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followed in 2009 with a sell-out tour of his one-man show, Del Shores: My Sordid Life. There is so much more; the playYellow in 2010,
the film version ofThe Trials and Tribulations of a Trailer Trash Housewife, more stand-up, a Southern Baptist Sissies film, acting in the independent feature,Cry and the current reason we’re chatting once again with this prolific man-
about-the-theatre...The film and final chapter for his Sordid Lives franchise:A Very Sordid Wedding. Here’s a little about what Del had to say about the who, what, why and where of it all.
Tell us a bit about why you decided to doA Very Sordid Wedding at this point in time? You know, I just ran out of things to do. (Laughs)
Del Shores SORDID SOUTHERN BAPTIST by joel martens
can wear such a heavy mantle. Especially one hoarding so many creative endowments beneath including: Writer/director/producer/actor/stand-up comedian. Del Shores certainly is one of them and thankfully, he has graciously shared those proficiencies, making us laugh, cry and examine our place in society’s jigsaw since the early ‘80s. Shores’ material and humor is based in things
pulled from personal experience and involves narratives we’re all well-acquainted with. Coming out, familial love and acceptance, religious dogma,
societal pressures and the life-long baggage they often saddle many in the LGBT community with—though it’s certainly not limited only to that designation—there’s plenty of luggage to go around! Comedy and camp are often the means of delivery, but the underlying messages exposing and challenging the hypocrisy and perseverance in the face of it, offer hope and balm to many with still keenly felt wounds. Daddy’s Dying debuted in 1987 and was his earliest success, taking on what happens to families when death occurs and there’s cash involved. Sordid Lives arrived on stage in 1996, telling another funerary story, but this time it’s mama who is dead and the story involves three generations of a Southern Baptist family—with just as much spectacle and a little LGBT drama thrown in. A film version followed in 1999, as well. The powerful play, Southern Baptist Sissies came
in 2000, Shores’ award-winning play about four gay boys growing up in the Southern Baptist church. His most critically-acclaimed play,The Trials and Tribulations of a Trailer Trash Housewife arrived in 2003 and Sordid Lives: The Series, took to the airwaves as a prequel on the Logo Network in 2008,
Really, it was a couple of things: First of all, I love these characters. I thought after the series, that would be the end of it, especially considering how the series went down. Second, the fans kept wanting to know more about what else happened to them. It’s almost like those “Where are they now?” blogs, that kind of unlocked it for me. Then it became, “How can I tell a fresh story with these old characters?” Times have changed and because of the progress that we’ve made with our rights, coupled with the Supreme Court ruling on marriage, which was so monumental, it just really freed me up. Sordid Lives had always been sort of a period piece and it made me wonder, “How far has Ty [Williamson, one of the original gay characters from the first play] come since 1998?” I know I’ve certainly come a long way with what
I’ve done in my life and in my activism, so I decided to start exploring that for him. I’m so inspired too, by people in my own life, especially the Texans and some of the people I grew up with. How they have evolved in just knowing who I am and putting a face on gay.
JUNE 2017 | RAGE monthly 17
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