BearParty MAGAZINE

Volume 3, Issue 3 - Summer, 2009

Summer CoverBear
Nick Moretti
Open Bar
Polynesian
“Tiki” Drinks
Backstage Pass
Joe Bailey and
Joe Plambeck

Meet and Greet

Mark Errol
 Volume 3, Issue 3 - Summer, 2009

CONTENTS
FEATURES
Welcome In . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Open Bar
Polynesian “Tiki” Drinks . . . . . . . . 6

Meet and Greet

Artist Mark Errol . . . . . . . . . . 12

Event Galleries
Bear Party in Chicago . . . . . . . . . 9
Tidal Wave in Orlando . . . . . . . . 10 Joe Bailey and Joe Plambeck - Page 26
Bear Party in St. Louis . . . . . . . . 15

BearParty Event Planner

Summer Bear Events Guide . . . . . 16

BearParty Funny Pages

Frankie & Roque . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Bear Market
BearParty Classifieds . . . . . . . . . 29

THE BACK ROOM

Backstage Pass
Joe Bailey and Joe Plambeck . . . . . 26

Summer CoverBear Gallery

Nick Moretti . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Party Favors
Newly Released Bear DVD’s . . . . . 30 Nick Moretti - Summer CoverBear - Page 21

2 - BearParty Magazine - Summer, 2009 Summer, 2009 - BearParty Magazine - 3

 Joe B. and Joe P.
Joe Bailey and
Joe Plambeck
reverse-gender staged reading of a lot of buzz was Debbie Does Dallas:
Crimes of the Heart. That summer, we The Musical. Both plays featured Joe

interviewed by Cubby Hudson

did a three week run of Vampire
Lesbians of Sodom at the same coffee
house. By this time, we had collected a
solid group of actors and had a really
great thing going. An anonymous
donor came to see Vampire Lesbians
Meet & Greet
Bailey in hilarious, tour-de-force
performances. During Debbie, an
actress had to drop out and Joe offered
to step in. He learned the dances
quicker than the other girls and brought
the house down every night with his

and contacted us later about starting a hilarious interpretation of the cheer-

theater company in the area. By
November, we had a lease signed on a
small place that we would soon call
“The Ringwald.“ We formed a board
with some of the strongest actors and
business folk we knew in the area:
Jamie Warrow and Melissa Beckwith.
Later we added Jamie Richards, and
leader, Donna. We try to approach our
season with an open mind. We enjoy
bringing shows to the area which
haven’t been done locally or presenting
well known fodder with a twist, like this
season’s cross-dressing The Bad Seed.
BPM: What elements of eroticism does

T he “Who Wants Cake? Theatre” is

housed inside the Ringwald Theatre
located just outside Detroit in the lovely
city of Ferndale, Michigan. Who Wants
Cake? is run by Joe Bailey, 42, and Joe
Plambeck, 30. Cubby Hudson picks the
brains of Joe B. (JB) and Joe P. (JP) to find
out how two bears ended up running an
alternative contemporary theater space.
BearParty Magazine: How did you two meet?
Joe Plambeck: Joe Bailey and I met in
San Diego on December 26, 2002. We
were involved in a production of
Ronnie Larsen’s Making Porn at St.
Cecilia’s Playhouse.
Joe Bailey: Blue Blake and Matthew
Rush were witness to our love! I was
quick to discount the whole thing,
though, because there is a twelve-
year age difference between us, and I
just thought he was too young. Then
I got to know him and the rest, as
they say....
JP: It was love at first sight for me. I
was nervous though, as he didn’t
seem interested in me. I had almost
26 - BearParty Magazine - Summer, 2009
abandoned hope when a drunken
night led to a kiss which has carried
six and half years into the future!!
BPM: Why did you decide to open a theater?
JP: After Joe B. and I toured for a bit
with different Ronnie Larsen shows,
he really wanted to settle back into
his home state of Michigan, near
Detroit. I asked if he minded if I came
home with him. He agreed and we
started birthing the idea of starting a
gay theater near Detroit, as there
wasn’t anything close to it in the area.
JB: It had always been a dream of
mine to open a theater.
JP: We formed a company called “Who
Wants Cake?” and we started putting
on shows wherever we could. Our first
production was a benefit performance
of The Normal Heart for the Michigan
AIDS Prevention Project. We did it in
the basement of a church and we
raised maybe $1,000.00. But it felt
amazing to have something and to be
making a difference. From there, we
found a coffee shop where we did a
the five of us have run the theater ever
since. We officially opened the doors
WWC bring to the stage?
continued on page 28
to the theater May 11, 2007, and have
since produced shows year-round.
BPM: Is it hard managing a personal rela-
tionship and a professional relationship?
JP: It’s not difficult to manage
personal and professional because for
us they are really one and the same…
and it’s not dreadful, like it may
sound. More like a fluid integration.
Since meeting, we were partners in
the theater so we’ve kept that going,
and our relationship has grown
stronger as well.
BPM: What’s the mission of the theatre?
What types of shows do you do?
JB: We try to do stuff that is either new
or doesn’t get produced a lot. We
definitely have a gay sensibility but
that’s not all we do. Our biggest hit has
been The Facts of Life: The Lost Epi-
sode, featuring me as Mrs. Garrett and
Joe as Natalie.
JP: The other production that generated
Summer, 2009 - BearParty Magazine - 27

Joe B. and Joe P.
continued from page 27
JP: We’ve definitely pushed the
envelope when it comes to nudity and
sexuality on the stage. Our second
production, Del Shores’ Southern
Baptist Sissies, featured a sex scene
between two boys up against a cross.
This wasn’t simply shock theater, it
was a moment which defined the
struggle the boys had with their
religion and their sexuality.
BPM: Do you have any plans to showcase
bear culture in your upcoming season?
JP: If I have anything to say about it!
Goldicocks and the Three Bears,
perhaps? Is that as overdone as Our
Town?
BPM: Do you feel that being bears has
changed your perspective on the types of
people you cast?
28 - BearParty Magazine - Summer, 2009
BearParty
Classifieds
Video & Web
JP: I feel that being a bear helps in
our casting and play choices, as we
approach it from a different angle. I
recently cast the lead in my produc-
tion of Killer Joe against type. The
title role is normally a tall, muscular
sort of brooding character, but I liked
the idea of him being sort of a
big-gutted Texan authority type. It
really changed a lot of the story and
the relationships people had with him
and his control over them with the
different body type, although he
could be this jovial, rosy-cheeked
man of manners in one flash and he’d
be bashing someone’s face into the
floor and making them fellate a
chicken leg in the next!
Who Wants Cake? Theatre in Michigan will
open David & Amy Sedaris’s The Book of
Liz on July 10, 2009.
EXCLUSIVE Blu
CLOTHING line
leather
gifts
tRAVEL & lODGING
dvd’s
home and den
accents
3732 N. Broadway
773-857-7393
www.bearslikeus.com
Summer, 2009 - BearParty Magazine - 29