“As ‘one who was there,’ Ken Elliott’s Beyond Ridiculous succeeds on multiple levels. It offers a comprehensive and entertaining analysis of playwright Charles Busch’s work and Theatre-in-Limbo, and also illuminates the economic and artistic landscape of New York City in the 1980s, a wildly creative but fraught decade that continues to resonate today. A must-read for anyone interested in the arts and especially the theatre.”—Julie Halston, actor and comedian, 2020 Isabelle Stevenson Tony Award winner
“Kenneth Elliott lovingly charts the history of not only Theatre-in-Limbo, one of the most groundbreaking companies of the 1980s, but he also chronicles a harrowing time for gay men, who were confronting the terror of AIDS and a shockingly indifferent government, and who found their deliverance in sequins, greasepaint, and wickedly subversive humor. This book is an invaluable record of our ability to transcend even the darkest times.”—Doug Wright, playwright, Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award winner
“Beyond Ridiculous engages a queer methodology to reflect upon a friendship and collaboration between the author and Charles Busch, revealing how central theatre was to kinship and survival for the gay community in 1980s New York. As a celebration of queer solidarity in theatre, it is erudite, provocative, heartwarming, and utterly enjoyable to read.”—Sean F. Edgecomb, author, The Taylor Mac Book: Ritual, Realness and Radical Performance