Christina Quintana
And How.
An education in the theater
means Angels in America,
The Baltimore Waltz,
The Normal Heart.
It means cocky tech directors
suddenly tearing up
over stories of friends lost;
former dancers building empires
in the wake of their tribe.
An education in the theater
means learning
the gay mafia is real,
and how.
Take our health,
our lives, our family.
We build worlds,
most fabulous, glamorous, glorious,
from downtown to midtown,
for all time.
We fight in grand sets,
costume dramas,
Tennessee Williams;
in Regional, Broadway,
and Off.
We remember in
orchestra seats,
dressing rooms,
rehearsal spaces.
unique
New York
New York’s
unique
you know
you need—
Fresh-faced chorus boys,
hometown stars lined for miles at the EPAs,
leaning in for the big break,
and they can have it.
The show goes on.
Christina Quintana is a New York-based writer with Cuban and Louisiana roots. Her plays have been produced in Atlanta, New Orleans, and New York City, and her poetry is published in First Class Literary Magazine, Emotive Fruition + Radiolab: Elemental Poetry for the Masses, and forthcoming in Raspa Magazine. She is a former Lambda Literary Foundation Fellow and graduate of the MFA Playwriting program at Columbia University. For more, visit cquintana.com
This poem is not previously published.