Photo: Glenn Perry

Casa Valentina, now playing at Boston’s SpeakEasy Stage, is based on a little known world of the mid-20^th century in which supposedly heterosexual men partied together cross-dressed in order to release their “inner woman.” It is written by Harvey Fierstein, who is most celebrated for his semi-autobiographical play, Torch Song Trilogy, about a drag queen, a role he created on Broadway. In Casa Valentina, Fierstein, in tune with the times, attempts to explore the spectrum of sexuality.

Casa Valentina is modelled after Casa Susanna, a bona fide post-World War II guest house in the Catskills, where men who led heterosexual lives – some were married and fathers – escaped to live as their idea of women for a brief time. In the play, this mainly involves stereotypical behavior: ladies consumed by clothing, makeup, body shape, and “feminine” gesticulating. Yet despite this overriding similarity, each actor creates a distinct personality.

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