St. Louis authorities stop "Making Porn"
by Nancy Larson
03-17-2005

"Making Porn" actor Dan Renzi: " I just pulled on a pair of pants and ran out the back door."

The curtain went down on the controversial play "Making Porn" only shortly after it opened over the March 11 weekend at SPOT, 4146 Manchester Street.

According to a press release by SPOT owner Thomas Long, St. Louis police halted the show during its second performance on Saturday night. "The show is a comedy about the pornographic industry that does contain on-stage nudity," Long said in the release. That nudity allegedly broke the ordinance, according the city. It is unclear whether the nudity in "Making Porn" or its gay-themed subject matter was the catalyst for this action compared to other shows.

Long pointed out that "Making Porn" was being produced at SPOT by a California-based production company who had leased the space for a three-week run. The show has been produced in numerous other cities in the United States and internationally. It was the city of St. Louis Liquor Commission that actually closed the production, Long said. He said the business can remain open during the investigation. SPOT owners were out of town on vacation during the events, but will soon appear before the St. Louis Liquor Commission.

St. Louis police have not yet returned calls from the Vital VOICE regarding the shutdown.

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Lights, camera, lotsa action: “Making Porn”
by Corey Stulce

Playwright and director Ronnie Larsen has learned a thing or three about getting asses in the seats.

You put them (and more) bare on the stage.

With titles like "Making Porn," "Sleeping with Straight Men," "C***sucker: A Love Story" and "All-Male Peep Show," he has a built-in audience: dirty old men.

But T&A, or in this case sausage and buns, does not a respectable theatre career make. And his plays sell out, extend runs and get rave reviews as if they were "The Lion King does the Producers while gagging on Hairspray."

The secret, according to one of his mainstay performers (and former reality TV boy toy) Dan Renzi, is that they’re fun (and funny) shows based in reality, but revolving around extreme subjects like the lives and troubled relationships of porn stars.

"Making Porn," Larsen’s first and biggest hit, which opened Wednesday, March 9, at SPOT on Manchester Street, will be performed through March 27.

Larsen’s plays — mainly "Making Porn" — have been performed in cities like Chicago, San Francisco, Detroit, Houston, Miami and even Rome and Sydney, Australia. It seems porn translates and transcends well — even overseas.

Renzi came to public consciousness as part of MTV’s "Real World: Miami" back in the mid-90s, and has been involved in several reality shows since. The Kansas City, Mo., native was back in the media’s eye last year with an Advocate interview about his arrest in a Pee-wee Herman-style adult movie theater situation.

He said he met Larsen — who he said doesn’t watch TV, and didn’t know of Renzi’s reality TV stardom — about eight years ago, when the actor was cast in a minor role in one of Larsen’s productions. Once the duo was stopped on the street by a "Real World" fan in Chicago, Larsen was hooked, and the two have been friends since.

"He sort of amassed this collective of really random personalities that just stick by him," Renzi said. "No one’s getting rich off theatre. We’re doing it because we like it and have fun."

Larsen’s Web site, www.ronnielarsen.com, advertises his interest in discussing projects with "all types of celebrities and personalities."

Being from the Midwest, Renzi said he’s concerned how a show like "Making Porn" will play with St. Louis audiences. There are no actual sex acts taking place on stage, but said he’s certain it is unlike anything performed here before — as legitimate theatre, anyway.

Well, shows like "Party" and "Steambath" have played St. Louis and featured nudity.

"Nothing compares," Renzi said. "All we’re wearing is make up and a smile and that’s it. ……. It really hits you in the face, some of this stuff."

He described Larsen’s style and the productions themselves as sort of loose.

"You never know what’s going to happen on stage. People are running around, getting naked, cussing, crying. It’s just a free-for-all," Renzi said. "If we’re in the middle of a show and I get bored, I’ll just start making up lines. If you’re a good actor, you run with it."

He did insist the actors take the show very seriously, though. With the St. Louis production, even though all the actors have performed in previous versions of "Making Porn," they only began rehearsal the weekend before the show opened — to keep it fresh. Renzi also described Larsen’s scripts as abstract — meaning there are typos and missing punctuation — with themes instead of strictly adhered-to dialogue.

"There are lines to say, but it’s up to you to give life to it," he said. "More so than other theatre. I try out and don’t even get call backs for traditional musicals and by-the-book (productions)."

He said since he was cast in this production — only a couple of weeks before opening night — he has been arguing with Larsen over a few of the scenes and how they will be perceived in St. Louis.

"If you can imagine the life of a porn star; it can be very, very unpleasant," he said. "Ronnie feels to keep the integrity of the script [we have to] keep it all in," Renzi said. " we want people to pay attention to the whole play, not see one scene and be horrified and miss the next 20 minutes of the show, replaying that scene over and over in their head."

He said the play is based on a bunch of real people Larsen has met in the past, and one vignette is about a straight man performing in gay porn, and how he juggles his double life. Renzi will play Ray, an aging gay porn actor who is very, very open about his sexuality.

"It’s a very basic story told in a very exaggerated style. It’s still believable," he said. "The things that happen to these people are not that extraordinary. This is the stuff that happens in the world of porn."

Ostensibly in the world of reality TV as well. Once a TV show’s run is through, many an overnight reality celeb has turned to posing nude in various publications, something Renzi said he wouldn’t even consider.

"I don’t see anything wrong with people who take off their clothes for money. I just get embarrassed," he said. "We’ve all been approached — Playgirl, porn. It’s not even a question; I just can’t. I would show up and not be able to do it.

"But with this, it’s a great story and it’s funny. The sexiness is part of the story. I don’t see anything embarrassing in what we’re doing."

Of course, he still wouldn’t invite his mom to a matinee performance.

You can e-mail Corey Stulce at frozo85@hotmail.com.

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