CVPA student helps bring “The Lady in Question” to RU

Cody Boyd spent several hours taping up flyers around Radford University and the College of Visual and Performing Arts announcing the April 18 screening of the Charles Busch documentary “The Lady in Question.” The flyers also reveal that the American actor, screenwriter, playwright and female impersonator, Charles Busch will be speaking after the film.

Boyd, as president of the RU Gay-Straight Alliance, is doing quite a lot of the footwork to bring Busch to campus. This Alliance and Radford After Dark sponsored event is being presented through the perseverance of Boyd. She is responsible for all of the paperwork, arrangements and communications with Busch.

A double major in theatre and media studies, Boyd has been a fixture in the CVPA. She is the work-study assistant to the director of the School of Dance and Theatre, Carl Lefko. She has also staged managed the Department of Theatre and Cinema’s  "The Baltimore Waltz" and assistant directed this semester’s musical "Cabaret."

“I had vaguely heard of Busch’s ‘Psycho Beach Party’ before, but I really became aware of who Busch is and his mass body of work when researching him for my research paper for Theatre History II. Jennifer Juul, who teaches the course, recommended him as good source material and from there I started reading and researching him and thought to myself ‘why not just bring him to campus?’" says Boyd.

According to Boyd, "The Lady In Question" is especially relevant to arts students and lovers because it chronicles an artist who did not create pieces to fit into the traditional mold of what art is supposed to be. Instead he created a category for himself.

“Starting off, Busch was considered too effeminate to pass as a heterosexual man to get cast, so he wrote starring vehicles for himself and played the leading lady roles himself! We can all take a page from his book and learn to work outside of the box to create something greater!” relates Boyd.

Busch wrote and starred in his early plays on off-off-Broadway beginning in 1978 and acted in works by other playwrights. “The Tale of the Allergist's Wife” is one of his best know plays on Broadway.

He has written for television, as well. In the late 1990s he started acting in both films and television, including portraying Nat Ginzburg in the HBO series “Oz” between 1999-2000.

Bringing guests who are such LGBTQAI+ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and Ally) and theatre movers and shakers to campus is Boyd’s favorite part of being involved with the Gay-Straight Alliance. She says the evening should be very informative and filled with humor. After the screening Boyd will interview Busch about the artist’s career and life.

“On a final note,” Boyd continues, “being an aspiring playwright myself, I just consider myself very lucky to go to a university, which encourages student leaders to go out and make connections and bring professionals and our personal icons to campus to educate and help foster a learning environment.”

All are welcome to attend this free happening. There will be free food following the speaking event. The screening starts at 9 p.m. in the Bondurant Auditorium Friday, April 18. For more information, email gsa@radford.edu.