When versatile Bay Area theater pro Theodore J.H. Hulsker decided to put on a queer cowboy musical, he hoped it would be a memorable experience for the audience. He didn’t expect how much of a stir it would create.
Hulsker, affectionately known as Teddy, says the reaction to “Prose and Confluence” has been “somewhat polarizing.”
“I’ve had some really positive feedback from folks who are moved by the deep emotion, as well as the experimental approach. [But] we’ve also had folks walk out,” says Hulsker, adding, “I think people are really curious to see what the heck we’re up to.”
The show— a co-production between Klanghaus, Shotgun Players, San Francisco Playhouse and Z Space — sold out in its first performance last month in Berkeley. Three more performances, including on March 18, are in San Francisco and Mill Valley.
Created by Klanghaus, a multidisciplinary queer artist ensemble founded by Hulsker, and directed by Julie Phelps of CounterPulse (where Klanghaus is a resident company), the experimental show is about a mourning character, The River Hermit, who strikes up an unlikely bond with a visitor, The Water Boy. Their encounter forces them to deal with personal loss and the toxic masculinity that leaves them little room to process grief.
“Prose and Confluence” isn’t the first Klanghaus show (it follows last year’s “How We Spend Our Days”), but it represents a departure for local theatergoers who may know Hulsker’s work, if not his face. For over a decade, Hulsker has created sound designs and visual projections for troupes including Shotgun Players, San Francisco Playhouse, Cutting Ball Theater and Marin Theatre Company.
It’s no surprise that design plays a strong role in the aesthetics of “Prose and Confluence.”
“The show looks and sounds incredible,” says Hulsker. “Our sets are hand-painted drops, designed by my collaborator Max Abner, that portray a cartoonish depiction of a dilapidated hut, a nod to the way the piece is questioning our inherited myths about ‘Americana,’ cowboys and masculinity.”
Hulsker composed the dense soundscape, which includes river critters, voiceovers and a recording of nine minutes of ape howling; and the matching cowboy costumes were purchased at Golden Gate Western Wear in Richmond.
The musical was also borne out of a strong emotional catharsis for Hulsker and Abner that’s reflected in the production.
“The piece is deeply personal for me,” says Hulsker. “While working on the piece, my partner and I lost a pregnancy in a very sudden and unexpected way [and] Max went through a major shift in a long-term relationship.” The show, he goes on, is informed by mourning such losses; it also grapples with more abstract, generalized pain and grief of witnessing violent collapses associated with capitalism and colonialism.
As universal as the topic of grief might be, the show has received pushback, for its in-development production quality and the story’s unabashedly queer nature.
Hulsker says that could be because the show is being presented at theaters whose audiences are accustomed to something “easier to digest.”
He adds, “I also think that when folks hear ‘queer cowboy musical,’ they imagine something maybe more campy or flamboyant. While our work is influenced by drag, its queerness lies in facilitating a safe space to process grief in a non-normative and nontraditional way, and to use grief as a lens to examine and undo the harmful frameworks of traditional masculinity.”
Noting that the piece examines the isolation and loss queer folks experience in a society that remains binary and heteronormative, Hulsker adds, “I am incredibly fortunate to live in an area where queerness is celebrated and something that can find expression through a myriad of creative platforms.”
With the Bay Area being a unique breeding ground for creativity, he established Klanghaus to provide an outlet for independent artists, and based on feedback from collaborators, the venture has been a success.
There may be more ambitious plans after the brief tour of “Prose and Confluence.”
“This was our first attempt at devising a musical, though it was kind of by accident, and I think there’s something that’s been incredibly fun working with this medium. We’ve kicked some ideas around about taking what we learned from this process and applying it to piece on a bigger scale. I’m hopeful that we will continue to partner with theater companies eager to bring experimental theater to their audiences,” says Hulsker.
Klanghaus Productions’ “Prose and Confluence” is at 7 p.m. March 18 at San Francisco Playhouse, 450 Post St., San Francisco; 8 p.m. April 22 at Z Below, 450 Florida St., San Francisco; and 8 p.m. May 9 at Tamalpais High School, 700 Miller Ave., Mill Valley. Tickets are $25 at klanghaus.art .
Charles Lewis III is a San Francisco-born journalist and performing artist. He has written for the San Francisco Chronicle, KQED and San Francisco Examiner. Dodgy evidence of this can be found at The Thinking Man’s Idiot.wordpress.com.