Experimental theater at The Mar: ‘The Velocity of Gary’ debuts

Bowing tonight at The Mar, the Central Avenue performance space, The Velocity of Gary (Not His Real Name) is a different sort of play.

James Sill’s time- and character-shifting story about a gay hustler in 1990s New York City is, in fact, more of a theatrical experience than a stage play.

St. Petersburg, say hello to the avant-garde.

Derek Baxter, who’s directing The Velocity of Gary this week and next, believes the time has come for embracing experimental theater.

“St. Petersburg,” he says, “has always been on the leading edge of art. And it has such a vibrant energy to it, I really believe that with live arts having been taken away from us for a year, we’re in for a renaissance and a rebirth. And a re-examination of what art means to us.”

The Velocity of Gary was re-tooled into a movie in 1998 – starring Vincent D’Onofrio, Thomas Jane and Salma Hayek – but it was not well-received. Baxter thinks the straight-ahead narrative of the film “tarnished” the reputation of Sill’s non-linear play, which was written for a single performer.

In the adaptation by Baxter’s Off Kilter Theatre, Gary is represented by actor Steven C. Fox as Voice. He sits behind a plexiglass window with a microphone, and “becomes” the various characters.

Onstage, actor Hippie Griswold is Body. “He’s an extremely physical actor that embodies the visual world of Gary in the performance space, in front of the audience,” Baxter explains. “He wears a mask the whole show and never speaks.”

Both bay area performers, adds the director, were new to avant-garde theater. “So it was a new realm for them. And they were so willing to jump in feet first and explore this with us.”

An Indiana native who moved to Florida at the age of 12, Baxter worked as an actor with Nickelodeon TV, Feld Entertainment, Disney, Busch Gardens (for seven years) and others. He has directed for numerous Bay Area theater companies.

The Velocity of Gary has been on his radar for years. “I took a Queer Performance class in college, and this was one of the texts that we studied,” he says. “And I always kind of connected to the story. One of the most important things about putting yourself out there for the first time is to really represent who you are. And I knew that I could tell this story, and could really identify with it. I wouldn’t be having to stretch myself too far.

“Granted, I wasn’t a drug addicted hustler in New York City, but I was a 20 year old gay kid in New York City trying to figure out who I was. And make some bad decisions along the way, as all of us do in life at times.”

The Velocity of Gary (Not His Real Name) is the first full production for Off Kilter Theatre, which debuted at the Tampa International Fringe Festival in 2018.

“I just felt that with so many people missing a human connection right now, we could be a little more forgiving in the fact that it’s not a well-known piece,” Baxter says. “And really examine the human experience within the piece, because that’s something we’re missing having been in quarantine – so isolated and missing live work.”

Details and tickets here.