It was good for a laugh until it wasn't. Like most Americans who voted, John Fisher expected the safe and sane candidate to triumph over the one who had so deliciously torn apart his fellow Republicans during the primaries. There was a play to be written, but not one about walls along the border, the decimation of Obamacare, or other political specifics of life under President Trump.
"What I found fascinating was the inner workings of his personal family life, which seems to be so much about what's going on in the seat of power," Fisher said recently. The result is "Transitions," a comedy-thriller-farce that Theatre Rhinoceros is presenting at the Gateway Theatre. "I don't imagine we can do anything about bringing him down or changing his attitudes, but by looking at him from a different angle, it may help illuminate things."
The play not only riffs on the curiously complicated relationship between Donald and Melania, but also their Russian counterparts in Vladimir Putin and ex-wife Lyudmila. The connecting figure between these two families is a drag performer named Ruby, inadvertently chosen as part of a cultural exchange with Russia.
Fisher wrote the role of Ruby for Charles Peoples III, who appeared previously at Rhino in "The Legend of Pink" and "Priscilla, Queen of the Desert." "Ruby is very focused, always knowing what she wants, and I think that is true of a lot of people living on the outside," Fisher said. "They've had to adopt a very strong attitude toward life, and she ends up saving the world."
The roles of Trump and Putin and of Melania and Lyudmila are played by the same performers. Katie Rubin is double cast as the first ladies, and Fisher is shuttling between Trump and Putin. "The back-and-forth is part of the fun of it, but from a dramaturgical point of view, I think Trump wants to run his country like Putin runs his, and that's one of the dangers of the age we are living in."
Fisher says he is playing Putin as a much more levelheaded individual than he does Trump. "Putin is not someone always responding emotionally to every situation, but trying to utilize whatever tools are at his disposal. I see him as a very focused leader of a horrible regime."
Fisher views Melania as someone who may have started out as a trophy wife, but seems to have a strong independent streak. "I see the makings of a potentially heroic figure in her, and people may be a little bit annoyed by that," Fisher said. "And I also might get in trouble for what I'm saying about the child."
Barron Trump is an offstage character who is very much a pawn between Melania and Donald, and the 11-year-old is also a symbol for Trump's need to prove his virility by siring a child long past the point of genetic responsibility. Fisher does invoke the term "special needs" in reference to Barron, a sotto voce rumor that has been floating around for a while. "That speaks to something very personal in me," Fisher said. "When I found out that at my age, I shouldn't be having children, that was a blow to my ego."
Almost every Rhino season has a play written, directed, and starring Fisher, not to mention a vast variety of characters he plays during the season in works by other authors. He also just happens to be the executive director of the theater. Asked if he cast himself in all these choice roles because of a) convenience, b) cheaper labor, c) enjoyment, or d) a giant ego, he replied, "Yes, to all of the above."
Fisher sees himself as part of a tradition of queer theater artists who do it all, citing Charles Ludlam, Charles Busch, Ronnie Larsen, and D'Arcy Drollinger. "It was my great good fortune to be able to do that in graduate school at Berkeley," Fisher said, "and then it translated into the city."
Fisher has begun auditioning for roles away from Theatre Rhino, and last fall won a best-actor award for "A History of World War II: The D-Day Invasion to the Fall of Berlin" at the United Solo Festival in New York. His 70-minute personal take on the war, including a confusing childhood attraction to Nazi officers and their uniforms, may get a local production at the Marsh this fall.
Still, he's deep into planning the 2018-19 Rhino season. "We've gotten permission to do 'Sister Act' with men in drag in the two leads, the roles that Whoopi Goldberg and Maggie Smith played, which I think is pretty cool." And he's considering "The Boy From Oz" with non-traditional casting for the Peter Allen role. "I wouldn't do it if I didn't have someone in mind," he said. "I just don't think it has to be a white guy from Australia in that role."
After nearly 15 years at the helm of Theatre Rhino, Fisher still feels his engines are revved. "I've got more energy, more ambition, more spunk, and less frustration," he said. "There are so many obstacles just to put on theater, and sometimes you wonder if it's worth it, but I persist."
"Transitions" will run through March 17 at the Gateway Theatre. Tickets are $15-$40. Call (800) 838-3006 or go to www.therhino.org.