At a meeting of the American Psychiatric Association in 1972, a psychiatrist donned a mask and with the help of something to disguise his voice, revealed himself to be homosexual. It was the first and most important step in leading the organization to remove homosexuality from its list of mental disorders (which took place just one year later). That psychiatrist was John E. Fryer. Writer/director Ain Gordon, an Obie Award winner, used the materials he found in Fryer’s archives to create 217 Boxes of Dr. Henry Anonymous. That play will be performed this Friday and Saturday at the Freud Playhouse at UCLA.
It was while going through the archives at the Pennsylvania Historical Society that Gordon realized there was good material for a play. The way he has structured 217 Boxes of Dr. Henry Anonymous is with three different monologues performed by Laura Esterman, Derek Lucci and Ken Marks – none of whom takes on the role of Fryer himself.
CAP UCLA booked this into their season as a way of commemorating the 50th Anniversary of the Stonewall Riots. They likely did not foresee that these performances would happen in the same week in which the Supreme Court took up the issues as to whether or not employees can be fired simply for being gay. This makes the timing of this show that much more relevant. Of course, we won’t know until next year whether or not being gay is legal grounds for firing an employee. All of which makes what John Fryer did in 1972 that much braver and sadly, still topical.
There is one performance on Friday night and two performances on Saturday.
Come back for our interview with Ain Gordon about 217 Boxes of Dr. Henry Anonymous.
For tickets go here.
Photo of Derek Lucci in 217 Boxes of Dr. Henry Anonymous by Paula Court/Courtesy of CAP UCLA