Michael J. Bobbitt Explores Family & Football (Briefly) at the 'Queer Voices Festival'

This weekend queer voices will be heard loud and clear as the Boston Theater Company brings their second annual "Queer Voices Festival" to the Boston Center for the Arts (BCA) Plaza Theatre.

"We're so excited to bring back Queer Voices for the second year," says Lyndsay Allyn Cox, "Queer Voices" Producing Director (she/they). "Join us for an exciting weekend of queer artistry, each place, event, and experience offers a unique window into the rich diversity of LGBTQ+ experiences. No matter who you are or where you come from, you're welcome to be a part of this inclusive, joyous celebration of queer voices."

They are joined by a trio of directors: Shira Helena Gitlin (they/them/theirs), Hannah McEachern (she/her/hers), and Nathaniel Justiniano (he/him+) will share their artistic vision for the seven pieces.

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Amongst the seven plays being performed is "Halftime v. Intermission," by playwright Michael Bobbitt, who is also been since 2021 the Executive Director of Mass Cultural Council, which makes him the highest-ranking public official in Massachusetts state government focused on arts and culture. His extensive theater background includes Artistic Director for the New Repertory Theatre in Watertown, and twelve years in that role at the Adventure Theatre-MTC in Maryland. During his tenure there Michael led the organization to be a respected regional theatre training company and a nationally influential professional Theatre for Young Audiences.

He also directed and choreographed productions at the leading DC theaters, including the Arena Stage, Ford's Theatre, The Shakespeare Theatre Company, Olney Theatre Center, Studio Theatre, Woolly Mammoth Theatre, Center Stage, Roundhouse Theatre, The Kennedy Center, and the Washington National Opera.

Bobbitt has commissioned and premiered more than 50 new plays for young audiences. He has co-authored or adapted several stories for the stage, including "Mirandy and Brother Wind," "Bob Marley's Three Little Birds," "Caps for Sale," "Garfield the Musical with Cattitude," and "Jumanji."

For "Queer Voices," Bobbitt entered a short play he had written for another festival, entitled "Halftime v. Intermission," which, as the title suggests the dichotomy many queer men feel when their families are sports-oriented while their interests are in the arts. In Bobbitt's case, it is football that his family is intense about. Tall and strapping, you could easily imagine him having been a star in the sport in high school, but that wasn't the case.

"I remember the family gathering around to watch football, and I had no interest whatsoever. It wasn't something that I hated, although I will say I hated the emotion that my family went through because they were so excited about their favorite team, and when that team lost, there was anger and sadness, and so I didn't like that part of it. I didn't necessarily have an opinion about whether or not it was good or bad. It just never appealed to me."

His surreal comedy mashes past and present. In it, Darren, his teen alter-ego, is being taken to a football game by his Dad, though it takes some coaxing by his weary Mom to get him out of the house. Darren expresses to her his reluctance to attend the game, but, she tells him, "Football means a lot to him, so please... for me, can you just give it a try."

"I would say the play is 95% autobiographical," Bobbitt says. "I think that Dad represents most adult men in my life, and, actually, even the women were a very sports heavy. We were a football family. So, that father figure represents a lot of the adults in my life, and their love of football and a lack of awareness about the arts."

And there's the rub for Michael (and Darren). The upside was that he wasn't pressured into playing competitive sports; instead, he gravitated to the arts from a very young age. The downside was there was little interest from his family, which included his four brothers, to attend the arts events he was participating in.

"I started doing the arts like in pre-K and kindergarten, and right through high school and my professional career. But there was never much interest in what I was doing from the members of my family. I think it was my early professional career where I remember saying to them, 'I am part of the family. This is really important to me, and you have to come see me perform.' And then they would come. But throughout high school, there were all the concerts, all the plays I was part of, with almost none of family members present. It's kind of sad to think about it. I think my lack of interest in sports is akin to their lack of interest in the arts. It just wasn't a part of our family."

For Bobbitt, the arts were also an escape from a home life that could be turbulent. "I just think I found solace, and I found joy, and it was also a bit of an escape from, you know, some of the drama of home life. Every single adult in my purview [was] struggling with mental illness and addictions. And the men were in and out of incarceration and joblessness. And so for some reason, the arts was the thing that pulled me away from that and brought me joy.

"They also expanded my mind to the world beyond the small community and the 'hood that we were in. I found safety and joy in that. And maybe my brothers found the same thing in sports."

He does recall that when he came out to his family, no one was surprised. "I remember distinctly telling my mother, and she said, 'Well, we all knew, we were just waiting for you to say it.' It wasn't a surprise, and it wasn't a traumatic coming out. It was actually very comfortable. There was no marginalization; no one treated me differently after I came out. I am blessed in that way, that I had a family that just still loved me."

Years later, Bobbitt is married with a son who turned out to participate in sports while in school, which he wholeheartedly supported. "I really supported him because I loved him and got a little bit more into it because it was my kid up there. But even when he was doing it, I was I did it out of loyalty and responsibility as a parent – it was never something that I was, like, so excited to go watch him play football or basketball or soccer or wrestling, and all the other things that he that he did."

Aside from his extensive theater work, Bobbitt's current work as director of the Mass Cultural Initiative has seen him participate in many initiatives, including the development of its first Racial Equity Plan, d/Deaf & Disability Equity and Access Plan, and Native American & Indigenous Equity Plan; the launch of the nation's first statewide Social Prescribing Initiative; the securing and distribution of $60.1 million in pandemic relief funding; and the design and implementation of a strategic plan for fiscal years 2024-2026.

Asked if the current climate in Washington is of concern to him, he said: "I think that what we're going through as a cultural sector is probably no different than what other sectors are going through. I'm hoping that the cultural sector will use this crisis as an opportunity to, you know, change its behavior as it as it relates to civic engagement and even entrepreneurship, innovation and business acumen, so that our reliance on contributor revenue shifts to more of an earned revenue model. I would say that the creative sector is probably constantly in a stage of crisis, especially those that rely on contributor revenue. But here's an opportunity for us. It's hard and it will be harder, but I'm hoping that we will organize and start thinking about, how do we metaphorically put the oxygen mask on ourselves and use contributed revenue the way it's meant, which is to support the work, but not necessarily sustain the work."

As an artist who has worked with and is familiar with the Kennedy Center, he said this about Trump's recent takeover of the facility: "Some of my most formative arts experiences are from the Kennedy Center, and so I'm sad for the people there and how it may affect them, and I'm hoping that the arts will still prevail and continue to be a voice for social justice and to uplift things that in artistic ways that help people understand and empathize with each other. And I hope it will continue to be a place where people can come and feel joy and feel love, and feel inspired because of great art."

Boston Theater Company's "Queer Voices Festival" runs from March 21-23, at the Plaza Theatre, Boston Center for the Arts, 539 Tremont Street, Boston, MA. For more information, follow this link.