Special Feature: Divinely, Alone

Special Feature: Divinely, Alone  | The Three Leaches Theater | Lakewood, CO | Curtain Up! | Gina Robertson

Three Leaches Theater hosted a special VIP sneak peek of Divinely, Alone: A Picnic with Divine by Mike Broemmel in April, including a talk back session with Broemmel, director Greg West and actor John-Christian “JC” Maheu. The play is scheduled to premiere in May at the Clock Tower on the 16^th Street Mall in Denver. The following month, Divinely, Alone will be one of the Main Stage Plays at the first ever Lavender Hill Theatre Festival, also in Denver.

Divinely, Alone is a tribute and deep dive into the life and filthy mind of an iconic American drag queen, Divine, whose given name was Harris Glenn Milstead. Known as the “Queen of Filth,” Divine portrayed Edna Turnblad in the original film version of Hairspray, establishing a tradition of placing male actors in that role. Divine was the inspiration for Ursula the Sea Witch in the animated film The Little Mermaid.

In this world premiere, Maheu as Divine comes out blazing hot with a discussion of possibly her most controversial and filthiest act, leaving viewers to question whether they heard correctly – did she say she ate dog shit?  Or she hates dog shit? Did she say it was performed in glorious “odorama”? Indeed, Divine may be best known for eating a fresh dog turd at the end of 1972 cult film Pink Flamingos as the character Babs Johnson, “the filthiest person alive.” It was done for real, unsimulated, filmed on the streets of Baltimore. The odorama connection, however, was a scratch and sniff card created later for audiences to scratch and sniff along with Divine in a 1981 film Polyester.

Such outrageousness secured Divine’s place in the American queer and punk culture imagination, and Broemmel opens his play with these most controversial acts as a way of establishing for modern viewers the shock value Divine had just in her persona, when just being a drag queen was shocking.

The preview performance featured two scenes from the seven-scene full production in which Divine narrates her life story in gyrating, singing, moaning, shouting, living color. Maheu captures the boldness of Divine, the toughness, while in his sensitive blue eyes there are hints at vulnerability. In her muumuu caftan and clownish make-up, Divine is a cartoon but Glenn Milstead is a real person whose talent is responsible for Divine’s legendary success. Broemmel calls it “drag as defiance” and describes Divine as “utterly uninterested in being likeable,” but Maheu shows us that the man inside the Queen felt rejection and suffered for it. He describes a fine line between playing Divine vs. playing Milstead, going from camp to comedy to vulnerability in the same scene.

For Information and Tickets: https://ci.ovationtix.com/35628/production/1274509?performanceId=11803398