It’s Prom Night for the Dirty John’s cabaret crew

The titles of the Dirty John’s cabaret shows, which have taken place on a semi-regular schedule over the past five years, give a clue as to their content: HOT AF, Say Gay Cabaret, Dirty John in Outer Space, Hot Box, Dragula and of course those Yuletide perennials Naughty Not Nice and Jingle Balls.

There are more, but you get the drift.

Since it’s Pride Month, John Huls, his partner Jay Hoff and the other actor-writer-comedians in their ever-evolving company have cooked up a special show: Dirty John’s Big Gay Prom: The Musical, tonight, Friday and Saturday at the gang’s longtime home space, The Studio@620.

In honor of the venue’s founder and soon-to-retire director, said prom takes place at Bob Devin Jones All-Gay High School.

“There’s one girl that’s straight at the school, and everybody hates her,” Huls – who plays said girl – explains. “We were thinking about the movie Carrie, and the pig’s blood. So we thought about all kinds of things that could spill down on the little straight girl.”

The show is scheduled for three successive nights because they almost always sell out, “with no advertising,” Huls muses. “It’s very fun to have a … following, I guess is the word.”

(Friday’s performance had already sold out by press time.)

In five years, he says, his company has raised nearly $10,000 for The Studio@620 (all proceeds are donated directly to the venue).

An artist, actor and educator, Huls was American Stage’s education director; it was there he began teaching improv and standup comedy. “And I thought ‘They need to have another outlet – one that’s not politically correct.’ So that they would be free to express themselves in a different way. They wouldn’t have to censor themselves.”

The Dirty John’s “formula” has successfully morphed over time. “It’s sketch comedy, but we have changed what the actual idea of it was five years ago, which was improv, and started writing sketches,” reports Huls.

“Then I met Ryan Hill – I actually knew her mother – and we became great friends.

“She was trained at Berklee, and has the voice of a goddess. And we started doing burlesque, where we would do bawdy sketches, and she would sing some incredible, beautiful song. And now she’s our musical director, and she directs all our shows. It’s more of a slant of music, dance and comedy. That’s what we’ve become.”

There are eight members of the company in its current iteration (it’s gone up to 15 on occasion). “The thing that fascinates me with actors, of course – if you do get together with a group of them and you say ‘It’s a clean slate; what can our next show be about?’ – just the ideas that fill the room are fun and exciting,” Huls explains.

“And we have no budget, so we have to just kind of be creative and suspend our disbelief. Which I love about the theater.”

In the coming months, the company plans to branch out and perform at other venues, including SPACE (they did one there in ’23), FloridaRAMA and the Wet Spot gay bar, where there’s a swimming pool.

Huls is thinking about a synchronized swimming show he intends to title Cirque du So Gay.

Until then, there’s a prom to put on.

“The weirdest thing about our group is that we only have like one day a week to rehearse – and we usually rehearse one month out,” he says. “So we really do have to rely on our improv skills, because obviously that’s not enough time to rehearse a show.

“But we’ve figured out how to do it. And we’re actually really well prepared for this show, more than we’ve ever been for any other show. It’s gonna be a good one.”

For tickets and more information, click here.