As Voltaire once said of God, if Roy Moore didn’t exist, then someone would have to invent him. The man is a cartoonish amalgamation of every stereotype of rabid Southern Puritanism, given to a flair for the dramatic and an aesthetic appreciation of granite that would have cost him a career in any sane state.
Unfortunately for us, Roy Moore is all too real, and he’s got a very good chance to be our once and future Chief Justice, back in time to defend the helpless citizens of Alabama against the myriad moral ills he feels plague them. (Thanks, Roy!)
In the same spirit as its first run back in 2004, Judge Roy Moore is Coming to Dinner returns this month to the Carver Theatre to strike an artistic blow for sanity in insane times. Playwright Tom Wofford and director Jamie Lawrence of the newly minted Actors Theatre of Alabama have revived the show in part to thumb their nose at the stiff-necked former judge in time for his comeback tour, as well as to hone in on the very real threat Moore’s strain of intransigent intolerance poses to American families.
The play centers on a law student returning to his wealthy Birmingham parents to inform them that not only is he gay, but also that he’s got a husband in San Francisco. Things get even more hectic when his in-laws fly in from Brooklyn, causing the two families to begin to fray badly.
Observing the action like a homophobic Greek chorus is Roy Moore (Brian Webber), whose vitriol isn’t merely a source of distant humor. As the drama heightens, it’s an example of how hate can turn pressure into an outright boil.
The play drew national attention in its first iteration, and even led Moore himself to rave that it was “a mockery of the sacred institution of marriage.” (No word on whether he was on horseback when he said this.) It’s the second production from Actors Theatre of Alabama, whose first show, The Glass Menagerie, was selected for inclusion in the Tennessee Williams Festival in Provincetown, Massachusetts.
The Carver Theatre is located at 1631 4th Avenue N. Judge Roy Moore is Coming to Dinner will run there from October 11-12, 17-20, and 24-27 at 7:30 p.m., with Saturday matinees on October 20 and 27 at 2:30. Tickets are $25. For more information, call (205) 777-5857.
