Review: Austin Rainbow Theatre’s Sordid Lives

In May 1996, Del Shores mounted a production of his “black comedy about white trash” in Hollywood, Calif. Two months later, he came out as gay, left his then-wife, and asked her parents to play two roles in that same play: Sordid Lives, part evangelical absurdity and part autobiography of Shores’ life growing up the son of a Southern Baptist preacher in three different Texas cities.

The story brings together multiple elements of a good takedown of Texas: a good Christian mama who dies in a very unchristian way, forcing a cast of Southern so-and-sos to face up to their own shortcomings. For the family of the deceased, those shortcomings include locking up their drag queen sibling, Brother Boy (Nadine Hughes), in the “loony bin” and chasing away narrator/playwright proxy Ty (Marcus Speed) to West Hollywood.

Later, in 2000, Sordid Lives lived in cinematic form – written and directed by Shores again. When I walked into Ground Floor Theatre in October 2023, another mark was made in the history books for Sordid Lives. This production is the first mounted by new nonprofit Austin Rainbow Theatre – not counting their exploratory effort with The Laramie Project in 2021. Before the lights went down, director Christopher Preslar let the audience know that night’s show would be their first-ever performance: basically a dress rehearsal.

While my knowledge of theatre is scant, I appreciate effort and dedication above everything. On display during that night’s performance were more than enough of both. I was reminded often of a favorite documentary of mine: 2001’s Southern Comfort, in which a group of proud Southern trans men and women come together to support their dying patriarch, Robert Eads, recently diagnosed with ovarian cancer. Each member of the cast has their own special relationship with Eads, not unlike the messy but sweet connections the characters in Sordid Lives share. Shores’ script lends every actor dialogue that walks the line of shit talk and sentimental. Like the real-life queer people of Southern Comfort, dying doesn’t make the characters in Sordid Lives hold back on how they feel about each other’s life choices.

Highest among my praises is how well the actors stepped into their characters. For a first-night performance, there were few if any skipped lines or flubs, and everyone’s Texas twang wouldn’t be out of place in line at H-E-B. In particular, Christina Little-Manley makes great work on stage as LaVonda, the liberal sister to the more uptight Latrelle (Maureen Slabaugh), both daughters to late mother Peggy. Little-Manley gives organic emotion to script moments that in less controlled hands might read treacly. Slabaugh also handles oldest daughter anxiety with aplomb. Her scenes with Speed’s Ty strike a particularly personal chord with me, and I’m sure with many others in the audience. A son coming out to his mother, well, that’s an easy sell to a guy who played through that whole scene himself only a few years ago. No dress rehearsal for that.

Of course, the lifeblood of the staging is Nadine Hughes. A local icon of the drag scene, she played to the audience with side-eyes and campy improv that brought a new energy to the set. Interesting that she takes over a role once brought to life on stage and screen by the diminutive Leslie Jordon – both are electric presences with a distinct gay glow that’d take more than a wig cap to cover up. I hardly need to say that Hughes was a hit: Her title of All American Goddess at Large remains well-won.

Despite anachronistic set details breaking the illusion (would a honky-tonk in the Nineties really have a neon rainbow Deep Eddy Vodka sign?) and one or two seeming prop malfunctions, such as when poor Brother Boy was left sans tissues in his doctor’s office while in tears, ART’s production of Sordid Lives fits well in the show’s historical ledger. This story of Texan fears, queers, and tears definitely hit home for an audience of Lone Star locals.

This article appears in October 13 • 2023.