Duo Trying to Carve Niche for Gay, Lesbian Performers

Brenda Schumacher and Amy Shock were tired of complaining about the lack of San Diego theater reflecting the lesbian and gay experience.

So the two decided to produce one themselves in May. The result was original, largely comic vignettes about the lesbian perspective, titled “Women Are Not Cartoons,” written and performed by Schumacher, Shock and four other women.

It surprised them by selling out the 70-seat Studio 856 downtown, directly below Sushi Performance Gallery, for the two consecutive weekends it ran. Determined that the success wasn’t a fluke, Schumacher and Shock are following with a new show, “Fresh Dish,” a series of works dealing with homosexuality featuring gay and lesbian performers from New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Diego.

This time, Shock, 31, an architect studying theater design at UC San Diego, and Schumacher, 27, a waitress, are acting solely as producers, rather than as writers or performers.

“Fresh Dish” will be presented at Sushi tonight through Aug. 24.

It will premiere with Italian performance artist Diviana Ingravalo in her newest solo piece, “Naked Women,” tonight and Friday. It continues with “So Many Women . . . ,” a variety show with music and comedy July 26-27; Los Angeles performance artist Albert Antonio Araiza in his newest work, “Meat My Beat,” Aug. 2-3, and San Francisco writer and performer Susie Bright in “The Life and Times of Susie Sexpert,” Aug. 23-24.

San Diego’s only other company producing work about the lesbian and gay community is the 4-year-old Diversionary Theatre. But Diversionary, currently showing “Rules of Love” through Saturday, focuses on doing plays rather than on showcasing performance artists for short stints, as Schumacher and Shock hope to continue doing.

That will happen if “Fresh Dish” repeats the success of their first venture.

“We were just so amazed that the ‘Women Are Not Cartoons’ show was so successful that we thought, ‘Wow! There really are people in the community who are ready to see that kind of stuff,’ ” Shock said. “Part of the inspiration is to get some sense of community. It’s extending further the idea of coming out to encourage the lesbian and gay community to come out with their art and come out with their patronage.”

Schumacher said their main goal in producing, however, is to provide a stage for work they weren’t finding elsewhere.

“We want to be producers and presenters of lesbian and gay performers,” she said. “It was what we wanted to see, and instead of griping about it, we decided to make it happen. We are creating a space for our culture to be expressed.”

The Fern Street Circus isn’t coming to town. Rather, it is being assembled in town. Local producer and director John Highkin is putting the finishing touches on a single-ring circus that will perform in a tent at Golden Hill’s Grape Street Park from Sept. 28 to Oct. 6, with previews starting Sept. 26.

In this circus, the acrobats, clowns, jugglers, musicians and dancers will tell a story. Highkin is working with other writers on “Pino the Barber,” a primarily nonverbal parable focusing on a central clown figure, Pino, who, like the barber in Chaplin’s “The Great Dictator,” goes from passive to active participant in tumultuous times.

In Pino’s case, the turmoil occurs in San Diego in the mid-19th Century, when the city became part of the United States. The show will be illustrated by San Marcos artist DeLoss McGraw, and the opening will be marked by a parade through Golden Hill that will end in Balboa Park.

A free children’s workshop will be held July 15 from 3:30 to 5 p.m. Children will learn about circuses, parades and how sideshows can produce a two-headed lady (using two kids in a big sweater) at the Golden Hill Recreation Center. The children will also make some animal heads and banners that may be used in the show. Call 235-9756 for more information.

PROGRAM NOTES: The Lamb’s Players Theatre’s children’s production of “Puff the Magic Dragon” achieved its goal of selling roughly 400 tickets a performance. That’s enough to allow the company to embark upon a full season of children’s programming in 1993, a spokeswoman said. . . .

New Works Theatre just finished a series of staged readings of six new plays at the Hotel Park Plaza last month and is now looking for scripts by Latinos and African Americans and for playwrights for a new four-play Festival Series Readers’ Theatre. Ellie Stein, the company’s new plays coordinator, said she is open to plays about all subjects but is especially interested in plays about minorities and age discrimination. NewWorks will pay a small stipend. Send scripts to Ellie Stein, New Plays Coordinator, NewWorks Theatre, 3310 1st Ave., San Diego 92103. . . .

San Diego Repertory Theatre has extended “The Rocky Horror Show” through July 21. However, despite filling the house at 90% capacity, the company is just breaking even because of the expense of producing a musical with a 14-member cast and five-member band, a spokeswoman said.