Pure Glitter \u2014 written by Douglas Lyons, directed by Emerson Collins and presented by Uptown Players \u2014 opens March 20 and runs through March 28 at the Kalita Humphreys Theater. (Photo by Mike Morgan)<\/p>\n
In the play Chicken and Biscuits, Douglas Lyons centered the story on family dynamics \u2014 particularly with the same-sex couple at the center of the drama at, of all places, a funeral. Uptown Players held the regional premiere of the show in 2023.<\/p>\n
This weekend, the theater and the playwright are at it again \u2014 only this time it\u2019s for the Texas premiere of Lyons\u2019 new queer comedy, Pure Glitter.<\/p>\n
Set during a surprise 10th anniversary celebration, Pure Glitter revolves around a group of close friends celebrating over food, laughs and fellowship. But the kiki is interrupted when unexpected guests arrive \u2014 and unresolved history resurfaces.<\/p>\n
The night goes from a festive party to a shadefest of sharp wits and confessions.<\/p>\n
The show has been presented but not properly staged. For Lyons, going into this weekend is an exciting moment.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am beyond thrilled about this first proper staging. I think it\u2019s such a joy bomb of a play,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Pure Glitter opens March 20 and runs through March 28 at the Kalita Humphreys Theater. The show features Kelly Groves, Ian Mead Moore, Galileo Segura Rady, Jake Shanahan, Gerald Taylor II and Lee Walter and is helmed by Emerson Collins, who was invited to serve as the show\u2019s guest director.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is my first time directing in Dallas and, truly, my first solo directing theater gig,\u201d Collins revealed. \u201cIt\u2019s an honor, and to have my hands in with so many genius artists \u2014 if anything, they will make me look good.\u201d<\/p>\n
The former Dallas resident has an extended history with the company and its founders and co-producers, Jeff Rane and Craig Lynch, having known them before Uptown Players was founded and even having starred in some of the company\u2019s early shows. So his comfort to return for this gig was high.<\/p>\n
And Rane and Lynch had been searching for a show for Collins to direct.<\/p>\n
When Collins received the script for Pure Glitter, he found in it the queer joy that Lyons intended.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s this heartfelt incisive piece and an heir to The Boys in the Band. This show captures so much of the gay men my age who came up in the age of AIDS, all the way to Gen Z gays who are freed by PrEP. This gives attention to us in-between gays.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mart Crowley\u2019s seminal 1968 gay play The Boys in the Band centers on a group of gay friends coming together but with a tension in the air. Collins says with Glitter, their vocabulary of queerness has expanded. Where Crowley\u2019s characters represent archetypes, Collins described Lyons\u2019 characters as more fluid.<\/p>\n
\u201cFirst, this is much lighter and funny. But also, Lyons shows the evolution of gay friend groups, and here there\u2019s so much more love among them,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
And in Boys, there was ultimately a closet, still, for the characters.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey could be out with each other, but beyond that, I doubt it,\u201d Collins said of the characters in Crowley\u2019s play. \u201cHere we see these characters however they are, and they likely go out into the world the same way. And I love that generational growth shown through a tender and funny lens.\u201d<\/p>\n
The play is inspired by some classic queer sitcoms \u2014The Golden Girls, Will and Grace, Living Single, Designing Women \u2014 but also by Lyons\u2019 own gaggle of friends.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo me, having pure glitter is having that chosen family unit, and they get us through those tough moments in life,\u201d Lyons said. \u201cThis is a celebration of that but is also inspired by a dinner party I went to in 2023.\u201d<\/p>\n
At that dinner, he discovered the unique dynamic created when a bunch of gay friends got together to celebrate a friend\u2019s going away.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was shady and hilarious,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd I loved how we\u2019d all lie to each other when we didn\u2019t want to reveal our true selves at that moment. I thought that this was certainly a play.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lyons added that the people you meet are the people you lean on outside the family. He found his chosen family, and that chosen family kept him lifted up even while his own immediate family was supportive.<\/p>\n
So where does \u201cpure glitter\u201d come from?<\/p>\n
\u201cThe term is in a monologue. I like to be very specific about my titles and want them to be evocative,\u201d Lyons said. \u201cFor me, \u2018pure glitter\u2019 feels twofold: The purity upholds the clarity and truth among friends and, well, glitter is for all of us gays.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lyons doesn\u2019t seek to get all that political, but, even when intended as a comedy, a Black, queer play is inherently political. Telling those stories for Lyons is both an assertion and a solution.<\/p>\n
\u201cWriting plays like this is an act of rebellion, and we will laugh even when you try to harm us,\u201d he said. \u201cThis is my superpower. I open my computer, and I write about the joy and love to put in the world. Theater is healing for me, and that is a thread in my shows. So I can still fight for joy but also help to heal from a regime trying to erase our existence.\u201d <\/p>\n