Despite its unprecedented success and acclaim, the play was not officially published until 2019.Īlong with the debut publication of the script of the play, this edition includes a foreword by Jordan Schildcrout titled “Tubstrip and The Erotic Theatre of Gay Liberation”, which examines the significance of the play as one of a wave of erotic gay plays (most of them forgotten or lost) that emerged between 19.
The play, often dismissed by mainstream critics but hailed as “funny, sexy, and important” by the gay press, ran for 140 performances off-Broadway, then toured to eight cities over nine months, and returned to Broadway starring the legendary adult film star Casey Donovan in the lead role. Jerry Douglas’s Tubstrip, a risqué comedy set in a gay bathhouse, was a popular sensation when produced onstage in 1973-1974, in the era of gay liberation and the sexual revolution.
