Oliver Mayer on his long-awaited sequel to his groundbreaking Play Blade to the Heat
LATC’s Artistic Director Jose Luis Valenzuela Directs
By Elia Esparza
Twenty plus years after Oliver Mayer’s award-winning theater production, Blade to the Heat, he’s penned the next installment Members Only, where the main characters’ lives are revisited. And Mayer once again pulls no punches.
The first play Blade to the Heat, set in the late 1950’s, introduced us to a young and naïve boxer Pedro Quinn [Ray Oriel reprises the role of Quinn in Members Only which he first played in the Center Theater Group’s 1996 production of Blade to The Heat], an introverted loner who wins a surprise split-decision against the reigning middleweight champion Mantequilla Decima, a Sugar Ray Robinson. Used to winning, Mantequilla grows embittered by the loss of his title and the unavoidable rematch turns deadly leaving Quinn riddled with guilt and torment of having killed Decima, a man he not only idolized but loved.
How has champion-boxer Pedro Quinn been able to live with his haunting guilt of having killed a man in the ring? How has he incorporated living “in the closet” in the 80’s and survived?
The 1980’s timeline of Members Only, witnesses a generation of young men bullied, humiliated, murdered and not just because of the hatred towards homosexuals, but also because of the deadly disease AIDS and the stigma of the HIV virus.
Members Only is once again set in the boxing world 20+ years in the 1980’s, but at the heart of the story is not just the guilt over having killed a man, but also about the damage of continuing to live with his lie—having never come out, even after 20 years.
We spoke with the adventurous and courageous Oliver Mayer about Members Only, tackling taboo topics, writing plays and here is what he had to say:
Director Jose Luis Valenzuela
Latin Heat: 20+ years later, why was it important to write the Blade to the Heat sequel?
Oliver Mayer: Well, I think that the times we’re in really affect the telling of this particular play—the importance and relevance of a story written in today’s socio-political landscape—the time was right for Members Only.
LH: I love how your plays thoroughly explore the souls of your characters in a way that makes it impossible not to get pulled in.
OM: We have so many feelings that we’re walking around with and we don’t know where to put them. I try to take those feelings and use them for something positive. Members Only follows characters from Blade, but we’re 22 years into their lives and also into my life. Where are the characters now? Where am I, the playwright, educator… as a man now?
Blade took place in the late 1950’s and early 60’s… that period of Brylcreem hair, white sports coats, pink carnations, Liberace was straight… all that crazy stuff in the 1950’s!
LH: The era of lies.
OM: Yes! But by 1982, the way I think about it is that there was a real moment of opportunity. I researched and tapped into my memories and discovered what a great decade for potential exploration of new identities. I loved it! It was really fun and exciting—the music, fashions, artistry, politics—but unfortunately the reality of AIDS in the 80’s put a dark shadow over a moment that could have been such a positive moment for people of color, gays—so it kind of looks like ours but was completely changed by the historical devastation of AIDS. I think we still have something to learn about that decade and also, I think people were really, really cruel about sexuality. And, the sad thing is that to this day, I know some people remain cruel and many still suffering, but we’re working on it… and it’s something we need to continue working on every day.
Members Only is about letting go and letting the light back in and getting rid of the shadows.”
LH: History tends to repeat itself.
OM: It’s probably worse for us because we feel that things should have gotten better by now. But for the young people today hopefully, it won’t be as hard for them as it was for those of us who lived during those tumultuous past decades.
Members Only table read. Photo by Giovanni Solis, LATC
LH: Tell us about Pedro Quinn, your tormented protagonist. He’s fighting a tougher battle outside of the ring, why was it important to tell it now?
OM: In the first play, Quinn doesn’t really know that he’s gay, he’s impressionable, he’s completely naïve. In Members Only, Quinn is now over 40 years old and he is still fighting – that’s a very old age in this sport. He’s a champion facing a physical decline. He is also a gay man who never really came out but most in his inner circle know it. He is a world champion that some can look up to, particularly younger people, so when he fights, it’s bigger than boxing, and when he wins, it really is significant for those who also identify as other.
For Quinn, his biggest problem is that in his youth, he killed a man. He had no choice, he had to go all the way because the rival was probably going to kill him. It was certain from the onset that one of them would not survive the fight.
Twenty years later, the guilt is worse than ever—shadows are obscuring his vision and dreams, and they are obstacles for him that have kept him closeted about his sexuality. Quinn has to go back into the championship ring one last time in an attempt to absolve himself and escape his shadows.
Quinn’s story is a kind of mirror for people who walk around in shadow, whether in the closet, or whatever they’re holding onto that affects their daily lives. Unless they face their fears or demons, it will keep them from ever loving others, fulfilling their desires, and living up to their full potential.
Members Only is where the real showdown takes place.”
LH: Quinn carries a lot of inner pain.
OM: Yes, and I’m noticing in rehearsals how lonely this lead character is. It makes him kind of mythic, the loneliest man in the world. And, it’s not just a question of his sexuality– I mean, he has never come out– but a lot of the men and women in boxing are maladjusted because they’re kind of suspended into a kind of permanent youth even as they grow older because they don’t get a chance to grow up. They often don’t have experiences of socializing, going to museums, movies, etc. They’re always training. It’s a really tough sport in this way so they live a sheltered life. Now, Quinn as he goes into this final fight, he’s really facing the first day of the rest of his life, a time to consider a second career, and what’s he going to do? One thing for sure, he does not want to continue living in the shadows.
LH: Tell us about the young female boxer and the actress who portrays her.
OM: She’s so great! The actress is Gabriela Ortega, she’s originally from the Dominican Republic, a graduate of USC School of Dramatic Arts, who also just happened to be one of my students. She’s so good in this part and opposite of those really fantastic, major TV star actors, and one with a major theater presence. Gabriela plays a boxer named Lone who is facing all types of challenges as she struggles with the sexism and misogyny of a male gym culture not thrilled to have her around. She reminds Quinn of himself as a young boxer in the first play. Now, he’s determined to protect her and teach her how to stand her ground and avoid the same pitfalls and tragedy he experienced.
Members Only Cast — Photo by Giovanni Solis, LATC
LH: Your cast is amazing! Was Jon Huertas always on your mind as the villainous Vinal?
OM: I told the story to Jon about three years ago because Marlene [Marlene Forte, Mayer’s wife and also one of the cast members] was working on ABC’s series Castle and that’s how we met. Jon is a prince—a real actor—and at the time I saw him as Quinn or Vinal, the Nuyorican bad boy in the play. But because Jon is a New Yorker, I thought he’d be great as Vinal, and he is! For over a year, he’s been preparing for this part. Also, the timing worked in our favor because even though he’s working on NBC’s This is Us, he has worked out his schedule. So it was a perfect opportunity —the magic of timing.
LH: Tell us about Vinal. QM: Vinal is what you consider the antagonist, the bad guy boxer and is the first one who picked up that Quinn was gay and exploited it because that’s what fighters do, they exploit their opponents weaknesses. Vinal is the one who ignited the flames that set the deadly rematch between Quinn and Mantiquea in motion.
In the 20+ years that have past, Vinal has had a really hard time, but he survived and now he’s successful and has a lot of money and has a dream to make a movie that tells their story.
Front L-R: Geoffrey Rivas, Gabriela Ortega, Ronnie Alvarez and Marlene Forte at rehearsal. Photo by Giovanni Solis, LATC
LH: With the current political climate being so contentious, why do you think Members Only will leave audiences filled with hope? OM: This play is not a downer even though real serious things happen from start to the very last moment. In one of the first lines of the play, one of his trainers says that Quinn has too much heart.
The truth is all the characters in the play have too much heart and it gets them into trouble. But it’s also their saving grace to fulfill their urges to connect to their ability to still love even after they’ve been hurt. It also empowers them to exercise their ability to reach out to each other even after all the history that they’ve been through.
It is hard to forgive and find redemption but the spirit of Members Only comes out in the music and sexuality, in fights that are regulated—a poetic form of violence. I think of sexy and fun. The story takes place at a historical moment that is kind of cool, whether you’re talking about Pat Benatar’s fabulous sound, Willie Colon, or whether we’re talking about the unisex fashions—all given birth during the 80’s when boys and girls kind of looked the same or trying to. We lived through some crazy things in the 80’s. We made a lot of mistakes but we also got through it.
Center Oliver Mayer, Jose Luis Valenzuela. Photo by Giovanni Solis, LATC
LH: Was it harder to write Members Only than Blade to the Heat?
OM: You know it was harder to write this play because it’s more complicated. Oddly, the first play [Blade] just kind of fell into my glove like a Willie Mays catch. I wrote Blade quickly, the time was perfect, the sky’s parted, George Wolf decided to do it at the Public Theater, and I had about three or four years of successful runs around the country and abroad. Blade opened so many doors for me. I was young and didn’t know very much, but in another way, this play was like a can opener for my life and career. Blade was a lucky break.
LH: Sounds like Members Only came out of this good luck, and will there be more plays on Quinn’s life?
OM: Members Only is not about luck. I’m 30 years into a career. I’m aware of my time on this planet, and I’m trying to make the most of it as a playwright and as an educator. I think about how August Wilson wrote ten plays about Afro Americans in Pittsburg, I don’t need to do that. I am thinking of how the Greeks would tell the story of a hero over three plays.
That’s what I’m thinking for Pedro Quinn, a trilogy. The Greek plays saw the life of a heroic character in three sections. You would see their glory and wisdom, their mistakes and tragedies, but also their letting go of all that stress in life by the end—giving one’s self up to the furies or death, or whatever it might be.
Oliver Mayer and pal Don Aldo
LH: So there will be a third play – the Blade Trilogy?
OM: I love this play’s journey. Members Only is the real crucible… this is the big one of what will be a trilogy… this one has the most life and death to it, the most at stake. In Blade, the characters were young and innocent, and now we’re experienced. So are we as an audience. Yeah, we’re still innocent about a bunch of things but we’re experienced about how sexual disease can destroy a generation of people, about how ignorance and how cultural kind of limitation can break up families, and how we can just be unnecessarily cruel to each other and it’s still happening. And, if we don’t stop it, and if we don’t think about it—it will keep the next generation of children in a place where they’re not as happy as they ought to be, and not as functioning, and not as loving as they could be.
LH: Has Quinn and Sarita’s friendship changed in Members Only?
OM: In Blade, Sarita was engaged to the Cuban champion Mantiquia, the fighter that Quinn kills in the ring. It is now 20 years later and we’re exploring her feelings for Quinn. She used to know him personally in their youth. She even kissed him once. But he’s the one who killed her man. Her hatred is real. She knows it’s really not Quinn’s fault but she still blames him.
Marlene Forte (Sarita) Photo by Giovanni Solis, LATC
LH: What about Sarita and Vinal in Members Only?
OM: At the moment the relationship is between Sarita and Vinal and it’s very tricky because Vinal is the one who instigated the deadly fight that killed her beloved Mantiquia. They’re kind of frenemies with benefits.
LH: Is Blade and Members Only based on a true story? OM: There is a similar real story that happened in the 60’s, but both my plays are a fictionalized.
LH: Anything you want to say to young playwrights who struggle with writing about controversial topics? OM: My advice is to go for it. The most important thing about the stage is to deal with what is really going on, what is really happening underneath in our lives, and think about the stage as a sacred place where we come together in the dark and deal with whatever we are really feeling.
Movies are king. Songs are great. But the stage is a place we come together with real issues and emotions. And, if the play is any good, it allows us to come to our own conclusions. So, I repeat myself, go for it!
Plays succeed when issues are put at the heart of every person sitting in the audience and they leave harnessed with huge doses of hope, faith, redemption and self-empowerment. Members Only, like its predecessor, I am sure will not disappoint.
Members Only revisits the lives of champion boxer Pedro Quinn (Ray Oriel), Wilfred Vinal (Jon Huertas), Sarita (Marlene Forte), Darrin Henson (Dr. Cox), Ron Alvarez (Kid), Hansford Prince (Jack), Geoffrey Rivas (Alacran) and Members Only introduces up and coming female boxer Lone, portrayed by Gabriela Ortega.
Members Only Directed by Jose Luis Valenzuela October 25thto Nov. 15 LATC, Theatre 3 513 Spring Street Los Angeles, CA 90013
Tickets, CLICK HERE
Schedule Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays at 8PM Sundays at 3PM Monday Nov 5 at 7:30PM
About Oliver Mayer Oliver Mayer is the author of over 30 plays, including his newest Members Only— the sequel to his groundbreaking Blade to the Heat, opening Fall 2018 at LATC, directed by Jose Luis Valenzuela. Other plays include Yermain the Desert andBlood Match (both inspired by the plays by Federico Garcia Lorca), The Sinner of Toledo (adapted from a short story by Chekhov), Fortune is a Woman, The Wallowa Project, Dias y Flores, Dark Matters, Conjunto, Young Valiant, Joy of the Desolate, Laws of Sympathyand Ragged Time. He has also written the libretto for the opera America Tropical with composer David Conte, as well as the words for several sung pieces with orchestra with composer Jenni Brandon, plus a new musical entitled Three Paderewskis (winner of the Adam Mickiewicz Paderewski Project). Mayer is an Associate Professor with tenure and Associate Dean of both Faculty and of Strategic Initiatives at the USC School of Dramatic Arts, and has won several awards including the USC Associates Award for Excellence in Teaching and a Mellon Mentoring Award.
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