I almost didn’t get tickets to this play—bodybuilding isn’t something that appeals to my interests plus we had a show to go to on Saturday and I was like, “Well, back-to-back events probably won’t fly with Henry, oh well, I’ll wait for something else to come up at Glitterbox.”

But then they (Glitterbox) was hyping this HARD. Apparently, someone there heard about it and felt so strongly about it that they offered to produce it at GBX. Say less, GBX. Say less.

Henry said he was fine with doing both this and the show we already had tickets for at Bottlerocket the next night,  so YAY, I bought tickets for the Friday show and was stoked to have two things to look forward to!

I immediately felt so good being back (less than a week after the last event!). You know this is part of my identity now when my therapist was like, “I saw Glitterbox when we were driving home from Kennywood!” I like being there because no one looks at me like, “Why are you here?”

Anyway! There was a healthy crowd there for this show and I was happy about that! It made me hope that if I were ever to have some kind of “look at my art” event or something, I would have people who cared enough about me to come out and show their support. That must be a really special feeling!

Henry did tell me that he felt like I could write a play and that made me elbow him and roll my eyes but internally I was like AW SHUCKS.

Henry went to the concession stand to get beverages—my go to as you know is spicy Jackworth ginger beer and Henry always goes for an NA beer. A few minutes later, I sent him back up for Cheezits and the concession gal went, “Oh, back again!” and it was so cute. I was sitting pretty close so I heard that but then apparently they asked Henry his name and told him their name is Calliope and now I’m mad because he met a GBX person without me!!! They were also at the first clown show we went to, working the concession stand and also participating in some of the skits.

(THEY’RE ALSO A CLOWN!!!)

(THEY WERE ALSO WEARING THE CUTEST DRESS THAT REMINDED ME OF SWITZERLAND.)

Then it was time for the play!

The synopsis is: A bodybuilder named Michael is sent to court-ordered therapy. His therapist tells him to keep a diary, which leads him to confront his past and present while trying to figure out what it means to be a good person.

The MC of the night did warn us that while there were lots of funny parts, this play featured some very heavy themes. They weren’t kidding. Holy shit did we laugh but then there were parts that made me feel like I was punched in the gut and I realized that I wasn’t breathing because I was so stressed out.

Basically, Michael does not take therapy seriously at all but then finally is like OK FINE I WILL TRY TO WRITE DOWN MY FEELINGS (after saying that it was “gay” to do so) and slowly he starts to unravel childhood trauma perpetuated by his redneck homophobic abusive (in every sense) father.

The emotions!

The acting was incredible, the writing was SO BRILLIANT (there is a whole “bros before hoes” but make it about the gym monologue that had us dying—and an elderly woman in the front row was frowning SO HARD through it which made us crack up even more! It was so raunchy and contextually misogynistic – the type of humor that you feel like you need permission to laugh at because it’s 2026 and we don’t say these things anymore! But the super sleazy meathead mentality makes sense once all of Michael’s layers are peeled back and you find out that he has a trans sister in high school who he saves from his parents and now lives with Michael.

Gavin Carnahan really nailed it. I hope he gets the opportunity to travel with this because it needs to be seen by more people! I am so so so glad that we decided to go, thanks to GBX promoting it so well. And thanks to Henry for being up for whatever in this strange season of our lives.

And!!! Someone there brought it fresh veggies and was encouraging everyone to take some home! We took a tomato and two baby peppers.

Solid entertainment that gives us things to talk about for days later, and free veggies. That’s GBX for you. <3

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