Ronald Reagan Murdered My Mentors

Presented by FUSE Theatre Ensemble and BlaQ OUT Productions.
Original Play by C. Julian Jiménez. Directed by James Dixon.

ORIGINAL RUN: Feb 09 - Feb 26, 2023. Thurs - Sun (Matinee).

Set Design: Rusty Tennant. Light Design: Lara Klingeman. Costume Design: Blaise Bonfire. Graphic Design: Kate Faye Cummings. Sound Design: Aleks Hollis. ALL PHOTOGRAPHY: Greg Parkinson. Special Thanks: Oregon Leather History Project

Starring: Anthony Harden, Nick Hongola, Rae Davis, Angie Tennant, Sam Gordon, and Sean Kirkpatrick.

Fuse Theatre Ensemble and BlaQ OUT present Ronald Reagan Murdered My Mentors, a raw, introspective new play which investigates the barriers to love and happiness gay men in America have faced since the onset of the AIDS epidemic.

In the play, Lost, a Queer Latine man, struggles to navigate queer life after the AIDS epidemic obliterated an entire generation of Queer male role models. Lost seeks solace in an anonymous voice on the other end of a telephone as he attempts to find his place and accept his sexuality. As the play bounces between 3 decades, he is tormented by dead Queer icons and their murderer, Ronald Reagan.

”For our entire history as a Queer-led company, we have avoided the trope of “The AIDS Play.” This was not because there aren’t amazing stories out there to be told of the heroism of that period in our collective history, rather it is because it allowed so many people to focus on our trauma for so long instead of celebrating our joy.
After all these years, it is time. RONALD REAGAN MURDERED MY MENTORS is as beautifully poetic as it is painfully reminiscent, and it fills us with joy to present this provocative telling of our shared history. It tells the story of the AIDS crisis from the perspective of where we stand now, as the first generation to be able to live authentically as ourselves while carrying the weight of an entire generation decimated by the ineptitude and hate of American politics and policy. It is filled with music, dance, poetry, sex, love and pure Queerness. “ - FUSE Theatre