Places: Torch Song Trilogy

*International Torch Song TrilogyStud Bar. Gay men’s hangout in New York City’s Greenwich Village that contained the most notorious backroom bar of its time. Opened in 1969, it consisted of two rooms, one with a regular bar setup and the other a venue for casual sexual encounters. In Harvey Fierstein’s play, it is depicted onstage as a series of platforms with as little scenery as possible. The sparse sets force the audience to focus on the characters and not their surroundings.

Apartments. Both Arnold’s apartment and Ed’s apartment are merely platforms on stage; each is furnished with only one chair, one table, and one telephone. The chairs themselves are descriptive of their owners: Arnold’s is worn and comfortable, hinting at both his experience and his comfort with his sexuality, while Ed’s is new and straight, a reference to his prudish and closeted attitude toward his bisexuality.

Vacation house. Farmhouse in upstate New York where Ed and Laurel invite Arnold and his new lover, Alan, to spend the weekend. The set consists of an eight-by-nine-foot bed, heaped with all the props needed in the course of the play. The bed serves as all the rooms in the house. Although both couples are in the bed at the same time, they are illuminated separately so they never appear to be in bed together. The intent is to show the vulnerability of the characters without being offensive. The conversations are orchestrated in the same manner as the musical style of a fugue, and different colored lights are used to indicate the pairings when the conversations become more complex.

Arnold and David’s apartment. Two-bedroom apartment overlooking New York City’s Central Park. The stage directions describe it as “a realistically represented living/dining room and kitchenette.” In scene 3, the sofa doubles as a park bench. The nighttime Central Park setting is produced through the use of lightshields (gobos) and projections. This serves to make the audience aware of the simultaneous events unfolding.