Envisioning Queer Liberation: The Performance of Communal Visibility in Doric Wilson's Street Theater

Doric Wilson's 1982 comedy Street Theater is one of the most enduring plays to emerge from the gay theatre movement, and this article argues for its significance as a pioneering work that represents the Stonewall Riots and the theatre itself as sites for the creation of queer community. Building on Jill Dolan's theorization of the utopian performative and communitas, I examine how Wilson combined the ethos of off-off-Broadway and the activism of the gay liberation movement to create theatre by, for, about, and near LGBT people. With archival research supporting dramaturgical analysis of the play, the article demonstrates how Street Theater perpetuated the mission of Wilson's ground-breaking theatre company, TOSOS (The Other Side of Silence), gained acclaim for a production staged in a gay leather bar, became a staple of the "purple circuit," and continues to promote the re-enactment of queer communal visibility.