Call it an intimate experiment. For four performances over the next two weekends, San Francisco's venerable queer Theatre Rhinoceros, which usually mounts its plays at the 175-seat Gateway Theater in Jackson Square, will present its first "pop-up" show in the heart of the Castro.
Given the tight confines of the 30-seat Spark Arts gallery, and the tighty whities (not to mention full frontal nudity) on display in playwright Duncan Pflaster's 90-minute comedy "The Underpants Godot," the production may not be the only thing popping up.
Pflaster, a prolific contributor to New York's Off-Off Broadway festival scene, readily admits that "half-naked men sell tickets." But "Underpants" is smarter than the average baring of skin.
"I have a reputation in New York for writing plays that have justified nudity," says Pflaster, whose goals for "Underpants" include playfully skewering what this production's director Alan Quismorio refers to as "beautiful gay-boy theater" such as New York's famously long-running "Naked Boys Singing."
"There's much more to this than titillation," says Quismorio of "Underpants"' brainy, meta-theatrical hijinks. In brief: A gay theater impresario rehearsing a homoerotic version of Samuel Beckett's "Waiting For Godot" is confronted by a representative of the famously litigious Beckett estate, who wants to shut the production down for taking inappropriate liberties with the material.
"The play deals with issues of artistic interpretation and adaptation," says Quismorio. "It raises questions about exploitation." For theater buffs there's plenty of brain candy along with the eye candy.
"We rehearsed for three weeks before anyone took any of their clothes off," says Quismorio, whose physically and ethnically diverse cast of six includes some actors who have never previously appeared in scantily clad roles. "I wanted to concentrate on the text, because working on that together really helps people feel comfortable with each other."
Joe Tally, Development Director at Theatre Rhinoceros, says that the company, which in the past has offered staged readings in the Castro, is glad to step up its presence in the neighborhood. Following "Underpants," a second Rhino Pop-Up, "Trade," about a hustler and his closeted john, will be performed in early April.
In addition to the inherent appeal of bringing performances by the world's longest-running queer theater into the historic hub of San Francisco's gay community, Tally says the project is a way the Rhino can give more actors and directors chances to work. "It's a way for us to create opportunities without having to do a whole lot of administrative work. Spark Arts provides the space, we pay for the rights to the plays, then we pretty much hand it off to the directors. It's really all about the director and the actors."
And the scripts. Tally has selected two adventurous, small-scale works that can be done without theatrical lighting or amplification, and will benefit from the intimate setting. They're also the kind of plays that, without efforts like the nonprofit Rhino's pop-up, are relatively rarely produced.
"Originally, I studied to be an actor, but the plays I wanted to be in didn't exist," says Pflaster, who, while supporting himself by working in property management, has written dozens of scripts over 23 years. "I like to take archaic forms and make space in them for queer people. I've pretty much stopped acting to make more time to write. I usually write on my lunch breaks and on Saturdays and Sundays. Honestly, I feel like it's my duty."
Currently, Pflaster is working on "a sequel to '12th Night' and a larger-scale musical about Cupid meeting with a matchmaker." His Russ Meyer-inspired male-stripper heist film "Strapped for Danger" is available for streaming on Amazon Prime.
With Rhino's production following stagings in New York and Phoenix, "Underpants Godot" is Pflaster's biggest success to date. While he says he'd love to see his writing "go as far as it can," he says he doesn't need to dream of Broadway or Off-Broadway to find deep satisfaction in his work, offering this quotation from one of his heroes, Charles Ludlam of the long-underground Ridiculous Theatrical Company: "There should be a wonderful place where you're crowned with laurels if you achieve something in art. That's not good enough in the commercial theater."
Perhaps Pflaster will find such a wonderful place in San Francisco when he flies in for his first-ever visit, to attend the opening of his play. As it happens, all 30 seats for that night's performance are sold out.
The Underpants Godot, a Theatre Rhinoceros Pop-Up at Spark Arts, 4229 18th St., SF. Tickets: $10-$15. 3/16 (sold out); 3/17, 2 p.m.; 3/22-23, 8 p.m. (800) 838-3006. bit.ly/UndieGodot