hanna) really was from Montréal.
Say what you will about any aspect of this play, but director Jeremy B. Cohen really went for it. I’ve become used to non-Guthrie local theater productions wearing “stripped down” as a badge of honor, but “Le Switch” found ostentation in the right spots in form, content and performance. You may not cry, but you’ll laugh, and you’ll leave this play understanding that generational categories might just make sense—sometimes.
Adam M. Schenck can be reached at [email protected].
