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Casa Valentina By Harvey Fierstein

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Casa Valentina by Harvey Fierstein. The play certainly was not what I expected once I saw it live. Before going to see it and writing this paper, I decided to do some research on both of the plays to see if I could get a better understanding of them. As a result, I decided on Casa Valentina because it was about a topic that I was unfamiliar with. The play is set in the early 1960s when men would go to the Catskill Mountains and escape. But escape what? In this play, they would escape being men. Seeing the photographic oddness of men being dressed in little neat dresses has always been a source of comedy and a favorite in theatre. This play is no different. The play was also a huge success, being nominated for multiple awards, including four Tony’s and winning other awards. With this in mind, I thought I was ready to view the play. What the playwright was trying to say about life is that everyone is different. It raised universal questions of who am I? What is my identity? To what are the differences in gender identity and sexual orientation? It truly posed some fascinating questions about these identities. It even provoked the question of what ensues in matrimony when one of the partners begins to represent both genders. What happens? Is one simply cut off? Is there room for them both? It brings out the central conflict of illusion versus reality in my eyes. This is because these are grown adult men, married with a spouse of the opposite sex. Yet in spite of all this,

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