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I'd like to fool with my baby tonight
Break every rule with my baby tonight
But pillow you'll be my baby tonight
Cause it's too darn hot
Back in the summer of 1994 I was firmly planted in the closet. I was so comfortable in that closet I had it furnished and wallpapered. I Had a girl friend, played baseball and worked for a great guy building patios and decks for the couples in middle class subdivisions who liked to pretend they had more money than they actually did.
There were a few cracks starting in that armour of straightness, they were small but getting larger. I kept myself as busy as possible as not to have too much alone time with my girlfriend. Ihad big poofy wavy feathered hair that I spent far too much time on, and most of my free time was spent working on the muscial theatre's summer festival (duh).
The production that summer was Cole Porter's Kiss Me Kate. We spent most evenings Monday through Thursday and all day Saturday and Sunday's working in a small, musty, air conditioner free, playhouse. If the building, which at one time had been church, had more than 100 seats it might have gotten to call itself a theatre, Given it's size, and location in the middle of nowhere, playhouse it was. Actually, it just felt like nowhere as it was about a 3 minute walk down a path in the woods from the parking lot to the building. This walk proved problematic with the elderly and anytime we had anyone who struggled with walking. Wheelchairs were a nightmare! It meant that the cast, in full dress, met guests as they arrived to help them to their seats. Thankfully we only averaged about 40 or 50 people a night.
Why, you may ask, am I boring you with this early acting job,(it was a job actually, the cast got to split half the ticket sales) when there are all these incredible images of Darius to enjoy. Well...first off, I am aware that whenever I feature Marlen Boro's work, most people ignore everything I write anyway and just enjoy the pictures. Secondly, when I first saw this shoot I got hit with an intense déjà vu moment. More than a moment actually, it brought back a really important moment of change.
My part in Kiss Me Kate was the rarely remembered minor character Paul. Paul was Fred (the leads) dresser and our Fred was insanely hot. Although Paul only had about 10 or 12 lines, he did get to kick off the second act by singing one of the shows most famous songs, Too Darn Hot. My costume for the number was pretty much exactly what Darius is sporting in this feature (the first half of it anyway...). I had tight black pants and sleeveless shirt and striped suspenders. What I remember most is the director wanting the back up dancers to rip off my shirt at the end of the song so I was shirtless with just the suspenders on. Initially I balked at this. I had no issue being shirtless or with my bodies appearance. But...being so firmly planted in the closet I did resist acting overtly sexual. It made me feel more exposed than usual. The director of course wanted whistles and cat calls as the shirt ripped off (and pinning that ripped shirt just right to rip off properly was no easy task!).
After my initial resistance, I ended up getting thoroughly into the moment. So much so that that director ended up asking me to tone it down. Even though the whistles and cat calls were stage directions, I still ended up enjoying my minor strip moment. Although I did not expose as much skin as Darius does here, I emotionally, ended up exposing quite a bit more.
Thanks to Marlen Boro and Darius for not only sharing their work, and kick starting a important memory. I will try my best when I doing my follow-up with their second shoot to try to stay more on topic, but no promises...
Male Boudior Photography by Marlen Boro
Gentlemen Photography by Marlen Boro on facebook
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