Coming to NYC’s Rooftop Films tomorrow, Saturday, June 28: SKANKS
David McMahon’s chronicle of community drag theatre in the conservative South had its world premiere at Slamdance at the beginning of the year. It has also screened at Boston LGBT, Indie Grits, and the Out Twin Cities fests.
In Birmingham AL,Theatre Downtown, a small community theatre, provides a space to unite outsiders – like a grown up version of high-school hierarchies, these are the drama club misfits to the rest of the community’s jocks and Bible club members. In his oddly engaging film, McMahon profiles various players as they work on an original production, a nonsensical drag musical by Billy Ray Brewton entitled SKANKS IN A ONE HORSE TOWN that involves time travel, Studio 54, Anita Bryant, and the old West. Unfortunately, the supposed hilarity of the show wears thin very quickly, with too much screen time spent on rehearsals and other behind-the-scenes schtick, making the film often feel too much like a generic “let’s put on a show” making-of doc. As a consequence, the much more compelling theme at its core – the value of this common activity for its outsider participants – gets lost at times.
what (not) to doc 