The Physicality of Queerness in "An Army of Lovers" by R. Eric Thomas
When I watched An Army of Lovers, a new queer play by R. Eric Thomas that looks at the restrictions of capitalism on the freedoms of queerness, in its production at Azuka Theatre, I found myself asking an odd question: “Why is the Walgreens that Page walks to for pens so far from the Independence Campus?” Page (an older Black lesbian activist from a time before gay marriage was legal) herself says that the Walgreens is five miles away, and she is happy to walk all the way there and back in her pumps.
Upon further reflection, I realized that this is perhaps the most vital aspect of queerness the play discusses - the physicality of queerness.
The reality is, the world Connection’s Independence Campus, a company town, is so physically restrictive, it is impossible for these characters to live in their authentic queer selves. In fact, even calling them “people” here is antithetical to the company’s attitude; though Janine is “Head of People,” Page’s request to “meet the people” of the Independence Campus confuses the employees - as Jordan, Janine’s second in command and “a company man” says, “There are no people here. Everyone here works for Connection” (Thomas 2, 19). Page’s request that her chapbook, a collection of letters from her experience in the queer movement where she met Chuck (now a Connection employee utilizing the company’s health insurance for his husband Dean’s MS treatments), be added to the Independence library, is accommodated by Jordan by adding it to a digital library, not at all the physical building that Page requests to visit.
Page’s attachment to the physical world is what keeps her grounded in her queerness. Chloe, a young Black queer woman and Janine’s protege, is similarly affected by this physical world, entranced by the birch trees that exist just outside of the walls of the compound. It is necessary, then, that Chloe join Page on this five-mile journey, to feel the pavement under her feet and see the world outside of Connection. It is this physical connection, as opposed to the technological/ephemeral Connection present in the walls of every building on the compound, that frees Chloe to leave connection and continue Page’s legacy.
Freedom isn’t free, and the characters in this play have all but forgotten that. Another question I asked while watching addresses this - “Why do we never see Chuck’s husband?” Page accuses Chuck of abandoning the movement for the comfort and security of his life at Connection, and while it is impossible to vilify Chuck for his choice to help his disabled husband, we do see the consequences of the choice to join Connection - Dean is mentioned, but never seen, and so no moment of tenderness or intimacy between the them exists on stage.
This consequence extends to Page’s story as well - her wife Marianne divorced her as a result of her dedication to the queer movement. As she tells Chloe outside of the Walgreens, "I have always wrestled with two desires, Chloe: the desire to be apart—separation—and the desire to be a part—belonging. And so I chose in that moment” (Thomas 65). However, in making her choice to be in the work of freeing others, she is able to step outside of the walls of Independence and the walls of capitalism in order to see the physical and natural world that is there for us to exist within.
This choice, the physical world and the ephemeral world of capitalism, is one that everyone must decide for themselves. However, it is a choice with perhaps more dire stakes for queer people. To be trans, to be gay, to be anything but cisgendered and heteronormative, and accept that about yourself, to hold the physical ephemera of it out into the world and say “look at this part of me,” is a difficult thing in America in so many ways. Drag performance bans, “bathroom bans,” and colloquially named “Don’t Say Gay” laws aim to make it impossible for queer people to exist as themselves in America. This play looks at the effects of this type of divorce from the natural world of physicality on queer people, and extends a hand to help us to freedom. As Page writes in her letter to Marianne, “‘We are here, I believe, to hold each other, to save each other, to touch each other’” (Thomas 39). This touch is what An Army of Lovers invites of the audience, and this touch is what is vital to queer freedom.
Works Cited
Thomas, R. Eric. An Army of Lovers. Directed by Kash Goins, performance by Zuhairah, Azuka
Theatre, Simpatico Theatre, 9 May 2024, Proscenium Theatre at the Drake,
Philadelphia.
Thomas, R. Eric. An Army of Lovers. New Play Exchange,
https://newplayexchange.org/plays/2568025/army-lovers. Accessed 26 May 2024.
