David Pavao (Photo by Jessica Lynn Johnson)
Reviewed by F. Kathleen Foley
Hollywood Fringe Festival at the Zephyr Theatre
Through June 28
RECOMMENDED
David Pavao (Photo by Jessica Lynn Johnson)
Poster Child: How Charlie’s Angels Kicked My Ass Out of the Closet, writer/performer David Pavao’s sweet and endearing solo show, charts Pavao’s poignant, often hilarious efforts to come of age as a gay youth in 1970s San Bernardino, not exactly a mecca of gay inclusivity.
In his early 60s, Pavao dances, jumps and navigates the stage with the lithe physicality of someone much younger. As he tells it, he knows from the outset that he’s not like other boys. So do both his parents — his “hero” mother, who furiously defends her six-year-old son after two mean girls viciously assault him, and his loving but worried father, who embarrassedly reprimands him to “Stop skipping around. And stop swishing your hips while you walk.”
The more macho model that his dad yearns for is personified by Pavao’s butch alter-ego and ever-present inner voice, Chuck, a scruffy kid who scoffs at Pavao’s effeminate tendencies and urges him to be more “manly.”
Ashamed and sexually confused, Pavao escapes into his poster “addiction,” the female icons from the 1970s and early ‘80s whose images festoon his bedroom walls. He is most notably obsessed with the cast of the hit series, Charlie’s Angels, the groundbreaking episodic that featured not one, but three strong female protagonists.
In Kenny Johnson’s clever sound design, the Angels — wittily voiced by Pavao —offer advice and encouragement to their young fan, reading from Pavao’s own youthful journals as their sexy posters flash upstage. Pavao’s handpicked photos of those posters and shots from his own family album have been skillfully curated by Scott Boyer, whose rear projections are a highlight of the show.
In a plot straight out of an Angels episode, the Angels are tasked by Charlie, their handler, to help the confused David discover his true identity and find his tribe.
Their mission isn’t easy. Bullying is a constant, even from those whose role it is to support and help. When it is discovered that the 15-year-old Pavao has only one testicle, his supposedly “trusted” doctor tells him and his mother that they may as well schedule a sex change because he will never be a normal boy. It’s a shockingly unprofessional statement that haunts David and compounds his shame.
In his early 20s, when he finally summons the nerve to go to a gay bar, Pavao finds the place packed with friends from his university’s drama department — a joyful meeting of like-minded young men who welcome him with love. As predicted by his beloved Angels, he finally finds his “tribe” and never looks back.
Smoothly staged by director Jessica Lynn Johnson, also credited as the piece’s developer, Poster Boychronicles Pavao’s moving journey to self-acceptance. It’s a gentle, funny story from a resilient survivor who finds inspiration in his painful past — and inspires us in the telling.
Zephyr Theatre, 7456 Melrose Ave., LA. Fri., June 12, 2:45 pm; Sun., June 21, 7:45 pm, Sun., June 28, 5:45 pm. https://www.hollywoodfringe.org/projects/13976?tab=tickets 70 minutes, no intermission.
