On Tuesday, June 6, 2023, I stepped away from the dance scene to attend a very important theater work titled SICK by the award-winning playwright Dahn Hiuni and featuring an original score by Larry Williams at the Broadwater Theatre’s main stage. SICK is part of the 2023 Hollywood Fringe Festival running now through June 25, 2023. Information and tickets HERE.
Why is a dance critic covering a theater work? Because this play is not only good, but it also shines a spotlight on an important subject that relates to past, present, and future members of the LBGTQ+ community. For those of us who lived through the struggles to gain equal rights, SICK tells the story of the years between 1972-1974 that many have perhaps forgotten. To the senior generation, it is history that should not be forgotten and a struggle that the current generation should be aware of in order not to lose those rights.
Dahn Hiuni – Courtesy of the artist
December 15, 2023 will mark the 50th anniversary of a milestone decision passed by the American Psychiatric Association (APA) the largest psychiatric organization in the world, which made history by issuing a resolution stating that homosexuality was not a mental illness or sickness. It was a decision that helped change the way people thought of and reacted to LGBTQ+ individuals.
Although Hiuni’s play was slow to draw me in, after three or four very short scenes I became immersed in identifying with several of the characters, feeling anger at the psychiatric and medical professions of that era who helped stigmatize homosexuals, and more importantly learning more about my generation’s history – facts that had somehow faded away.
(L-R} Maya Knell and Mikel Farber in SICK by Dahn Hiuni – Photo by Peggy Burt
Lead actor Mikel Farber, who plays Ron Gold, appeared uneasy during the opening scene of SICK, but as the play progressed, he found his voice and character. Perhaps this was due to his character not being fully developed by the playwright. Ron Gold was a gay writer who becomes an activist and it was his speech at an APA conference in Hawaii that helped change the minds of some of the panelists. Farber’s “transition” from reluctant activist to full blown crusader felt abrupt; like a chapter was missing.
Daniel Kuhlman was powerful as Dr. John E. Fryer who, in 1972, was famous for speaking at a national APA conference in Dallas, TX. Fryer was announced as Dr. H. Anonymous, wore a Richard Nixon mask and a suit several sizes too big. His opening statement was: “I am a homosexual. I am a psychiatrist.” Though it was made in disguise, Fryer’s statement was the first domino to fall in changing minds.
Left to right, activists Barbara Gittings and Frank Kameny with John E. Fryer who was known as Dr. Anonymous, at the 1972 APA Conference in Dallas – Photo courtesy of the playwright
Maya Knell, a queer actress, comedian, and multidisciplinary artist, was the only female in SICK. Knell definitely proved to be well equipped for shifting personae at a moment’s notice playing Barbara Gittings, a prominent American activist for LGBT equality who played a large part in the 1972 movement to convince the APA to drop homosexuality as a mental illness; Ron Gold’s mother, and Evelyn Hooker, a little known American psychologist most notable for her 1956 paper “The Adjustment of the Male Overt Homosexual.” Hooker had tested both homosexual and heterosexual men and showed her results to other psychologists to see if they could select which men were the homosexuals.
(L-R) Michael Garcia Otavo and Mikel Farber in SICK by Dahn Hiuni – Photo by Peggy Burt
Other actors played more than one part and they each deserve mention. Nick Blocha as Larry Schwartz, Keith Bush as Dr. Charles Socarides, Robert Lee as Dr. Lyle Quackenbush and activist, Kevin Michael Moran as Irving Bieber and Dr. Sigmund Freud; and Michael Garcia Otavo as Dalton and young Ron Gold. I feel it necessary, however, to say that Lee’s portrayal of a gay Black man was a bit over the top. Have I seen gay men act that way? Yes, but rarely.
For readers who are just learning about this important decision by the APA, the board of trustees of the 20,000‐member group approved a resolution that said in part, “by itself, homosexuality does not meet the criteria for being a psychiatric disorder.” Persons who are troubled by their homosexuality, the trustees said, will be classified as having a “sexual orientation disturbance” should they come to a psychiatrist for help. “We will no longer insist on a label of sickness for individuals who insist that they are well and demonstrate no generalized impairment in social effectiveness,” the trustees said.
(L-R) Mikel Farber, Michael Garcia Otavo, Maya Knell, Robert Lee, and Daniel Kuhlman in SICK by Dahn Hiumi – Photo by Peggy Burt
Hiuni’s play takes on the APA and the science professions and it has two scenes that will cause viewers to stare in disbelief. It is also laced with humor. I hope that readers will show their support by attending SICK and other theater works at the Hollywood Fringe Festival. I plan on sending this review to all my LBGTQ+ friends and colleagues, and to the psychologists, psychiatrists and therapists that I know.
SICK was written and directed by Dahn Hiuni; Music: Larry Williams; Lighting Designer: Miranda Stewart; Sets, Props and Projections: Dahn Hiuni and Kiley Nagl; Costumes: provided by the cast members. The Technical Director and Stage Manager for the Broadwater was Miles Berman.
#####
WHAT: SICK, written and directed by award-winning playwright, Dahn Hiuni. Grammy-nominated composer Larry Williams provides an original score.
WHEN: SICK is being produced during Pride Month June 8-25, 2023.
WHERE: Broadwater Theater Mainstage, on Hollywood’s Theater Row, 1078 Lillian Way Los Angeles CA 90038.
TICKETS: $20 general seating. For more information and to reserve tickets, please visit www.hollywoodfringe.org and/or www.sicktheplay.com.
This article was edited 6/8/23 to correct errors.
Written by Jeff Slayton for LA Dance Chronicle.
Featured image: (L-R) Robert Lee, Michael Garcia Otavo, Daniel Kuhlman, Mikel Farber, and Nick Blocha in SICK by Dahn Hiuni – Photo by Peggy Burt
