Call it a case of art imitating life—sort of.
Longtime Chicago comedy fans who catch a new Wilmette production of The Prom this August by Highland Park Players might find a very funny parallel with the show’s casting. That’s because gay actor Robin Trevino, a former longtime member of the Chicago LGBTQ+ sketch comedy troupe GayCo, is starring in The Prom as the flamboyant New York actor Barry Glickman.
The Prom is a 2018 Broadway musical comedy where Barry is part of a cadre of “Broadway celebrities” who invade a small Indiana town to “help” a high school lesbian named Emma. She is bullied and discriminated against after announcing plans to take her girlfriend to the prom. So, then the Broadway stars arrive (unasked, of course) to show support for Emma while also raising publicity for themselves.
But Back in 2015, Trevino pulled a real-life prank that generated some publicity of his own. That’s when the owners of the now-closed Memories Pizza in Walkerton, Indiana, went viral when they voiced support of then-governor Mike Pence’s successful push to pass a statewide “Religious Freedom Restoration Act.” The pizza place owners gladly welcomed the legislation because they thought it would give them legal protection to refuse to cater same-sex weddings.
At the time, Trevino was starring in GayCo’s revue 50 States of Gay, which celebrated the recent nationwide legalization of gay marriage. Trevino came up with the idea to cross state lines in order to surreptitiously force Memories Pizza to cater a re-commitment ceremony to his husband, Jason Delgatto.
Trevino and Delgatto previously invited family members to their 2008 commitment ceremony, even though it wasn’t officially recognized in Illinois. Then in 2009, they obtained an official marriage certificate in Iowa when gay marriage was in the midst of a piecemeal state-by-state legalization process.
When GayCo posted a video capturing Trevino and Delgatto’s post-show re-commitment celebration (complete with $27 worth of Memories Pizza), plenty of headlines in local and national publications followed.
“What got them so much press and attention was saying how much they didn’t want to serve the gay community,” said Trevino about Memories Pizza. “They didn’t want the gay community’s money, and so I forced it upon them—just as a joke.”
Though Trevino is known for this GayCo pizza stunt, it ultimately didn’t play a factor in his casting with Highland Park Players. Trevino had to self-tape an audition video and upload it online like everyone else.
“Robin came to us through the open auditions and he’s brilliant,” said The Prom director Lauren Katz, who is also the Education + Engagement Producer for Steppenwolf Theatre Company.
“It was really cool to see the community of folks who came to audition for Highland Park Players,” Katz said. “We had a lot of talent to choose from.”
Highland Park Players has been known in recent years for producing more contemporary musicals with queer-friendly content like Kinky Boots and Billy Elliot. Some might consider that daring for a community theater group.
And often when a juicy role comes up—even in community theater—some performers and crew who have more semi-professional credits will put themselves up for consideration.
Previously Trevino had made a pact to avoid auditioning for musicals after he left GayCo in early 2020. That’s because he wanted to focus more on non-Equity storefront theaters around Chicago. For example, Trevino proudly noted that he was cast as an understudy playing George in Invictus Theatre Company’s Jeff Award-winning 2022 production of Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
But Trevino made a special exception for The Prom after falling madly in love with the musical via its 2020 Netflix adaptation. That streaming film famously featured such stars as Meryl Streep, Nicole Kidman, James Corden, Ariana DeBose and Andrew Rannells.
“I remember the first time seeing it and just laughing and crying, and feeling a wide array of emotions,” Trevino said. “It’s become my favorite musical of all time.”
Trevino also caught the non-Equity national tour of The Prom during its April 2022 run at Chicago’s Cadillac Palace Theatre. Trevino was pleased to see that the original stage vocal range written for gay Broadway actor Brooks Ashmanskas as Barry was closer to his own bass-baritone range. That made the role of Barry more of an attainable goal.
“I remember walking out of the theater and saying to my husband, ‘I’m going to play Barry someday,’” Trevino said. “One day it will happen and I’m going to keep on auditioning for it until somebody casts me.”
As director, Katz is encouraging her cast for The Prom to avoid watching the film adaptation or listening to the Broadway cast album so that they can build the characters more from themselves.
“We have some cast members actually who are from Indiana where the story takes place,” Katz said. “And they’ve said, ‘Yeah, honestly growing up there it was very much like this.’”
The Highland Park Players cast and crew of The Prom are also very aware of how the musical uncomfortably sits now in context with more virulent right-wing attacks on the LGBTQ+ community.
“Conservatives have mobilized their base against us. You know, ‘groomer’ is the new ‘F-word,’” Trevino said. “I feel like (The Prom) is going to be relevant for a while.”
Highland Park Players isn’t alone in producing The Prom. Recent local productions include a run last year at Northwestern University in Evanston and with Elgin Summer Theatre at the Hemmens Cultural Center this past July. But the Highland Park Players cast and crew of The Prom are heartened at how this contemporary musical can provide such heartfelt commentary on the times.
“We’re seeing a lot of hate with the current political landscape we’re in,” Katz said. “It’s important sometimes to have a show which is so much about love and being who you are and celebrating that. And that is what The Prom is all about.”
Highland Park Players presents The Prom from Aug. 16 to 25, with a 7:30 p.m. preview on Thursday, Aug. 15. Performances are at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, with 2 p.m. matinees on Aug. 24 and 25, at the McGrath Family Performing Arts Center, 3424 Illinois Road, Wilmette. Tickets are $30 to $45, with discounts available for the Aug. 15 preview performance. Visit highlandparkplayers.org. For more information on future area community and college productions of The Prom, visit theatricalrights.com.