Last week, Oprah Winfrey featured AIDS, including Black men who have sex with other men, who typically identify as ‘straight,’ but often maintain sexual relationships with women, and describe themselves as being ‘on the down low’ (DL). This weekend, April 23-25, Northwestern University will also present a national premiere of a production, which engages this topic.
Over the past three years, numerous articles have circulated, attempting to ‘understand’ what is often labeled as a new sexual phenomenon. The ‘DL’ is a hot topic right now, crossing over into mainstream media and discussion because of its ‘sexy’ language, it’s re-mixing of the age-old closet, its health implications, and what it specifically says about the relationship between masculinity and sexuality. Jeffrey Quinn McCune, Jr., a PhD Student in Northwestern University’s Department of Performance Studies, has written and directed an original play, Dancin the Down Low, that is clearly in conversation with the media, the concerns and outcries of the larger Black community, health officials, and all those who are living life down low.
Dancin the Down Low is in the Wallis Theatre on Northwestern University’s Campus in the Theatre and Interpretation Center April 23-25: Friday at 8 p.m., Saturday at 2 and 8 p.m., and Sunday at 2 p.m,1949 Campus Drive, McCune, Jr.: (847) 491-3171.