Interludes

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Jesús I. Valles’s scattered, farcical BATHHOUSE.PPTX is an artful memorial to gay bathhouses

• By drediman
• March 27, 2024
• No Comments

Over at The Flea Theater in Tribeca, you’ll find the world premiere production of Jesús I. Valles’s BATHHOUSE.PPTX. The play was the recipient of the 2023 Yale Drama Series Prize, which is currently being overseen by Slave Play playwright Jeremy O. Harris. In essence, the play is a sort of memorial to gay bathhouses — once a prominent fixture of gay culture — examining the roles these salacious meeting spots have played in the lives of gay men over time.

Despite being a work in progress, there’s plenty of fascinating things to unpack in Valles’s new play. Indeed, even though not all of the playwright’s flights of fancy land (there are a number of clunkers, especially early on) and the play takes a circuitous route to get to arrive to its designated destination (BATHHOUSE.PPTX begins generically as a school presentation on bathing and showering), its unflinching core dissection of the gay bathhouse experience is a visceral, artful history lesson. Particularly refreshing is Valles’s unfiltered examination of desire and longing — and the shame and ecstasy that comes along with it.

The production has been directed by Chay Yew, who does an admirable job at to keep the play’s scattered nature in check — certainly, the framework of a farcical fantasia within a Power Point presentation poses a challenge right off the bat. The performances are by and large amusing, even if they mostly veer a tad too much towards the broad end of the spectrum. Most affecting are the quieter moments, during which the humanity and poetry of the work are able to shine through most effectively. In the central role of the Presenter, Sam Gonzalez gives a brave, textured performance that holds the sprawling work together.

RECOMMENDED

BATHHOUSE.PPTX
Off-Broadway, Play
The Flea Theater
1 hour, 45 minutes (without an intermission)
Through April 22