Enter Stage Right: A Republican in New York Theatre

A conservative actor and producer holds a political coming out party in perhaps the most hyper-liberal place in the world: the New York City theater scene.

Photos by Carlos Detres

I was checking the Phillies score on my phone when Eliel, the night manager at the Bowery Poetry Club, popped out and found me in my usual pre-show pace and smoke routine. “You know who I like?” he said. “Condoleezza Rice. Thatʼs who you guys should have gone with.”

Eliel means it. Heʼs told me many times that he admires Rice and thinks she would be a good President. But Elielʼs point goes beyond the horserace or even the merits of political views. In a very real way, he was saying: “Youʼre a conservative, that’s cool, letʼs talk.”

Over the previous few years, I had used my modest public platform as the host of the short play series Sticky to talk to audience members about being a Republican. On this night, my political sideshow would take a more central stage. In a version of the show we called Super PAC Sticky, we let the audience choose whether 10% of their ticket price would go to the campaign of President Obama or Governor Romney. The plan was that I would ma…