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Can my Girlfriend borrow your car?

posted by Terence Keane on Mon, Apr 5, 2010
in Backstage buzz , Our shows

Guillermo’s 1975 Chevrolet

Our next show, Girlfriend, is a boy-meets-boy love story. The guys in the play — like many teenagers — spend most of their time just driving around. They go to the drive-in. They park out under the stars. They sing along to the radio while speeding down lonely roads. They "cruise the Butte."

So when it came time to take a publicity photo for the show, we knew we needed just one prop: a car. We wanted to create an iconic image of young love — a couple sitting in a convertible up on lovers' lane — and make people do a double take when they realized it was queer. Wait, is that two guys?

The director, Les Waters, agreed it was a great idea. But that brought me back to a little problem: where was I going to get a classic convertible to use for the picture? It's not like we have one lying around with the other props in our warehouse.

We put the word out on Facebook, and contacted local car clubs... Before we knew it we were inundated with people who adore their cars and loved the idea of loaning them to us for a few hours. So we wanted to show off a few of the hot rods we were offered by generous folks in our community.

Particular thanks go out to local comedian Lisa Geduldig, who shared what she'd learned when trying to find a convertible for Charo to ride in at the Pride Parade, and the Freewheelers Car Club (a local group of LGBT auto enthusiasts). We hit pay dirt when the Freewheelers introduced us to Henry and Richard, a couple in Richmond who have an entire fleet of classic cars.

Here are glamour shots of some of the vehicles we were offered by folks, both gay and straight, who were willing to loan my Girlfriend a car: