After helming a successful children’s production for the inventive Ghostlight Ensemble in 2019, hardworking director-performer Jack Bowes recently accepted an offer to lead a show for them that paints a very different color, Topher Payne’s comically politicized Angry Fags. Originally produced in 2015 in Chicago, this production, involving two angry queer men that begin a campaign of violence after a friend is gay-bashed, promises to be eye-opening for viewers. Recently, over a cup of coffee at First Sip Cafe in Uptown, Bowes also promised Windy City Times that it will be a lot of fun to watch unfold, as well.
Windy City Times: So, Jack, I understand this is quite a different show from the last one you directed at Ghostlight, correct?
Jack Bowes: Yes. (laughing) But getting into things that challenge people, that is where the gold is! So much of our media is spoon fed to us by our likes and dislikes. I hope people still want to be challenged and experience new things.
WCT: With all the politicized violence of late, this piece also seems so prescient.
JB: We were in rehearsal when Charlie Kirk got murdered. This is so topical.Ten years ago, Topher had some fucked-up insight to where we were going. Now, it’s literally what is happening.
WCT: Has the play changed much since that incarnation?
JB: It’s a totally different script. I think our newscaster was a cop in the original. Payne has also brilliantly addressed the element of how race and positionality function. We have a Black female Republican running against a white man now. …Of course, in reality, it is not left-wing gays committing murder. It’s the right wing! But, I wanted to cast people who could play radicalized white men. I believe it is a white man’s delusion that they are not going to be caught. There is a hubris there. Everyone else has been policed. So, I cast a white performer and one who is white-presenting in the roles.
WCT: Are you worried about people being turned off by the title? Personally, I really believe there is almost a punk rock power to the word fag when it is used as a rallying descriptor by members of the community.
JB: I think we’re all on the same tribe or team. To be angry is to be in opposition to all that surrounds you. To be a fag is to be in opposition to a system that has decided you are other. We are facing a frightening moment in societal collapse. Everyone should be able to identify with this because we are all being kicked down. We are all angry fags. So, I think the title is less of a barrier than might be supposed.
WCT: I love the thought that a word so often used in the derogatory can be used to reclaim power. How can that be wrong?
JB: It is in social media, of course. …The internet overlords have decided it is hate speech. It gets shadow banned and taken down. But I think people will come because they are curious. It’s a complicated, morally ambiguous play. It’s more than just this person is bad and needs to go away. Humans are really messy and fuck up all the time.
WCT: Do you think, as iconic comedienne Margaret Cho recently suggested, that the left does need to get a bit dirtier in their approach?
JB: I think what we need to do is decidedly unsexy. It’s really boring. It is really based on relationship-building. It’s about getting to know your neighbors. It’s about making sure people are eating, that they feel safe.
WCT: That’s beautiful. You’ve been doing a deep dive into this piece for months. What is one special thing about it that you think will convince people to come see it?
JB: It is so funny. It’s hilarious with a specifically queer sense of humor. I inject humor into all my shows. I can’t do something unless it is funny—making a joke at the moment it is most inappropriate! It’s a steam release. People are going to relate to these characters—and they are going to laugh.
(Note: This interview was edited for clarity and length.)
Angry Fags runs from Nov. 7–23 at Lifeline Theatre, 6912 N. Glenwood Ave., in Chicago. More information is available at www.ghostlightensemble.com.