Interview: John Copeland on What Anita Bryant Did & Has Done for Him Lately

Playwright/actor John Copeland's latest theatrical project ANITA BRYANT'S PLAYBOY INTERVIEW recounts a specific incident in the truth-is-stranger-than-fiction saga of the former Miss Oklahoma and runner-up to Miss America whose "Save Our Children" campaign fought to repeal gay rights in Dale County, Florida in 1977.

Hello there, John! Thank you for taking the time for this interview with BroadwayWorld and myself. Please share with our BroadwayWorld readers at what juncture of your life you were at when you first became aware of beauty contestant turned orange juice spokeswoman Anita Bryant. Were you still living in the middle of Indiana? What emotions did her actions bring out in you?

I grew up with Anita Bryant in my living room singing about the benefits and promises of the Florida Sunshine Tree. She was pretty and cheerful and had the ability to make friends with animated birds. She was incredible. And what she was selling - orange juice - was an exotic commodity in our Indiana household. We tried Tang after the moon landing. Orange juice - the real thing - was not nearly as available as it is now.

I was 15 years old when Anita began her anti-gay crusade. It had been a couple of years since I'd admitted (to myself) that my attraction to other boys was not a phase. Of course, I'd prayed about that. But I couldn't stop creating elaborate lists of my male classmates, ranking them on their gym class attributes, and then falling asleep with images of them on my mind. I knew exactly one gay person, Ken. He was the spitting image of Freddie Mercury. He was the friend of my older sister and they used to go out dancing together at the Howard Johnson's, which is what passed for a night club at that time in Indiana. I was curious about Ken, of course, but I was also a little bit repulsed by him. I wanted desperately to fit in, and Ken was clearly an outsider to the Hoosier life that I knew. And I knew, on some level, that I was him.

So when Anita Bryant, with a voice like an angel, claimed people like Ken (and me) were an abomination - I agreed with her. I was pretty sure everybody else did too. It made me ashamed, and I shut down and tried to become as invisible as I possibly could. And then she got that pie in the face. And then Harvey Milk got elected. And then I saw Robby Benson in a movie version of Ode to Billy Joe. That's when things really started to change for me.

What was the genesis for writing ANITA BRYANT'S PLAYBOY INTERVIEW?

I'd say it all kind of clicked when I read the Playboy interview. I was thinking of something much more complex, with musical numbers, co-starring Phyllis Schlafly and Marabel Morgan. But when I read the interview, it occurred to me that a person could simply read it aloud, and it would be compelling theatre. My writing partner Robert Whirry (who also happens to be my real life partner) and I ended up doing a little bit more with the material than just read it. We soon figured out that people didn't really remember Anita Bryant - or the 70's for that matter - so we had to create something that would remind people, and we chose to use the "Playmate of the Month" - and that's worked pretty well for us!

How much of, or which part of this play comes from the actual Playboy interview transcript?

Pretty much everything that Ken Kelly (the interviewer) and Anita Bryant say are from the Playboy Magazine articles. We created the "Playmate of the Month" character (based on Gail Stanton) to help guide the audience through the interview and give them some sort of historical perspective. The play takes place over eight days, less than a decade after the Stonewall riots, but before Harvey Milk was elected and five years before the first cases of AIDS were reported. We also wrote a coda at the end that tells where each of the characters are now. But I'd say 80% of the play is from the interview itself.

What was your original intent in creating a project around Bryant?

It's a bit of a cautionary tale to remind the gay community that while we've made tremendous progress, that can all go away quickly. We don't know a lot of gay history - that's true even for gay men. Most of the younger gay men I talk to get Anita Bryant mixed up with either Anita Hill or Anita Baker. Anita Bryant was kind of a big deal in the gay community, and, of course, those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. As in the mid-70s, today we feel as though we have gained a certain level of acceptance that can't be taken away. And then the Republican Party drafts the most anti-gay platform in history. One election could reverse a lot of the changes we fought for. The gay community would benefit by being prepared for a backlash.

Have your goals for this production changed/evolved/do an about-face since you first started working on it?

I've been working with this material for so long, it's hard to remember what the goal was when we first started! I think we wanted to lampoon Anita Bryant, and bring her back as a person to be vilified. What we've ended up with is something much more sympathetic. She espoused really horrible things about gay people and did some significant harm. But she's also a deeply flawed human being - and aren't we all? I think the audience ends up understanding Anita (and others who are like Anita in our lives), while wholeheartedly disagreeing with her political position. I think when we started we wanted a comic book villain, but what I ended up with was someone much more complicated than that.

I remember laughing so hard at Tina Fey's Saturday Night Live skit as Sarah Palin. Then laughing even harder to find out that Tina's speech was the actual speech given by Sarah Palin. Truth is stranger, or even funnier, than fiction. You can't make this stuff up. Do you think your audience will draw similar comparisons between your play ANITA BRYANT'S PLAYBOY INTERVIEW and Tina Fey's Sarah Palin?

I think it's pretty easy to connect Anita Bryant to Sarah Palin and even Donald Trump. They all have this "Wait-a-minute! Did-they-just-say-that? Out-loud? Where-people-could-hear-them??!?" quality that's kind of arresting, no matter the decade. And Anita said some crazy stuff that would rival Palin/Trump!

I have asked the next question of other playwrights. Do you believe it's easier for a person to learn a lesson if communicated via laughs and personalization, as opposed to lecturing hard cold dry facts?

Lectures are tough, for sure. But I think both comedy and drama can be effective teachers. I'm always drawn to a combination of two when I create theatre. There's a façade of humor masking content that is deeply serious.

How does one go from doing Shakespeare to your weekly soap opera THE PLUSH LIFE (also at Casita del Campo)?

It was kind of the other way around. I mean, I'd performed in Robert Falls' production of HAMLET in the mid-80's, but then I spent several years on the road in Jill and Faith Soloway's THE REAL LIFE BRADY BUNCH before I started doing drag in THE PLUSH LIFE. The bulk of my Shakespeare work followed those experiences. And frankly, I was lucky enough to work with folks who encouraged playing big - and there ain't nothing bigger than a drag queen! Working with John Farmanesh-Bocca (Not Man Apart Physical Theatre Ensemble) and Louis Scheeder (NYU) to perform Shakespeare on a tennis court in Santa Monica really changed my understanding of and approach to that material.

Did you always plan on portraying Bryant yourself?

Oh, yeah!

If you are playing a real person, you must have to not 'hate' the person, right? Love the sinner, hate the sin - isn't that what they always tell us? I have a twin sister who is a right wing religious extremist, and I'm a far left, non-believing, gay guy. I get angry and frustrated with Anita (and my sister), but "hate" is a word I don't use much.

What qualities of Bryant could you relate to and actually embrace?

She's charming, and she can be sweet. And her story is truly a rags-to-riches one. I think the thing that people kind of relate to about her is how sad she is during this time of her life. She's experienced a lot of recent losses, and her marriage is not a happy one (and divorce is something that just can't happen in born-again Christian marriages - check the Bible). And she is ultimately quite vulnerable. She made a bold move for something she believed in and she ended up losing pretty much everything. Also, the "pie incident" took place over the eight-day course of this interview, and when you look at the footage today...vulnerable certainly comes to mind. (BTW, you can see Ken Kelly, the interviewer, in the footage.)

Would you consider yourself a political animal?

I never really thought about it like that, but yeah, I guess I am. My first political crush was Jimmy Carter. And then the AIDS epidemic kind of demanded that my generation of gay people become political. I helped found Stop AIDS Chicago way back when and served as HIV Prevention Director at LA Shanti, among other things. HIV is something that once you get involved in, it's very hard to walk away from.

How sadly relevant is Bryant's story from 1978 to present day 2016?

The LGBT Community has made major advances over the past few years, and there will inevitably be push back. The Republican Party Platform is the most anti-gay in history; VP Candidate Mike Pence signed the Religious Freedom Restoration Act into Indiana law, and nearly had everyone else in the country boycotting his state. And that woman from Kentucky with stringy hair and glasses - you know who I'm talking about - marriage licenses! We can't take for granted that everything's good now, and have to be constantly on the lookout for those people who are going to mess it up.

What do you want your audience to leave with after you take your final bows as Anita Bryant?

I want them to remember that there was once a Disco Era, where gay Americans had unprecedented acceptance, and a place at the communal table. And all of that was taken away through the efforts of one person. The gay community has come a remarkably long way in a very short period of time. In 2004 (2004!), George W. Bush was encouraging conservative states to put a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage on the ballot in order to drive voter turnout. So, you know, two steps forward, one step back, blah, blah, blah. And some ugliness never goes away.

Thank you again for taking the time for this, John! Hope your audiences have a fun and informative experience!

ANITA BRYANT'S PLAYBOY INTERVIEW opening September 16, 2016 thru October 11, 2016 at The Cavern Club Celebrity Theater at Casita del Campo in Silver Lake, CA 90027

For schedule and tickets, log onto www.brownpapertickets.com/event/2591134