Slippers worn by Harvey Fierstein in Torch Song Trilogy

Slippers worn by Harvey Fierstein in Torch Song Trilogy

Fierstein, Harvey

around 1982

This pair of crocheted bunny slippers was worn by Harvey Fierstein in the role of Arnold Beckoff in the original Broadway production of his play Torch Song Trilogy. The blue wool slippers feature attached bunny heads made of blue and pink wool yarn and googly eyes. Mardi Philips was the costume designer for Torch Song Trilogy's original off-Broadway, Broadway, and national tour productions.

Torch Song Trilogy is a collection of three plays Fierstein wrote and performed off-Broadway from 1978-1981, combined into a three-act play which opened at the Little Theatre on West 44th St in 1982. In the play, Arnold Beckoff, a gay Jewish drag performer, struggles to find love, build a family, and get his mother to accept and respect him for who he is. The play was among the first mainstream productions to feature an out gay leading character, and was celebrated for its empathetic and complicated exploration of gay identity, romance, and family life in the years between the Stonewall riots and the height of the AIDS crisis. The show won Tony Awards for Best Play and Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play for Harvey Fierstein.

Currently not on view

LGBTQ Rights

Gay Rights

Fierstein, Harvey

LGBTQ

Smithsonian Institution

http://collections.si.edu/search/results.htm?q=record_ID=nmah_1910743&repo=DPLA