Stagestruck by Sarah Schulman

Novelist Sarah Schulman recounts her growing awareness of the similarities between her novel People in Trouble and the Broadway hit Rent. Part narrative, part behind-the-scenes look at New York theater and part polemic, the book follows her attempt to seek legal redress and uses her case to open a larger argument about how mainstream artists borrow from 'marginal' artists to gain authenticity. Drawing on her years as a theater critic, Schulman shows how off- and off-off-Broadway work gave more accurate pictures of gay men, lesbians, Latinos, Black people and people with AIDS than Broadway, and argues that gay and lesbian culture has been commodified into a niche market that erases the real experiences of people facing discrimination and disease.