The Temperamentals – Where It All Began
by Karen Tortora-Lee on July 8, 2009
Going to see The Temperamentals at the end of Pride Month was as deeply stirring as watching a reenactment of the signing of the declaration of independence on July 4th, if not more so. Because, while the history of how America fought and won its independence is a story that is well worn, the story of how, long before the Stonewall Riots, a group of men fought for their own personal freedom is one I’d never even heard about before seeing this amazing play.
The Civil Rights movement didn’t happen in one fell swoop; it progressed bit by bit and built on itself event by event. Brown v. The Board of Education beget Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Bus Boycott which paved the way for Martin Luther King, Jr. Similarly, the Gay Rights Movement didn’t burst forth, fully formed, in one great disco-as-wreaking ball through the walls of the Stonewall Inn. By definition, it simply couldn’t. Rather, it started off years earlier with Harry Hay, Rudi Gernreich, and a manifesto which became The Mattachine Society. The Temperamentals is the play which tells their story.
