Poor Super Man: A Play With Captions (Prairie Play Series, No. 14)

Rating:
Summary: A Play for All People
Review: I had the privilege of playing David in the San Francisco production of this play. While it is, indeed, a play, and definitely makes its greatest impact in production, I can still recall the visceral thrill I got the first time I read it. Here's a play as messy as the lives most of us lead, full of characters who do wonderful things, who do hateful things, who do absolutely unforgivable things. Fraser has an uncanny ability to pack an astonishing density of information into short, punchy, razor-sharp scenes -- to limn entire emotional histories into exchanges that last just a couple of lines. I couldn't wait to get out onstage each night and get to "be" this character, and I know my fellow cast members shared the feeling. If you're weary of gay-themed material that either preaches to the converted or is so "politically correct" as to have no relation at all to life as it is lived, this script will send both a shock of recognition and a thrill right through you. Believe it!

Rating:
Summary: A great, messy wonderful play
Review: I had the privilege of playing David in the San Francisco production of this play. While it is, indeed, a play, and definitely makes its greatest impact in production, I can still recall the visceral thrill I got the first time I read it. Here's a play as messy as the lives most of us lead, full of characters who do wonderful things, who do hateful things, who do absolutely unforgivable things. Fraser has an uncanny ability to pack an astonishing density of information into short, punchy, razor-sharp scenes -- to limn entire emotional histories into exchanges that last just a couple of lines. I couldn't wait to get out onstage each night and get to "be" this character, and I know my fellow cast members shared the feeling. If you're weary of gay-themed material that either preaches to the converted or is so "politically correct" as to have no relation at all to life as it is lived, this script will send both a shock of recognition and a thrill right through you. Believe it!

Rating:
Summary: A Play for All People
Review: I was one of the fortunate ones who saw Poor Superman in its premiere production in Cincinnati, OH in 1994. The play caused such an uproar in conservative Cincinnati that it almost closed before it opened! I was lucky enough to see the play four times during its initial run, and have since seen another production at the Phoenix Theatre in Indianapolis, IN. This is a work which challenges the reader/audience member to look beyond him/herself into the lives of five rich, complex characters dealing with very real emotions and the realities of life, death, love and loathing. Brad Fraser's play is raw and visceral. The love scenes between the two male protagonists are explicit and incredibly erotic. The printed version of the play is quite beautifully laid out and includes photos from several productions (including the original Ensemble Theatre of Cincinnati production). The front cover has a wonderfully campy cartoon drawn by Fraser himself. I highly recommend this play for reading and for performing. Buy it! read it! Perform it! You will fall in love!