‘P-Town’ by the Local Actors Guild of Saratoga
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. >> Like so many legendary places, Provincetown, Massachusetts, is as much a state of mind as it is a real place.
In fact, to refer to Provincetown as Provincetown is to admit you really don’t know the place. To all who care about the resort town at the end of Cape Cod, it’s simply P-Town.
Which tells you a lot about the play “P-Town.” The production is being given its world premiere by the Local Actors Guild of Saratoga at the Arts Center on Broadway in Saratoga Springs this weekend and next weekend. P-Town is a unique place that means a lot to playwright and Saratoga Springs resident, Jj Buechner.
For those who aren’t familiar with Provincetown, it is located on the extreme northern tip of Cape Cod and was the spot the Pilgrims landed in 1620. Sometime in the early- 20th century, it became a summer artist colony and evolved into a spot beloved by the LGBTQ community. Its notoriety as a place for personal flamboyance and unqualified acceptance made it a popular tourist spot. Today the population of 3,000, increases to as much as 60,000 in-season.
Those are the statistics and a history of Provincetown. Its heart and soul is another thing. And that is what Buechner is attempting to capture in “PTown.” Without doubt, it is a personal story for the playwright. A fact made obvious when he revealed he chose to start the story in 1978. “It’s the year I was born,” he says.
In a recent telephone interview, Buechner describes his intent when he says, “I wanted to capture what it was like from the 70s through the 90s. It was a magical, colorful place.”
He emphatically states his continuing love for Provincetown, saying, “My husband and I have a timeshare there and we love it.” However, he sounds a bit rueful when he says, “The play takes place before gentrification. Things have changed.”
As an example, Buechner jokingly, but not-so-jokingly, says, “You used to be able to buy great boas everywhere for $6. Now you can hardly find a boa, let alone a cheap boa.”
Indeed, it is this type of flamboyant humor that he tries to capture in “P-Town.” He calls the play “a comedy,” but admits there is a serious element to the work. “Whenever I told a resident that I was writing a play about P-Town they would tell me, “You have to be honest and include the 80s. You would be doing the town a great disservice if you omitted the AIDS crisis.”
Buechner says that his last play, “Chasing Charles,” was a work about his cousin, a professional makeup person, who died of AIDS. He says that he was reluctant to return to the topic of AIDS. However, he agrees that to deny the effect the plague had on the community would be a disservice to those who lost so many people to AIDS in the 80s.
He describes the play as “sort of a time capsule. It shows how P-Town changed and how people change,” adding “It’s a tribute to the resilience of those everywhere who survive periods of great change.”
The play accomplishes this sense of community by being set at the B & P Bed and Breakfast, where the proprietors Bea and Little Pearl have a continuing relationship with those who return year after year. Buechner says that besides a clean room and a meal, visitors are also recipients of “acceptance, unconditional love, and even joy.”
Buechner makes the point that while the play is specifically about Provincetown, many of the issues of change are also happening in New York City and Saratoga Springs. “I love living in Saratoga, but it too has changed so much.” He trades his boa example for the 5 & 10 cent store. “I remember a Woolworth’s store in a strip mall at the entrance to the town. I go to that spot now and can’t even imagine what it was like.”
Hum. Maybe Buechner just found his next play?
Until then, “P-Town” plays at the Dee Sarno Theater in the Arts Center, 320 Broadway in Saratoga Springs, March 13-16 and March 22-24. Tickets $20. (518) 393-3496.