‘Pure Glitter’ @ Uptown Players
Photos by Mike Morgan Photography
—Martha Heimberg
The folks at Uptown Players know how to party — and have produced award-winning regional theater for 25 years focusing on plays and musicals radiating positive awareness of people with diverse gender styles. For the past 15 years they’ve packed the house at the historic 400-seat Kalita Humphreys Theater, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and built flush to a limestone cliff overlooking Turtle Creek.
Their latest show is pure Uptown—Douglas Lyons’ Pure Glitter, onstage through March 28 and one helluva party.
Directed by Emerson Collins with near-manic comedic speed, the show introduces us to six gay men gathered to celebrate one couple’s 10th anniversary. Sweetly desperate Stan (Gerald Taylor II) has decorated their handsome Manhattan apartment and called all the gang to arrive early—the party’s a surprise for his weary, moody husband Tony (Ian Mead Moore) when he gets home from work. What a swell chance for these middle-agers to catch up with old friends, drink sauvignon blanc, and chow down on Buffalo wings and a homemade casserole.
But wait. Turns out that mischievous queen Rance (sexy, elegant, L. Walter, Uptown’s famed drag star showing off their acting chops in slacks and vest) ran into uninvited Blair (Kelly Groves plays him as a trembling femboy), the blubbering and recently dumped ex of invitee Dwight (Jake Shanahan in masc mode with crew cut). Rance took pity and told the poor guy to come on over, he musta missed the text.
On top of that (actually, top and bottom are pretty fluid concepts in this crowd), lawyer Dwight brings handsome new squeeze Niko to the party (Galileo Segura Rady gives him a knowing, good-humored charm). Suzi Cranford designed the costumes — and what you wear matters with these guys. There’s a fashion freak in the play to help the tasteless.
That’s it! The moment crushed-flower Blair lays eyes on his former true love — who he’s been phoning day and night with no response — all farce breaks loose. In the first act, everybody’s in and out of the bathroom door, of course. Blair moans that their five-year relationship was “practically a century in gay years.” Accusations of infidelity and heartlessness followed by pleas for reconciliation aren’t having much effect. Grinning Rance is the only guest who seems to be enjoying the ruckus; poor host Stan just wants everything to settle down before Tony shows up.
It all plays out perfectly on designer Kevin Brown’s detailed set, with a kitchenette available for confessions and other private matters. Thanks to Kyle Harris’ expert lighting design, two scenes shift back and forth seamlessly, useful when the plot demands that we in the audience hear what some of the characters have no business finding out.
Each actor gets to show off some creative, sexy stuff when Stan suggests a round of charades to tamp down the shouts and sobbing. The first act hits a hilarious high point when each guy is acting out some movie or song, while simultaneously guessing and also hollering at each other about which actress was the best-ever musical heroine.
Ethel? Patti? Serious arguments ensue, and threaten to break up the party—but whew, it’s curtain time.
Act II not only brings differences to a head, but also introduces the serious business of how a group of friends (in the gay community, often each others’ chosen support family) can threaten to fall apart when the most stable relationships in the group are under siege.
Playwright Lyons handles this underlying crisis with humor and nuance. Jokester Rance gets serious and insists everybody stop putting on a show. He insists they tell at least one big truth to the group before they go home — with whoever they want to. Lots of laughs in this show, but some sharp, unsentimental truths keep sentimentality from creeping too far in.
One character says that even when something is shattered, the remaining shards are “pure glitter” if seen in the right light.
So. Hit the juke box. Everybody get up off your seat and dance.
We know the song—and we all bring our own glitter.
WHEN: March 20-29, 2026
WHERE: Kalita Humphreys Theater, 3636 Turtle Creek Blvd., Dallas
WEB: uptownplayers.org
