Launching a new theater company was never on Paul Conroy’s must-do list. Neither was Atlanta.
Seven years ago, the Boston-area native and lifelong theater devotee found himself a victim of an unforgiving economy, like many others in the arts. Newly unemployed, he planned to head to theater mecca New York City for work. After all, he had honed his craft at the state’s Southampton College (then part of Long Island University), from which he graduated in 2001.
But like a plot twist in a play, a close friend suggested a life-changing detour, encouraging Conroy to decompress by hitting the road to visit new places and reconnect with old friends. So, in June 2009, he ended up in Atlanta for the very first time to visit an old friend. Based on that one visit, he decided, “I’m going to try this instead.”
Fast-forward to now, the first full dress rehearsal of “Priscilla, Queen of the Desert: The Musical,” which began as an impactful 1994 indie film from Australia about two drag queens and a transgender performer. The story found new life a few years back as a musical, peppered with such massive pop hits as Donna Summer’s “Hot Stuff,” Gloria Gaynor’s “I Will Survive,” and Earth, Wind & Fire’s “Boogie Wonderland,” that made it to Broadway. Throw in that the three leads — novices Justin Thompson and Jason-Jamal Ligon and the more seasoned Robert Ray — have never performed in drag before.
Yet, two days later, Oct. 20, "Priscilla" launched the inaugural season of Out Front Theatre, Atlanta's first dedicated LGBTQIA theater company.
“And that’s what kind of blows my mind,” Conroy marveled. “When I think back to seven years ago knowing three people in the city and now I’ve started a theater company.”
It is no secret that Atlanta has one of the largest LGBTQ communities in the Southeast, but Conroy wanted to go a step further. “Intergender,” the I in LGBTQIA, he explained, “is gender fluid (because) some people don’t identify as one gender or another and (the A for) Allied (is because) there are a lot of straight people who are supportive of us.”
During his seven years in Atlanta, Conroy made his mark through directing and choreographing many shows, old and new, serving as the Newnan Theatre Company’s artistic director and general manager of Serenbe Playhouse. Throughout his journey here, he has worked with theater veterans as well as novices, and that has come back to aid him now.
“I didn’t know a single person that’s involved here, and now they’re all using all of their gifts for something I was like ‘Hey, I think this would be a fun idea, why don’t we try it?’” he said with a touch of awe. “It’s really amazing!”
The idea for Out Front started percolating for the boyishly bubbly Conroy two years ago as he was immersed in a graduate theater program at Roosevelt University in Chicago he attended during summers. “There were other cities that have companies with missions similar to ours: Chicago, Boston, London, even Omaha, Neb., and San Francisco and San Diego and all these great cities,” he explained.
So he reasoned, “I know that this theater model works in other cities and I know that there is a market in Atlanta of people who want stories consistently that speak to them so why don’t we just do that. And that’s literally what it was: I saw that there was a need and a desire for it and there was a void.”
Encouraged by the success of such local companies as Kenny Leon's True Colors, which is dedicated to African-American stories, and Synchronicity, which concentrates on giving voice to women and girls, Conroy felt that an LGBTQIA theater company would also be welcomed.
Even before the first curtain went up, Out Front had already snagged its 501(c)(3) nonprofit status on the first try, raised its estimated $100,000 three-production first season budget, tripled its projected first fiscal year donations and secured the theater space formerly occupied by Fabrefaction Theatre Conservatory at 999 Brady Ave., right next to the Optimist, for its first production. Its premiere show was nearly full and the Oct. 22 show sold out the 153-seat theater, requiring an additional 27 seats to max out at 180 seats.
Financial success means more than numbers to Conroy. Out Front is a vehicle for him to do his part in especially helping the many young people he has encountered accept and love themselves as well as enlighten those around them who may not comprehend their struggle.
“This musical happens to be about two drag queens and a transgender performer and they’re in a big pink bus (Priscilla) and they sing disco hits and it’s very not-in-your-face,” Conroy said, “but, hopefully, it can start a conversation with people going home saying I identified with those characters even though I’m not transgender, even though I’m not a drag queen.”
THEATER PREVIEW
“Priscilla, Queen of the Desert: The Musical”
Through Nov. 6. 8 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays; 3 p.m. Sundays. $15-$25. Out Front Theatre, 999 Brady Ave., Atlanta. 404-448-2755, www.outfronttheatre.com.
