Courtesy art: Max (in yellow star without hat) Mitchell Horn, Horst (pink triangle with hat) Curtis Gestner

Getting ‘Bent’

UTD students dig deep to bring story of gays in the Holocaust to the stage

RICH LOPEZ  |  Staff writer

rich@dallasvoice.com

As newer legislation across the country displays glaring homophobia and transphobia, UT Dallas students remind that history can repeat itself — it just looks different. On Thursday, April 21, The UTD School of Arts and Humanities, with the Ackerman Center for Holocaust Studies, will open Bent, a story about persecution of gays in Nazi Germany.

And in the middle of all that, it is a story of love and pride. 

Playwright Martin Sherman premiered Bent in 1979 in London. The cast included Ian McKellen as the main character, Max.

The story begins with the story of Max and Rudy who try to flee to France but are ultimately arrested. After they are separated, Max meets Horst, who teaches him about being true to yourself even in terrible, oppressive times.

Director Christopher Trevino this week talked about working on the show with students who didn’t know the history and the discussions that the cast and crew had to have to bring the show to life. Trevino serves as the assistant technical director for the department but will serve as a first time director for this show. 

Dallas Voice: Bent is certainly a classic in queer theater with some heavy messages. How has it been directing this as your first show? Christopher Trevino: I think I picked a doozy for my first show. It’s challenging, but it’s going well. The process has been enjoyable, and I just really find myself having to stay on top of everything in every department for the show.

How has your cast taken to this story? People didn’t know this story — at least about homosexuals being persecuted during the Holocaust. This was their first time hearing that story, which I think sometimes gets left behind. There have been a lot of thought processes and a lot of decisions that I  — and we — had to make.

I imagine there had to be quite a bit of research or dramaturgy or even just conversation about this before getting started — especially with some not knowing the history. I have a student who is serving as our dramaturg, and we’re both researching key things such as Dachau [concentration camp] and how that mostly men were persecuted since they weren’t continuing the bloodline.

We all watched Paragraph 175, a documentary about the law that criminalized sexual relations between men when the Nazis rolled in. We learned that some men would hide their identity while some stuck to their guns. The play explores both sides of that with the characters: Max has to figure out whether to be true to himself and speak his truth or is he going to live a life that is basically a lie. 

How long was the preparation? We had about two weeks of tablework. Each night we’d talk about the characters

Haydn Lopez did a compendium, this 18-page doc of different tidbits of the show that were mentioned. We’d write down words or names that some of the younger cast didn’t know. We’d talk about the playwright and scenes and the history. All these names would come up, like Marlene Dietrich or the Nazi leaders. I think the cast needed to know about the backgrounds of these people that they are saying lines about.

For those who may not know, could you explain the title? That came up in our tablework as well. “Bent” was this offensive word that described homosexuals. So basically it was this slur. 

What is your hope for this play? We’re excited. I hope people will come with an open mind and begin a conversation. We’re also going to have UTD’s first Pride night on April 22, and we’ll have three talkbacks (see sidebar), and, on April 28, we’ll have a moment of silence to recognize Holocaust Remembrance Day. 

Bent opens Thursday and runs through April 30 at University Theatre at UTD. $15. Calendar.UTDallas.edu