Sally Ride was a trailblazer many times over.
Not only was the astronaut and physicist the first American woman in space, but the youngest American astronaut in space up to that point, crossing the Kármán line for the first time at the age of 32.
She was also the first known LGBTQ+ astronaut. Ride’s sexuality was acknowledged in her 2012 obituary, which mentioned Tam O’Shaughnessy as her partner of 27 years.
Ride serves as the organizing principle of “Dr. Ride’s American Beach House,” a play being staged this month by Yes, And! Theatrical Co. Taking place on a hot St. Louis rooftop on the eve of Ride’s first mission to space in 1983, Liza Birkenmeier’s play begins with two women meeting for a book club.
Harriet is crabby and principled; Matilda is clever and charming. Though Matilda is married and Harriet has a boyfriend, the women have their own charged connection. The balance of their relationship is turned sideways when Meg, a fully out butch lesbian with a flirtatious streak, joins them for the book club.
“The show is really uplifting. I’m very hopeful that people connect with it the way that I have,” says director Kelsey Cordrey. “We really love this play, and it’s really reflective of our own experiences, being these young women who are on the cusp of the rest of their lives.”
When Meg announces that Ride is a lesbian, even though she is married to a man, it’s a revelation for Matilda and Harriet.
“The prospect of this American woman in space holds so much promise for these three women,” explains Cordrey, adding that their lives feel bleak at that moment. “It’s the dawn of Reaganite politics. It’s the beginning of the AIDS crisis. Natural disasters have claimed the lives of thousands out West, and, very much mirroring today, there’s a major crisis in the Middle East.”
Kasey Britt, who plays Meg, says that Harriet and Matilda’s relationship mirrors that of Ride and her previous girlfriend Molly Tyson.
“Meg is the catalyst for the rest of the show. My whole job is to come in and flirt as hard as I can,” Britt says. “Meg’s presence forces these two women to address what their relationship is. It’s something that they have avoided for many, many, many years, and Meg’s presence, as someone who is so openly queer, forces them to address this question in a way that they’re not prepared for.”
Ashley Thompson, who plays Harriet in the show, says Ride “is sort of like this monolithic figure, especially for my character. She has a deep admiration of Sally Ride and views her as this person that she wants to be. Maybe if she was a little bit more brave, or a little bit more willing to be herself, she could be like Sally Ride.”
Part of the show’s challenge, Thompson says, is that it takes place in real time without any scene breaks or transitions.
“Harriet does have a lot of lines,” Thompson says. “She has a few really big, meaty, chunky storytelling bits where she’s describing things that happened in Florida on her trip to see her mother.”
Britt says rehearsals have been “absolutely delightful.”
“It feels like we’re genuinely getting to know each other at the same pace as our characters,” Britt says. “It’s just a lot of play. It’s a lot of us shooting the shit, which is a nice way to run a rehearsal room. It makes you feel very open to being emotionally vulnerable, which lets you make bigger choices.”
Cordrey lauds the script for its focus on the stories of queer women.
“It’s very queer,” she says. “I feel like we’re getting there on queer representation in theater and plays specifically, not just people’s identities off the stage, but I still feel like a lot of that focus is on the queer male experience, which is obviously important too. I feel like the queer female experience is overlooked so much.”
Yes, And! Theatrical Co.’s “Dr. Ride’s American Beach House” runs March 7-23 at the Firehouse Theatre, 1609 W. Broad St. For more information, visit yesandrva.org.
