Theatre Baton Rouge presents: The Boys In The Band

Jan 3

Written by Mart Crowley

Directed by Brandon Guillory

Stage Managed by Emery Lancaster

Photography by Charles Champagne

“The Boys in the Band premiered Off-Broadway in 1968 and was revived on Broadaway for its 50th anniversary in 2018. At the time, it was an unprecedented play featuring an entirely out-and-proud group of gay actors. It has also been lauded as one of the first plays to honestly deal with the gay lifestyle and to have a realistic portrayal of gay characters.

Cast:
Michael - Clay Donaldson (top right)
Harold - Bradley Sanchez (middle left)
Alan- Stephen Atkins (bottom right)
Donald - Josh Allred (center)
Bernard- Lance Wise (bottom left)
Emory - Jonathan Thomas (bottom middle)
Larry- Barry Acosta (top middle)
Hank - Brady Lewis (top right)
Cowboy- Don Fields (middle right)

PURCHASE TICKETS HERE

I’m not going to lie, when Brandon contacted me to help him with Theatre Baton Rouge’s upcoming production of Boys In The Band, I was unsure of what exactly he had in mind. When he told me he wanted to replicate the infamous black turtleneck portrait, I was low-key nervous.

“Do I have the right lights?! Will we have enough space?! Was it just a well-lit group photo, or was it a digital composite?! I’m SO not a studio photographer…. “

Safe to say, imposter syndrome was taking FULL affect … BUT

I knew I was up for the challenge and I really wanted to get out of my comfort zone on this one.

I had faith it would all work out in the end. So, on Wednesday December 28th, 2022 I showed up two hours early to Theatre Baton Rouge with borrowed lights, a white queen-sized sheet from Walmart (wrinkle resistant), way too many lightbulbs, and two 10ft extension chords that most definitely weren’t long enough. After about an hour and-a-half of set-up, it was all starting to come together. As the boys started trickling in, I knew it was showtime!

I decided to shoot everyone individually, since I knew that I didn’t have the full knowledge to confidently shoot a group portrait. I would do my best to light each actor as close to their reference character as possible and then digitally compose them all together for one final image.

One after the other, I met the group of local actors and made sure they were comfortable, and most importantly, having fun —of course trying to have fun myself. We put on music to help set the mood, and my favorite moment was definitely when the boys began practicing their group dance number behind me as they were waiting for their turn to take portraits.

All-in-all it was such a warm and fun environment collaborating in a space with other queer artists, focusing on queer storytelling.