David Rabe's Streamers is historically significant in that it was written more than 30 years ago by a heterosexual white male, yet it's an ultimately sympathetic play about sexual, racial and class tension in the military during the Vietnam era. The Roundabout's gripping Off-Broadway revival at the Laura Pels Theater is one of the company's finest productions ever to be offered in that venue.
Set in an army barracks in Virginia in 1965, Streamers introduces us to Richie, a far more openly gay fellow than one would expect to find in the army at that time. He camps around and flirts shamelessly with his barracks-mates, so much so that they think he may be feigning homosexuality just to freak them out. Richie's behavior eventually leads to violence but, surprisingly, the play contains some gay-positive attitudes - expressed by members of the armed forces, no less.
Streamers, part of Rabe's unofficial "Vietnam trilogy" that also includes The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel and Sticks and Bones, is one of the author's most realistic works, yet it features several near-poetic passages - not to mention some singing, when the guys croon "Beautiful Streamer" to the tune of "Beautiful Dreamer." (The symbolic title of the play is a reference to parachutes that fail to open, and we're subjected to horrific descriptions of men who found themselves in that unfortunate position.)
The rock-solid cast of the Roundabout production is led by Hale Appleman as Richie, Brad Fleischer as Billy (the object of his affections) and Atto Essandoh as Carlyle, a black man who's terribly conflicted over whether or not he wants to let Richie service him sexually. (I won't tell you what happens, but let's just say it doesn't go well.) Charlie Hewson, J.D. Williams, John Sharian, Larry Clarke, Cobey Mandarino, E.J. Cantu, Jason McDowell Green, and Axel Avin, Jr. round out the cast.
Scott Ellis' direction is excellent, and so are the show's design elements, particularly Neil Patel's unit set and Jeff Croiter's lighting.
While Streamers certainly can't be considered an argument in favor of gays in the military, it's an intelligent and powerful piece that shows us how fear of "otherness" is often the biggest problem in situations where people from diverse backgrounds are thrown together. Instead of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," our armed forces would do better to adopt the policy "mind your own business," which is not at all the same thing.
