Directing Drag Comedy at Short North Stage

Ralph Scott and Doug Joseph

Charles Busch’s comedy The Divine Sister  opened recently at the Short North Stage in Columbus, directed by Geoffrey Nelson.

Busch, who is best-known for his drag performances in leading roles in his own plays, is the author of such off-off-Broadway hits as Vampire Lesbians of Sodom, Psycho Beach Party and Die, Mommie, Die! Many of his plays both satirize and celebrate classic films and their leading ladies.

In his 2010 comedy The Divine Sister, Busch creates a pastiche of nun movies, including The Song of Bernadette, The Bells of St. Mary’s, Black Narcissus, Doubt and in particular two Rosalind Russell/Haley Mills films of the 1960’s, The Trouble With Angels and Where Trouble Goes, Angels Follow.

This is not director Nelson’s first foray into drag comedy, for he has twice played the leading female role in The Mystery of Irma Vep by Charles Ludlam, most recently in 2010 at CATCO in a production that he co-directed.