When performer John Michael lost two friends (who were also romantically involved with each other) over the past four years due to drug use, he originally told this publication that their cause of death was unknown for their obituaries. The stigma of drug use made it hard for Michael to talk or think about the reason for their deaths.
Now Michael is ready to tell the world the truth about their deaths, “to paint a wholistic portrait of these people who mattered to me and many in their community” in his new stage production, Spank Bank Time Machine at the Steppenwolf Theatre on the June 28-30 weekend. Michael calls this production Angels in America meets Snakes on a Plane, but with drugs.
“Both Angels in America and Spank Bank Time Machine are queer fantasias about the impact of epidemics on communities,” said Michael. “The issue with Angels as an inspiration tonally is that it’s too reverent and heavy to represent my silly friends lost to drugs. These friends were wild and the life of the party. I feel mixing in the B-movie outrageousness of Snakes on a Plane better reflects those I miss.”
Michael’s characters in this production are called Gay Evil Knievel and Fun Monster to capture the essence of those friends he lost. He initially wanted stage names to protect their identities but “over time, the nicknames became archetypes. I want audiences to think of their friends when they hear about mine. Every queer person has a Gay Evil Knievel or a Fun Monster in their friend group.”
Ahead of Spank Bank Time Machine’s Steppenwolf premiere, the production went on the road in 2023 at Fringe Festivals in Orlando, Cincinnati and Baltimore before premiering at the Neo-Futurists in Chicago. For that Neo-Futurist run, Michael partnered with Community Outreach Intervention Project to hand out free Narcan to audiences and now Neo-Futurist is a Narcan distribution site.
Narcan accessibility is important to Michael because of how his friends died. He said that Narcan “reminds me of science fiction, or the extra lives you get in a video game. Then I learned EMTs refer to Naloxone as the Lazarus Drug. As in the drug literally gives you the power of Jesus to bring people back from the dead. The theatricality of Narcan led me to thinking of it as time travel after an overdose. The title of the play makes you think there’s a time machine that operates on my past sexual exploits/spank bank, when the real time machine is Narcan.”
When Steppenwolf Theatre’s Lookout Producer Patrick Zakem saw Spank Bank Time Machine at the Neo-Futurist, he decided to bring it to Steppenwolf to cap off their Pride Month programming schedule.
“John Michael’s newest piece is a surreal mash up of in-your-face clowning, highbrow solo performance art and vital public health advocacy,” said Zakem. “Unabashedly queer and relentlessly funny, Spank Bank Time Machine keeps its audience on its toes as John Michael devilishly weaves a tale of personal loss, imagined futures and personal growth–all while wearing a leopard print mankini. …
I left the performance with a greater understanding of the personal effects of the opioid crisis and the potential for everyday citizens to save lives. I now never ride the CTA without Narcan in my bag and encourage my friends and family to do the same.”
This is not Michael’s first foray into stage production. He previously self-produced at Mary Archie Theatre, Mary’s Attic, The Den Theatre and in 2019, his cooking spectacle Meatball Séance presented by the Lookout Series at Steppenwolf Theatre. Meatball Séance also toured at the Edinburg Fringe Festival and in Bergen, Norway, Gothenburg, Sweden and in the Canadian cities of Edmonton, Winnipeg, Ottawa and Toronto.
Spank Bank Time Machine Director Elizabeth Lovelady said, “I’m thrilled to be a part of this production which is simultaneously a wild theatrical experience, moving story and compelling piece of activism.”
When asked what Michael hopes to do to break the stigma through this production, he said he wants “the audience to laugh at what haunted me and possibly them. In doing so we’ll gain agency over an epidemic that’s left us feeling powerless. A clown play about overdoses raises eyebrows. It’s designed to be outrageous because what’s happening is outrageous.”
Recently, Spank Bank Time Machine received a City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events Individual Artists Program Grant and a National Endowment for the Arts federally funded Illinois Arts Council grant. Michael told this publication that these monies has enabled him to expand the reach of his production beyond the Steppenwolf run.
Spank Bank Time Machine showtimes are June 28 and 29 at 8:00 p.m. and June 30 at 3:00 p.m. The June 30 show will also feature an ASL interpreter. All tickets are $25.