Larry Powell’s The Gaze…No Homo

Actor and playwright Larry Powell (The Christians, The Legend of Georgia McBride) has adapted his Eugene O’Neill National Playwrights Conference finalist play The Gaze…(No Homo: Part One) into a twelve-episode series that began streaming this week.

Powell has created stories that examine the lives and stories of queer people of color within what are traditionally white spaces. In this particular story an ensemble of Black actors have come together for a play at The Evergreen Theatre Festival. The director is a white woman, Miranda Cryer (Sharon Lawrence). Will newcomer Jerome Price (Galen J. Williams) fit into a company where they have all acclimated to the way things work, or will he challenge the status quo?

Lawrence is best known for her role as Sylvia Costas on NYPD Blue. She also appeared as Margo on Shameless.

Williams appeared on Broadway in Motown: The Musical and also appeared on Pose.

The Gaze also stars Eugene Byrd (Star Wars, 8 Mile), TC Carson (God of War, Star Wars:The Clone Wars), Yvette Cason (Dreamgirls, A Wrinkle in Time), Jason Green (The Gay and Wondrous Life of Caleb Gallo) and Devere Rogers (Will & Grace, My Spy).

Each week three of the episodes will be released on the Fountain Theatre’s website.

Powell directed three of the episodes. The other directors of The Gaze…No Homo are Satya Bhabha, Reginald L. Douglas, Amber A. Harris, Bianca Laverne Jones, Zhailon Levingston, Jonathan McCrory, Joanna Strapp and Leland Durond Thompson.

I watched the first three episodes over the weekend and found them entertaining, thought-provoking and filled with terrific performances. But it all starts with Powell’s writing and this is top-notch material.

Once all episodes have been posted, they will remain available through the end of the year.

There’s no charge to watch The Gaze, but donations to the Fountain Theatre are encouraged.

Photo: Galen J. Williams in The Gaze (Photo courtesy Tell Me a Story Productions)