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KEY WORDS

American Theatre; Pre-Stonewall; Homosexuality; Queer; M art Crowley

PALABRAS CLAVE

Teatro norteamericano; Pre-Stonewall; Homosexualidad; Queer; Mart Crowley .

ABSTRACT

M art Crowley's The Boys in the Band presents openly in 1968 a portrait of male homosexu al life. For the first time, mainstream audiences see gay men talk exp licitly about their sexual p references, dan ce, kiss, and retire for sex. Ch aract ers reco gniz e a common gay culture by p ay ing homage to actresses (Barbara Stanwy ck, Bette Davis), films (Sunset Boulevard, The Wizard of Oz ), songs immortalized by Judy Garland, and theatre (Tennessee Williams, Edward Albee, William In ge), which are app rop riated in the construction of gay identities that react against a heteronormative structure which overwhelms homoerotic d esire in 1960s America. Desp ite a stereotyp ical rep resentation of its gay characters, which ar e p osited as isolated and unhap py gay men, and consequently attracted widesp read crit icism in academia (Clu m, 1992), through a queer readin g of the p lay and its historical, political and social context, I argue in this p aper that The Boys was at the time of its first p roduction, and still is, an emp owering text in the rep resentation of gay male identities and in the construction of queer masculinities. Through my critical analy sis of the p lay , I argue that the use of stereotyp es and the rep resentation of a group of gay men suffering from self-deprecation becomes in The Boys a skilfu l way of strengthening gay identities.

RESUMEN

Los chicos de la banda, de M art Crowley, presenta abiertamente en 1968 un retrato de la vid a homosexu al masculina. Por p rimera vez, las audien cias conven cionales ven a hombres gais hablar exp lícitament e sobre sus p referencias sexuales, bailar, besarse, y ap artarse p ara tener sexo. Los p ersonajes reconocen una cultura gay común haciendo ho menaje a actrices (Barbara Stanwy ck, Bette Davis), p elículas (Sunset Boulevard, El mago de Oz), can ciones inmortalizadas p or Judy Garland, y teatro (Tennessee Williams, Edward Albee, William In ge), que son adoptados en la construcción de identidades gais que reaccionan...

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