Garry Breul has a message to share, and the platform on which he shares it each year is getting bigger and louder.
Suncoast AIDS Theater Project returns for the 11th year June 17 and 24 with a lampoon of Gone With the Wind, appropriately-or inappropriately-titled Blown by the Wind. The comedy is a follow up to last year’s wildly popular A Wizard of Oz, which featured local actor Matthew McGee as The Wicked Witch. This year, McGee returns once again to take on the role of Scarlett O’Hara.
“Lampooning classics is difficult,” Breul explains. “It’s like making a huge book into a movie script. So I get Matt on board and then I go from there.”
As with the script for last year’s Oz, Blown by the Wind is the work of T. Scott Wooten, production coordinator for American Stage in St. Petersburg.
While this is only the second year that SATP is lampooning a classic, it’s the 11th year the annual fundraising benefit will help local HIV/AIDS organizations.
“Besides Garry being my friend, what we’re raising money for is very important,” says McGee. “And we’ve become so big now that we have to get funnier, louder and add more music. Now it’s an extravaganza.”
Money raised from the two Prelude to Pride performances go directly to HIV/AIDS organizations to cover costs that most grants don’t cover. Funds could be to help pay the vet bills of a client who would have to choose between paying for HIV medication or for care for a pet, or for bus tickets for clients who otherwise would not have a way to make it to a doctor’s appointment or a counseling session.
“It fills a void,” Breul explains. “I always ask where the money will go. I don’t want it to go for rent or for salaries. I want it to go directly to the client.”
In 2012, SATP raised more than $8,000 and helped two local charities. Following up with another outrageous comedy in 2013 will hopefully raise just as much money, if not more.
“People love to laugh,” Breul says. “And they fill that donation jar more when they leave the theater in a good mood.”
Besides the good cause behind the SATP productions, McGee says that his involvement has helped him increase his circle of contacts and actually helped his professional career. More people will come and see him in other productions thanks to the exposure offered by Breul and the SATP shows.
“This is an excellent cause and it’s never a question that I’m going to get all dolled up every year and do this,” McGee laughs. “It’s a long process to get into drag. I’m a 6’1″ 200-pound man. That’s a lot of work, but I don’t mind it for a second. it’s opened a lot of doors for me as far as cultivating audiences who want to see me in other shows. I’ve been able to raise money for charity, become friends with Garry and establish myself as a performer in the area.”
But things weren’t always so comical for SATP’s Prelude to Pride productions. According to Breul, who started the group, the concept originally focused on PWAs (People with AIDS) reading excerpts from serious HIV/AIDS-related plays. That helped put a strong focus on the fundraising need of local charities, but was taxing on the original members.
“This started as the Sarasota AIDS Theater Project with 11 people who weren’t actors,” Breul recalls. “We’d read these plays at the Bethesda House, which was the home of the AIDS Quilt at the time. We would do this every Monday when one of the guys suggested we should put these plays on.”
Breul wasn’t convinced that his group had the acting chops to put on the plays, so he invited local actors to participate. The original PWAs would participate in skits and in behind-the-scenes rolls. Eventually, that became too much.
“They were very courageous for doing it for as long as they did,” Breul says. “But they felt like the walking dead. One told me that he felt like a poster child for AIDS and he just didn’t want to do it anymore. These guys were living and dealing with the disease every day, and then putting it out there on a stage. It was too much.”
Breul finally admitted that he couldn’t ask the original group to put themselves out there so much, and that’s when the focus truly shifted to professional actors tackling well known scripts with a comical twist. The first time McGee got involved with SATP was with Tales of the City.
“I played the Olympia Dukakis role, since she’s a handsome woman,” McGee laughs.
From there, SATP produced Charles Busch plays, with McGee in the leading, female role.
“When I first started acting in St. Pete I didn’t plan to do drag so much,” McGee laughs. “When I did The Big Bang, I played Cher and Queen Nefertiti. I have tons of drag queen friends and they’re a scream. I knew what they did was artistry and I met a lot who could act, sing and are funny. I was drawn to the ones that didn’t always look great or real. But they were a hoot-Lady Bunny, Hedda Lettuce.”
Now it’s almost a given that McGee will appear in drag throughout the year-especially for Prelude to Pride. The productions always feel like a dress rehearsal at The Carol Burnett Show and with McGee’s skills at improv, the audience, and the other cast members, never know what they’re going to get.
“I’ll tell you this,” Breul starts. “Every time Scarlett talks about Terra, which she does a lot, we’re going to start the shot fan and blow wind through the theater and let Matt deal with that.”
And McGee is ready.
“I’ll truly be Blown by the Wind, and I can’t wait,” he says.
