Del Shores :: Moving on from 'Sordid Lives' with new, hit play

With such well-received works like Southern Baptist Sissies, Trailer Trash Housewife, Sordid Lives as well as writing on the American version of Queer as Folk, Del Shores is known for his snappy dialogue, over-the-top characters, gay themes and a regular group of actors who appear in his projects like Leslie Jordan, Dale Dickey, Beth Grant and even recent Tony winner (for Million Dollar Quartet) Levi Kreis.

Shore's latest play, Yellow, is currently playing at the Coast Playhouse in Los Angeles and with this show Shores has gone down a slightly different path and successfully delivered a family drama that still has a lot of laughs but also hits audience's hearts stronger than ever before.

EDGE's Jim Halterman sat down for a cup of coffee with Shores in West Hollywood to talk about Yellow (without giving too much of the plot away), if there's any life left in his beloved - but cancelled - Logo series Sordid Lives and his memories of working with the recently passed Rue McClanahan, who played Peggy on the Sordid Lives series.

Where did Yellow come from?

EDGE: Where did the first kernel of the idea for Yellow come from?

Del Shores: I always steal from life and this really was strongly two stories of relations of mine - not relatives but friends - who went through some of this and I started playing the 'What If..." game with a marriage where I knew a secret and then I added the other story and it allowed me to come up a pretty strong reason why you would have disclose a 19-year old secret.

EDGE: Yellow definitely feels different than some of your past works like Southern Baptist Sissies or Trailer Trash Housewife. Can you talk about the differences?

DS: Yellow starts off pretty funny; more so than I thought it would be mainly because there are crazy, good performances by the kids in this play. I've never seen kids that can truthfully hit comedy the way that Evie Louise Thompson and Matthew Scott Montgomery do. Luke McClure has a little bit of comedy but his character doesn't lend to it as much. Those first three scenes and then returning to the fourth after this big revelation there is still a lot of comedy but it's harder to laugh. I think it's the first play that I've ever had where there are complete scenes without one laugh. I didn't want it. There was a place where the audience laughed in previews and I pulled it out because I didn't want the laugh.

Sordid ’Sordid Lives’

EDGE: Without revealing too much about the plot, what is the significance of the title Yellow?

DS: It has to do with cowardice, for one thing, and then the color plays an important factor but if I gave that away it would give away a piece of the play that I don't want people to know about until they see it. It has a dual meaning.

EDGE: The gay element is not the primary thrust of Yellow as it has been in many of your past works. Can you talk about that?

DS: I'm a playwright first and foremost and the term 'gay playwright' comes in as an adjective to describe me but it's not all that I am. I have stories to tell that are not always necessarily, completely and utterly gay-themed. Sordid Lives, for instance, was not a huge storyline that was all gay but less than 30% I would say - both the play, movie and TV series. Now, Southern Baptist Sissies, completely gay. Trailer Trash Housewife - not one gay character. They talked about her son that was gay and they talked about a lesbian encounter. Look, I am gay so it's always going to come in to some degree because it is who I am but sometimes a story does not need or have that in it.

EDGE: But there is one gay character - Kendall - who is just terrific. How did you create this character and where did you find actor Matthew Scott Montgomery, who is just phenomenal in the role? The scene between Kendall and Dayne in the latter part of the play is so powerful.

DS: Kendall has a fundamentalist, Pentecostal mother who believes in the Bible completely and utterly including beating your child and we see some of that onstage. [Montgomery] is an amazing dramatic actor. The truth is I did not know this actor. He auditioned for the role and I didn't have to work too hard to get what you see in the show. He just listens. He never questions and everything you tell him he does. His callback was that scene you're talking about with Luke McClure, who also got the role of Dayne. There were four of us in the room during the audition and we were all a mess. We couldn't speak to the actors after they did that scene because it was so brilliantly executed and one of the strongest auditions I've ever had. The role of Dayne is not as flashy for Luke McClure but I think sometimes when you watch an actor's performance you don't realize how good they are when the role itself is not as flashy but Backstage West gave him a great review. He's a terrific actor.

EDGE: Now, the play just opened and is getting great reviews but are you already thinking about a film version or what the next step is?

DS: I'll tell you a secret I haven't told anybody - this started out as a film. I talked to my manager at the time and my agent at CAA about it and they said this kind of story is very difficult to set up at a studio but if it's a hit play or novel then...so I thought about novelizing it because I thought it would make a great novel but then I started thinking in terms of 'Could it be a play?' and 'Could I tell the story on one set?' Right now, it's a play and people are saying 'Are you going to tour?' I don't know. I really don't know. I'm living day by day. Already we're seeing a very big word of mouth regarding the play.

EDGE: So many of your fans are still hopeful about the future of 'Sordid Lives.' Is it done or is there still life?

DS: I don't know that the franchise is done but the series is done. I don't see how it is possible to repair what's going on. We have a situation where a producer has decided not to pay the residuals to the actors. He has refused to pay me what was awarded to me from an arbitration, which is in the high six figures. There was a settlement made with the DGA and I've gotten two payments out of five. In that, Logo has continued to pay their portion of the residuals from my understanding but he hasn't paid us those. It's just not right.

Here's where I am with that. I am at a place where I know I need to move on with other stories. I needed to separate myself just for a second from the sordidness of Sordid Lives. I've had such a good ride with Sordid Lives so it was devastating for this to happen and to have delivered a hit show with stars to a network and then get in business because of a packaging issue with somebody who did not honor their contract with us. That's why it fell apart. We would have been fine. Logo ordered a second season contingent on the other financial partners coming in, which one of them was this production company, Once Upon A Time Films. I don't mind telling the truth. Stanley M. Brooks is the producer. We had another partner, IMG (International Management Group) and they weren't ready to come in when the second season was ordered. They said, we need to wait and we wanted them to come in but they needed to sell more territories. The second season would have happened if the producer had paid us our residuals, which were due on November 23, 2008. The actors still have not made a dime and it's run over 300 times collectively on Logo.

EDGE: Any memories you'd like to share from working on Sordid Lives with Rue McClanahan, who sadly passed away earlier this month?

DS: It was just so special and I regret that we will not be able to continue to work together. The last time I saw her was about four weeks before she passed away. We truly adored each other. I said 'Rue, you've got to get better. We're not done yet. We can have Peggy survive that fall.' At that point she had the first stroke and was speaking very slowly but very clearly and she said 'I think you may have to write in that Peggy had a stroke.' I said, 'Rue! She hit her head on the sink of the bathroom in a motel room! Let's write in a little speech problem!' She said 'Oh, I love that!'

Yellow continues at the Coast Playhouse in West Hollywood. Go to www.YellowByDelShores.com.