BearParty MAGAZINE

Volume 3, Issue 3 - Summer, 2009

Summer CoverBear
Nick Moretti
Open Bar
Polynesian
“Tiki” Drinks
Backstage Pass
Joe Bailey and
Joe Plambeck

Meet and Greet

Mark Errol
 Volume 3, Issue 3 - Summer, 2009

CONTENTS
FEATURES
Welcome In . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Open Bar
Polynesian “Tiki” Drinks . . . . . . . . 6

Meet and Greet

Artist Mark Errol . . . . . . . . . . 12

Event Galleries
Bear Party in Chicago . . . . . . . . . 9
Tidal Wave in Orlando . . . . . . . . 10 Joe Bailey and Joe Plambeck - Page 26
Bear Party in St. Louis . . . . . . . . 15

BearParty Event Planner

Summer Bear Events Guide . . . . . 16

BearParty Funny Pages

Frankie & Roque . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Bear Market
BearParty Classifieds . . . . . . . . . 29

THE BACK ROOM

Backstage Pass
Joe Bailey and Joe Plambeck . . . . . 26

Summer CoverBear Gallery

Nick Moretti . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Party Favors
Newly Released Bear DVD’s . . . . . 30 Nick Moretti - Summer CoverBear - Page 21

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 Joe B. and Joe P.
Joe Bailey and
Joe Plambeck
reverse-gender staged reading of a lot of buzz was Debbie Does Dallas:
Crimes of the Heart. That summer, we The Musical. Both plays featured Joe

interviewed by Cubby Hudson

did a three week run of Vampire Bailey in hilarious, tour-de-force
Lesbians of Sodom at the same coffee performances. During Debbie, an
house. By this time, we had collected a actress had to drop out and Joe offered
solid group of actors and had a really to step in. He learned the dances
great thing going. An anonymous quicker than the other girls and brought
donor came to see Vampire Lesbians the house down every night with his
Meet & Greet

and contacted us later about starting a hilarious interpretation of the cheer-

theater company in the area. By leader, Donna. We try to approach our
November, we had a lease signed on a season with an open mind. We enjoy
small place that we would soon call bringing shows to the area which
“The Ringwald.“ We formed a board haven’t been done locally or presenting
with some of the strongest actors and well known fodder with a twist, like this
business folk we knew in the area: season’s cross-dressing The Bad Seed.
Jamie Warrow and Melissa Beckwith.
Later we added Jamie Richards, and BPM: What elements of eroticism does

T he “Who Wants Cake? Theatre” is

housed inside the Ringwald Theatre
located just outside Detroit in the lovely
abandoned hope when a drunken
night led to a kiss which has carried
six and half years into the future!!
the five of us have run the theater ever
since. We officially opened the doors
WWC bring to the stage?
continued on page 28
to the theater May 11, 2007, and have
city of Ferndale, Michigan. Who Wants since produced shows year-round.
Cake? is run by Joe Bailey, 42, and Joe BPM: Why did you decide to open a theater?
Plambeck, 30. Cubby Hudson picks the BPM: Is it hard managing a personal rela-
brains of Joe B. (JB) and Joe P. (JP) to find JP: After Joe B. and I toured for a bit tionship and a professional relationship?
out how two bears ended up running an with different Ronnie Larsen shows,
alternative contemporary theater space. he really wanted to settle back into JP: It’s not difficult to manage
his home state of Michigan, near personal and professional because for
BearParty Magazine: How did you two meet? Detroit. I asked if he minded if I came us they are really one and the same…
home with him. He agreed and we and it’s not dreadful, like it may
Joe Plambeck: Joe Bailey and I met in started birthing the idea of starting a sound. More like a fluid integration.
San Diego on December 26, 2002. We gay theater near Detroit, as there Since meeting, we were partners in
were involved in a production of wasn’t anything close to it in the area. the theater so we’ve kept that going,
Ronnie Larsen’s Making Porn at St. and our relationship has grown
Cecilia’s Playhouse. JB: It had always been a dream of stronger as well.
mine to open a theater.
Joe Bailey: Blue Blake and Matthew BPM: What’s the mission of the theatre?
Rush were witness to our love! I was JP: We formed a company called “Who What types of shows do you do?
quick to discount the whole thing, Wants Cake?” and we started putting
though, because there is a twelve- on shows wherever we could. Our first JB: We try to do stuff that is either new
year age difference between us, and I production was a benefit performance or doesn’t get produced a lot. We
just thought he was too young. Then of The Normal Heart for the Michigan definitely have a gay sensibility but
I got to know him and the rest, as AIDS Prevention Project. We did it in that’s not all we do. Our biggest hit has
they say.... the basement of a church and we been The Facts of Life: The Lost Epi-
raised maybe $1,000.00. But it felt sode, featuring me as Mrs. Garrett and
JP: It was love at first sight for me. I amazing to have something and to be Joe as Natalie.
was nervous though, as he didn’t making a difference. From there, we
seem interested in me. I had almost found a coffee shop where we did a JP: The other production that generated
26 - BearParty Magazine - Summer, 2009 Summer, 2009 - BearParty Magazine - 27
 BearParty
Joe B. and Joe P.
continued from page 27 Classifieds
Video & Web
JP: We’ve definitely pushed the JP: I feel that being a bear helps in
envelope when it comes to nudity and our casting and play choices, as we
sexuality on the stage. Our second approach it from a different angle. I
production, Del Shores’ Southern recently cast the lead in my produc-
Baptist Sissies, featured a sex scene tion of Killer Joe against type. The
between two boys up against a cross. title role is normally a tall, muscular
This wasn’t simply shock theater, it sort of brooding character, but I liked
was a moment which defined the the idea of him being sort of a
struggle the boys had with their big-gutted Texan authority type. It
religion and their sexuality. really changed a lot of the story and
the relationships people had with him
BPM: Do you have any plans to showcase and his control over them with the
bear culture in your upcoming season? different body type, although he
could be this jovial, rosy-cheeked
JP: If I have anything to say about it! man of manners in one flash and he’d
Goldicocks and the Three Bears, be bashing someone’s face into the
perhaps? Is that as overdone as Our floor and making them fellate a
Town? chicken leg in the next!

BPM: Do you feel that being bears has Who Wants Cake? Theatre in Michigan will
changed your perspective on the types of open David & Amy Sedaris’s The Book of
people you cast? Liz on July 10, 2009.

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