Located in San Diego’s University Heights neighborhood, Diversionary Theatre has been centering the stories of the LGBTQ+ community for nearly 40 years. Founded in 1986, it opened in part as a response to the AIDS crisis, offering a place for the community to gather during a frightening time in our history.
“It gave the LGBTQ+ community a place to not only commune and create theater, but to escape, resist and protest… and use the theater that way,” said Stephen Brotebeck, Diversionary Theatre’s interim artistic director.
In addition to his role at Diversionary, which concludes this May, Brotebeck is a professor in the musical theater program at San Diego State University and will soon be interim director of the university’s School of Theater, Television, and Film.
Home away from home
When he first moved to San Diego, Brotebeck came across Diversionary and it instantly felt like home.
“I wanted to work there right away, just because it was the best theater I was seeing in San Diego, even on par with the Old Globe and the La Jolla Playhouse,” said Brotebeck. “It was provocative. The quality was good. The talent was amazing, and I was like, I want to work here.”
Brotebeck began his relationship with Diversionary by choreographing and associate directing the world premiere of “The Loneliest Girl in the World,” a fictionalized musical about anti-LGBTQ+ activist Anita Bryant and gay activist Thom L. Higgins, who famously threw a pie in Bryant’s face at a campaign stop in Iowa in 1977.
After the Covid-19 pandemic, Diversionary Theatre underwent a massive renovation and Brotebeck stepped in as interim artistic director.
“I just wanted to be embedded more in the queer community in San Diego, but also the queer theater scene,” said Brotebeck. “I wanted to give back to this theater that I had admired and has given so much to our community. I wanted to be able to be in service to the theater that this theater that feels it’s like a home.”
Diversionary’s numerous arts education programs are part of that feeling of home and welcome. From the Silver Squad, which provides theater classes to older adults, to the teen playwriting program, Diversionary has created a safe space for the LGBTQ+ community and their friends to experience the arts. There’s also an outreach theater program that takes queer theater out into the community.
“We also have a program called D-tours, which takes a solo show out into the community into schools, and we’re getting ready to do that right now,” said Brotebeck. “It’ll be a week-long event where we’ll do three shows in schools and two public performances at different areas throughout the city. It takes us out of our University Heights location and spreads Diversionary Theater across San Diego.”
The Clark Cabaret
Diversionary also offers a unique experience that Brotebeck calls the “crown jewel in our space.” The Clark Cabaret was part of the theater’s recent renovation, which transformed the lobby into a multi-use cabaret space where all are welcome. Named after donor Joann Clark, the Clark Cabaret is open Wednesdays through Sundays and hosts events like “Queer Film Society” and “Queer Youth Karaoke.”
“Not only do we have the Clark Cabaret, but our building houses the Lambda Archives, which is the center for queer history in San Diego,” said Brotebeck. “They partnered together and if you go to the bar at the Clark Cabaret, it’s all clippings of important events, protests and things about San Diego. And that’s what the bar cover is.”
A Thelma and Louise musical?
Right now, Diversionary is getting ready for the May 9 world premiere of the musical “TL;DR: Thelma Louise: Dyke Remix” by ElleRose Chary and Brandon James Gwinn. The musical imagines a world where Thelma and Louise didn’t actually go out in that blaze of glory.
“Envision Thelma and Louise going off the cliff, and then time stops as they drive their 1966 Ford Thunderbird on the edge,” said Brotebeck. “They’re suspended in midair, and then the two of them discover their authentic selves and go on a queer journey. A queer odyssey that defies conventions.”
The show’s tagline is “Why do strong female characters always gotta die?”
“And then you have this kickass girl riot band, and the whole show is T and L trying to sort out their new identities,” said Brotebeck. “How those identities impact relationships and seek the gay, happy ending they’ve always deserved. It is a rock musical with so much comedy, and it really goes into a sort of lesbian, queer fandom as well.”
Supporting queer theater
Diversionary is a nonprofit theater that relies on a dedicated group of donors, trustees and grants to keep the doors open to the community.
“We really rely on the generosity of our donors. I mean, that is the main crux of where much of our funding comes in,” said Brotebeck. Everything in the theater is named. The Clark Cabaret is named after Austin and Joann Clark. We have the Robert L. Granat & Alfred J. Mazur Mainstage Theatre main stage. “Even our offices have been sponsored by generous donors.”
While his time as the artistic director comes to a close, Brotebeck encourages the community of San Diego and beyond to come experience Diversionary.
“When you come to Diversionary, our Clark Cabaret opens at 5 p.m. every day from Wednesday through Sunday and opens a little bit earlier on Sunday,” said Brotebeck. “It truly is a home; you can come even when we don’t have a show on. Have a drink at the bar. There’s always something going on. There’s a drag performance. There’s a music performance. There’s a viewing of a film. It’s a place for the community to gather and see extremely impactful, queer theater that addresses issues that either we have gone through and those that are still relevant today.”
To check out what’s going on at Diversionary or pick up tickets to “TL;DR: Thelma Louise: Dyke Remix” visitdiversionary.org.