Del Shores, known for his work as a playwright and screenwriter who uses comedy to explore LGBT issues, will be in town on February 10 to perform his new one-man show, Six Characters in Search of a Play, at the Public Theater of San Antonio.
Shores has written, directed and produced for film, television and theater. His movie, Sordid Lives, described as a “black comedy about white trash,” was so popular it was spun off as a series on Logo TV and a sequel which premiered last year.
Bonnie Bedelia, Leslie Jordan, Dale Dickey and Ann Walker in “A Very Sordid Wedding.” (Photo: Steven K. Johnson)
The movie adaptation of Shores’ award-winning play, Southern Baptist Sissies, won fifteen film festival awards. His film, Blues For Willadean, starred Beth Grant, Dale Dickey and Academy Award-winner Octavia Spencer. Shores was also a writer for the Showtime hit, Queer as Folk. Last April, his film, A Very Sordid Wedding, made its Texas premiere in San Antonio.
Six Characters in Search of a Play, Shores latest opus, is inspired by Luigi Pirandello’s Six Characters in Search of an Author which was written in 1921. The characters in Shores’ play are based on real-life people he’s met but who have never made it into any of his productions.
“I had these real-life characters that I’ve known in my life who were just waiting in the wings to make it into one of my scripts,” Shores told the Dallas Voice in an interview. “Originally I was going to [write a play telling] how I met them and then do monologues. But as a writer, I go a little nuts; they just took over from me.”
As described in a press release, the major characters in Shores’ new play include:
Yvonne, the vegetarian-hating Texas waitress; Sarah, an elderly actress who is determined to drink and smoke herself to death if Trump is elected; Jimmy Ray, the evolving Georgia redneck; Loraine, the once brilliant drama teacher who has lost her damn mind and is now obsessed with porn; Aunt Bobbie Sue, the loud-mouth racist Republican with a heart of gold; and Marsha, the monkey-hating lesbian with COPD.
Six Characters premiered last fall in Palm Springs and is currently making its way through Texas, Oklahoma and California, entertaining audiences along the way.
“Whether you have seen one of Del’s Sordid Lives films (or the TV series) or his films like Daddy’s Dyin’ Who’s Got the Will?, you will find his ability to enthrall a crowd very entertaining,” Dallas theater critic John Strange wrote in Selig Film News. “I had a great time experiencing the mind of Del Shores.”
Del Shores in “Six Characters in Search of a Play,” directed by Emerson Collins. Saturday, February 10 at 2 p.m. at The Public Theater of San Antonio, 800 W. Ashby Place. Tickets $20 and $25 available at this link. 210-733-7258. theplayhousesa.org.
