Wild and Precious: One Man’s Journey Comes to Stage

Saturday, August 1 at 7:30 pm, Orcas Center

— from Artha Kass —

Gay? Straight? Bi? Trans? Still trying to sort it out? During every moment of Wild and Precious presented by Orcas Center on Saturday, August 1 at 7:30 pm, Steve Cadwell’s story is delivered through the lens of a married gay psychotherapist in Boston who dedicates his practice to gay men. His story is everyone’s story. It’s the story of love, of being marginalized, of letting it all hang out and of fighting for what’s right.

Wild and Precious is a theatrical memoir celebrating the life of Steve Cadwell, a gay man who grew up in rural Vermont. From the moment the curtain goes up until the final bow you’ll be riveted on Cadwell’s tale: you’ll cherish the little boy playing with dolls; identify with the adolescent challenges of discovering his sexuality; and witness first-hand the gay experience of the past 60 years: Stonewall; disco; AIDS; freedom to marry; and more are put in a context that’s made real by Cadwell’s vulnerability, authenticity and integrity. This well-tuned roller coaster shoots its riders through tumults, joys, tears, and celebration. Dare to be different!

From the Rutland Herald, “Before Will & Grace, and Ellen DeGeneres’ game-changing “Yep, I’m Gay” Time magazine cover, and long before Olympic champion Bruce Jenner’s transformation into Caitlyn, the closet was a lot more crowded. A spectrum of sexuality was hinted at in mainstream society but with a very loud message: shame. The number of out and proud people that someone struggling with their own identity could look up to was limited, making the process of accepting one’s homosexuality that much more challenging.

As the writer, composer, director and performer of his one-man show Wild and Precious, Steve Cadwell tells the story of his own life growing up on a beautiful farm in Pittsford during a time of enormous social change surrounding homosexuality. Over the course of his life, he took the pain and struggle in his own process and turned it into poems. They were later collected into a selection with a narrative of stories, photographs, music and costumes that became his visceral stage show. “I change six or seven times,” he said. “I’m a gay man, so I have to have dress-up.

Cadwell’s insights transcend sexual orientation as he teaches accepting and forgiving yourself for who you are, whether gay, straight, bi or trans. Though the show is very much his story, his hope is that anyone seeing it identifies the way it resonates as a universal quest for meaning in life. The closet is really a metaphor for all of our differences. ’We all have something that we feel odd about or, hopefully, eventually feel unique for and celebrate it,’ he said. And the show Cadwell has been performing for the past year and a half, that took him his life to write, celebrates how society is overcoming shaming to now being able to celebrate with pride.”

“ The power in the relationship between the audience and the performer can be very powerful and transforming,” says Cadwell. “A lot of what I celebrate in the show is connection. It’s a real love story.”

Talk Back and Clever Cow Creamery Ice Cream Social in the Madrona Room after the show.
Tickets for Wild and Precious are $25, $19 Orcas Center members, $11 students, and may be purchased at www.orcascenter.org or by calling 376-2281 ext. 1 or visiting the Orcas Center Box Office open Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays from noon – 2 pm. For more information about Orcas Center’s 2015 season visit www.orcascenter.org.