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Lab Theatre Play Tells Stories of Local LGBT Youth

Tara Calligan
The cast of "The Rauschenberg Project Play".

The Laboratory Theatre of Florida’s “The Rauschenberg Project Play” tells stories of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth in Southwest Florida. Local teens and young adults wrote and act in the show.

Ben Lamoureux plays drag queen Bella LeMay. Lamoureux sings a musical number wearing a long black wig and a floor-length, sequin gown that dazzles in the spotlight.

“Take a good look. This is me. I’m dressed in drag for the whole world to see. Look at my kicks, check out these tits, aren’t I a bit scandalous? They say it’s a phase, that I’m a disgrace, take a good look.”

Credit Tara Calligan
Ben Lamoureux plays drag queen Bella LeMay in "The Rauschenberg Project Play".

Laboratory Theatre of Florida Artistic Director Annette Trossbach said every word heard on stage is comprised from 169 stories submitted by LGBT Southwest Floridians ages 13 through 25. But getting the stories was no easy task.

“Build it and they will come, no it’s not true,” said Trossbach.

“Many of them are not out, so how do you tell your parents, I want to go to this theatre for this LGBT project without outing yourself?”

Trossbach said the Lab Theatre struggled to find kids willing to share their stories, even anonymously, so she attended Gay Straight Alliance or GSA meetings, set up a secret Facebook group and an email address to try to gain more participation.  

The play has 10 actors who take on different roles, with minimal set design and costume changes.

Local professionals taught everyone involved playwriting, set design, lighting, costume design and stage makeup.

Scenes range from a monologue about a lesbian growing up in a Christian family to a cheesy infomercial selling, “keep the gay at bay” - a gay-conversion therapy camp.

The play addresses LGBT stereotypes with equal parts humor and seriousness, aimed at educating the audience and easing common misconceptions about the LGBT community.

Credit Tara Calligan
Scene from "The Rauschenberg Project Play".

Parts of the play even address skepticism about the Lab Theatre’s intentions behind the production.   

18-year-old Luke Nelson, a senior at Cypress Lake High School, said he came out to his family his freshman year. His foster-father suggested he get involved with the project.

“It’s got just the right balance,” said Nelson.

“It’s got one or two scenes where it makes you want to cry a bit. But right after that it’s a bit more uplifting, and as all plays should, it leaves on a really good note.”

Nelson plays a young man named Dustin, a high school student writing a letter to his parents describing what life has been like since he was kicked out after telling them he was gay. He plays a GSA student in other scenes. He said his favorite skit is a piece poking fun at Kim Davis, the Kentucky county clerk jailed for refusing to issue marriage licenses to gay couples.

“Instead of Kim Davis, it’s Dim Kavis,” said Nelson.

“She sells tickets for movies on the phone. She’s pretty much denying this caller tickets because of how her personal views are. It’s very amusing and the ending is pure gold.”

20-year-old actor and stage makeup artist Sage Meyers, identifies as bisexual. She was also in charge of researching one of the most impactful scenes of the play,the memoriam list. It’s a list of names of LGBT people who committed suicide or have been murdered due to their sexual orientation. That list gets projected in white text onto a screen. There are no actors on stage. The theatre is pitch-black. And there’s music playing.

“There were hundreds and hundreds of names,” said Meyers. “The youngest name I saw was 12-yearsold.”

Meyers said, as difficult as it was, she had to add her mother’s name to the memoriam.

“It’s almost like a badge of disappointment honor,” said Meyers.

“You know it’s awful and you know it hurts, but it’s important.”

Meyers has a portrait of her mother tattooed on the outside of her left arm.

“I hope she’d be proud,” said Meyers. “I love for her to see it.”

Director Annette Trossbach said everyone is excited, nervous, but ultimately proud of what they have accomplished with this production.

“We’re telling the stories of all of these young people, some of whom have been living in their cars outside of their high schools or kicked out of the house or beaten just for being LGBT,” said Trossbach.

“We’re all very aware of these stories being the true life stories of people that are living here in the community. And that’s something that gives one pause,” she said.

“The Rauschenberg Project Play” runs at the Laboratory Theatre in downtown Fort Myers through April 5th.

It was made possible by a grant from the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation.

Tickets are available at the Laboratory Theatre or online