A Culture of Change

The cast of Buddies which opens August 4 at Celebration Theatre in Hollywood.

By Kai Bisby

Celebrated author Ethan Mordden's groundbreaking four novels (I've a Feeling We're Not in Kansas Anymore, Buddies, Everybody Loves You, and Some Men are Lookers) are known collectively as "the Buddies Cycle." With the fifth and final installment on its way, these books have been adapted to the stage in a new play called Buddies. The play will cover the lives of a small group of gay friends living in Manhattan from 1968 through the '90s, and will premiere Aug. 4 and run through Sept. 11 at the Celebration Theatre (7051B Santa Monica Blvd., Hollywood). Mordden, who has extracted real life people and experiences for his tomes, has seen the lisping queens of yesteryear turn into boys that don't know Audrey Hepburn from Katharine. "Certain things are not being replaced generationally, and the queen is one of them. So if it means we have to give up Auntie Mame and accept Kevin Costner, it's worth it," explains Mordden. This evolution is reflected in his books, demonstrating that gays march to the beat of their own individual drums. "It is not a monolithic movement. Each gay man or woman makes his or her own gay life. And that is what the stories are about." While Mordden has taken creative license with his characters and stories, with himself as the narrator, his books are based on real life people and mostly real experiences. "The major people are not inventions. It is a mixture of what happened and what is invented." It did not start out that way, however. "The first volume is inconsistent with the rest. I was changing characters that should not have been changed. For the second book, I switched gears and let the stories speak their truth." With expectations that Buddies will be the next Boys in the Band, Mordden explained that this adaptation, written and directed by Scott Edward Smith, will not end up as dated as Mart Crowley's iconic play. "We chose the stories that are not era specific. It does cover years, but a big deal is not made of it. So it does not feel dated." But he does keep in mind the younger gays who may not pay attention to their history. "There are a lot of allusions I make that younger people don't get, and I am not used to it. Young people don't seem to be curious about what happened before last Thursday." But then again, celebrating gays does not mean celebrating stereotypes either. "These are universal stories in the sense that they are not so much about how things have changed in gay life from before to now, although that is in there. They are really about the independence that gays create by coming out. They have totally independent lives. You don't have to know anything in advance to get the play." For tickets and information, call (323) 957-1884.