Telling a Story of Unity and Emotions in the Gay Community

David Drake had an Epiphany the night he saw “The Normal Heart.”

“I was informed, but not aware,” says the New York-based actor, whose collection of vignettes, “The Night Larry Kramer Kissed Me” (opening Friday at the Tiffany Theatre), pays metaphorical homage not only to the author of the landmark AIDS play, but also to the experience of the gay community at large. “Seeing ‘The Normal Heart,’ ” he says reverently, “awakened my consciousness.”

It was also the beginning of a fusing between the artistic sensibilities of David Drake, performer, and David Drake, gay man. And he makes it clear that he was not just writing to satisfy himself.

“I wrote these pieces for people to hear,” Drake says. “I always had a desire to communicate; that’s why I originally turned to theater. And I’d been opened up to performance artists like Karen Finley, the idea of a performance format and political consciousness. So I thought I’d express myself in my medium.”

And yet, he notes, the solo piece is not so much about him as the gay community as a whole.

“This is not a vanity showcase for my ‘extraordinary’ talents,’ ” the first-time writer says. “I don’t need to show audiences that I can act. That’s a given. I wanted to tell a story about us . I wanted to empower us, unify us. It validates a lot of (gay) experiences, articulates a lot of feeling--and hopefully clarifies a lot for straight audiences.”

Drake, 29, is less optimistic about the prospect of reconciling society’s ills.

“There’s a chasm between HIV- positive and -negative people in general,” says the actor, who became involved with the activist group ACT UP in the mid-1980s. “AIDS has become one of the most divisive issues in our society. ‘Them’ is people with AIDS; ‘us’ are those who are free of AIDS. AIDS is the ‘other.’ So straight people can accept you when you’re a funny (gay man). If you’re HIV-positive, you get ignored or pitied.”

The son of a journalist and sometime politician, Drake began acting at age 10. He notes with pride that he’s “never had a survival job”--occasionally waiting tables, but making his living in professional theater “and the occasional gem movie.”

For the former, count “Pageant” and “Vampire Lesbians of Sodom” in New York; for the latter, Craig Lucas’ “Longtime Companion” and the upcoming “Naked in New York” for Martin Scorsese and “Philadelphia” for Jonathan Demme.

Although this show is autobiographically driven, Drake reserves the right to spin off into fiction whenever it suits him. “I want to find unifying stories, unifying fears,” he says. “Those who came of age during (the advent of) AIDS, those who inherited it. So I don’t tell the story of my first friend who died. I’m not about to tell my friend Andy’s story for profit. I need to get a little distance on it. The story I tell is one of fear and terror, something that will touch everyone out there.”

In its debut last summer at New York’s Perry Street Theater, public and critical response was huge. Outside of a mixed notice in The New York Times--which nonetheless found the show “memorable” and “celebratory”--the raves poured in. Rex Reed heralded “a smashing new play.” The Associated Press found it “fast, furious, and fascinating,” the New Yorker cheered “an all-encompassing vision.” Newsday called it “brash, naked, ticked-off, eloquent, unruly, urgent, shamelessly in-your-face.”

The reviews from his most recent stop, at San Francisco’s Life on the Water theater, were also largely complimentary. Drake, however, was unhappy with what he perceived as the “straight” press’ take on his work.

“I want it to be funny, smart, well-thought-out,” he says. “Some reviewers say it’s not. My response is, ‘You’re coming from a straight perspective.’ It’s about understanding the authority of the presence you’re in. The three mainstream reviews went on and on about my body, my erotic qualities. They were looking at me as an object, not a subject. I thought, ‘Hey, if I were Eric Bogosian (the theatrical storyteller, to whom he has been compared), would you get your mind off my body?’ ”

If the militantly gay sensibility is a turnoff for some, the author makes no apologies. His show is peppered with memories and milestones that are specific to the gay experience: the 1969 Stonewall Riots (which coincided with Drake’s 6th birthday), and the identification with the gay character, Paul, in the musical “A Chorus Line.”

Yes, Drake says, he wants people to know his life: “It should not be marginalized.” And where does he get the confidence to display his innermost feelings for public scrutiny? “It’s a good question. I don’t know.”

Chuck Brown has been friends with Drake for several years and was an unofficial adviser on the project until two years ago, when he came aboard as director.

“I knew it was going to be a hit,” he says. “I knew it was good, and I knew it was commercial.” Brown, an associate artistic director at New York’s Phoenix Theatre Ensemble, is also HIV-positive, and rallied mightily for the director’s position. “I didn’t think anyone else had the right to direct it,” he says bluntly. “Anyone who hadn’t lived the piece. It certainly didn’t belong in the hands of a straight person.”

Yet Drake hopes the piece will appeal to both gay and straight audiences.

“I think it will explain a lot of things to straight people,” he says. “Things like gay pride and empowerment, standards for sexuality, self-loathing, shame, the closet--how the closet informs your life. Getting out of the closet is not easy or graceful. And being alone onstage is the experience of the closet. So it feels like an exorcism for me: getting up there and telling these stories.”

“The Night Larry Kramer Kissed Me” opens Friday at the Tiffany Theatre, 8532 Sunset Blvd. in West Hollywood, and plays at 8:30 p.m. Thursdays, at 7 and 10 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, and at 7 p.m. Sundays through Aug. 8. Admission is $24. Call (310) 289-2999.