Small Town

Last evening we went to a production of Lanford Wilson's "Book of Days," the first play of a cast made up of the second year students in the Asolo Conservatory or whatever it is called, a rather distinguished training ground for American actors, here in Sarasota.  There always has to be a certain suspension of disbelief since the characters are generally a variety of ages whereas the cast members are in their twenties, and this being "show biz," they are uniformly physically attractive, and buffed.  Wilson's play, one of his more indigestible creations, surveys the goings on in a small Midwestern town, peopled it seems by hypocrites, bigots, and all the other behaviors traditionally loaded onto such people.  It was all rather obvious, but there was one scene, however, that caught my attention immediately, and that is perhaps because of my predilection for attractive males.  The local minister and a visiting Hollywood director (improbably in town to put on Shaw's "St Joan" no less!) enter after having shot a few baskets, and the minister proceeds to change from sports clothes to his religious gear.  This was startling; evangelicals in my day did not disrobe so easily in front of strangers, so I imagined that it was to demonstrate his easy going small town camaraderie, just a nice guy underneath the gown, so to speak.  He stripped to his boxer briefs, a fashion item I was not expecting, (when did the clergy give up plain white Y fronts?) and what is more, they were black, which even though in keeping with his ecclesiastical calling, sort of, was a surprise.  The actor had perfectly turned thighs, in keeping with the reality of the actor, but interesting, I thought, for a man of the cloth.  Buffed, you would have to call him. Was I making too much of this?  A bit later, the minister, who is revealed as a total shit, whether he is personally aware of this or not--he is a counterpart to the clergy who are sentencing Joan to the stake in the play--reveals that an internet search on his part had uncovered that the Hollywood guy was mixed up with charges of inappropriate sexual advances to minor girls.  When that was revealed, the black boxer briefs fell into place in my imagination.  He was just too sexy when stripping and changing into his professional outfit and why? because those briefs were such a compelling statement in the context.  He was signalling something to the Hollywood guy, and he had read the internet revelations.  At first I thought the actor had thoughtlessly dressed in his normal fancy underwear, but no, now I see that it was a directorial decision, occasioned by the script, and it was a great note, and taking advantage of the unusual good looks and physique of the actor--you don't get small town evangelicals that attractive as a rule;  after all body loathing is one of the features of the religion.