Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, August 20, 1995 TAG: 9508180016
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MICHAEL KUCHWARA ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: NEW YORK LENGTH: Long
In 1993, a publicly closeted and fearful Greg Louganis made his New York theater debut in the off-Broadway comedy ``Jeffrey,'' playing a ``Cats'' chorus boy who dies of AIDS.
It was before his autobiography, ``Breaking the Surface,'' was published. Before the television interviews with Barbara Walters and Oprah Winfrey. Before he revealed his homosexuality at the Gay Games in New York City. And before he told the world he was living with AIDS.
In 1995, America's most famous Olympic diver is again off-Broadway, this time starring in ``The Only Thing Worse You Could Have Told Me ... '' - in a role that reaffirms his new public image as an openly gay man.
The one-man show is a celebration of the diversity of gay life, written by Dan Butler, who starred in the Los Angeles and New York productions. When Butler returned to California and his role as Bulldog Briscoe on television's ``Frasier,'' Louganis took over at off-Broadway's Actors' Playhouse - where he will be through mid-September.
For Louganis, it has been a turbulent time. Yet sitting the other day in the half-lighted theater, he seemed relaxed - smiling easily and talking more freely about his sexual orientation than he did before his stint in ``Jeffrey.''
``Growing up, I wasn't closeted to my family and friends. They knew. Oddly enough, there were a number of sports reporters who just left it alone,'' he says now.
Louganis publicly avoided the subject, too, until coming out in June 1994 at the Gay Games in New York.
He brought it up again the next month when, at an awards ceremony, he spoke out against holding Olympic competition in a suburban Atlanta county that had adopted an anti-homosexual resolution.
``I had always been the good little boy - said the right thing, thanked the right people and all that,'' Louganis said. ``When I was introduced, I got a standing ovation, 100 percent. And then after my speech, there were maybe 12 people standing and applauding. Everybody else was either silent or politely applauding. As I walked off the podium, I got a high-five from [track star] Jackie Joyner. That was really cool.''
The venue was changed two weeks later.
Writing his autobiography was another difficult effort.
``It was a year of intense therapy going through the book process. I had decided to write it a long time ago. I just didn't know how to get it done. I'm not a writer. That's why I had a co-author [Eric Marcus],'' Louganis said.
News of the book broke early, and Louganis had to call several people quickly to tell them about its contents. One person who knew most of the details by then was his mother.
``I came out to her about my HIV status in 1993 - on my birthday, January 29,'' he said. ``I had chronic diarrhea and was dropping a lot of weight. And they couldn't find anything. I thought that I may be on my way out and I wanted her to hear it from me.''
The situation did not improve. That summer, a cousin anonymously checked Louganis into a hospital in Florida, where he was put on the proper medication.
``It was then that I thought, `I'm going to survive this,''' he said. ``And that's when `Jeffrey' happened - which got me back on track.
``The most rewarding thing about doing `Jeffrey' was that it allowed me to face my fantasies and my fears. I died every night on stage from a disease that will probably kill me.''
``The Only Thing Worse You Could Have Told Me ... '' is a more grueling theater experience for him, Louganis said. The performer, playing 14 different characters, is alone on stage for nearly 80 minutes.
``My biggest concern is stamina,'' he said. ``It is an athletic event and requires high energy. You have to train for it.''
Louganis was surprised he was tapped for the role. Director Randy Brenner wasn't.
``It was my decision,'' Brenner said. ``I felt there was a tremendous potential there. Before his audition, my expectations had not been much. But Greg was good. He did about six of the 14 characters. I knew that he should be taken seriously when I gave him direction, and he took it really well. Greg is going to surprise a lot of people.''
Although the play is a highly personal account of gay life, Butler didn't do any major rewriting for Louganis. ``It was just a tweak or a fix here and there,'' Brenner said. ``Nothing major.''
When Louganis finishes his run in the play, he will go home to California - he's already fretting that he will miss the birth of his Great Dane's puppies, due Sept. 12 - and then hit the speaker circuit. He has done a lot already, including speeches before P-FLAG (Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays) chapters and high schools. Then this fall, he will speak at colleges.
``I talk about coming out and my HIV status,'' Louganis said. ``Bumps and obstacles during that journey like clinical depression and drug use. I talk about making peace with my dad, too. That was an important time for me.''
Louganis dismisses attempts to turn him into a gay poster boy or even a role model.
``I have a problem with being that,'' he said. ``Who can live up to it? We're all only human. We make mistakes. We make bad judgments. A question I get asked a lot is: `What would I rather be known as - a diver or as a man living with AIDS or HIV?'
``I don't know. I'd be flattered just to be remembered. But I guess as a diver, I hope they remember I was strong and graceful. And as a person, I guess, that I made a difference.''
by CNB