In Phoenix, the audience was straight. It's easy to tell, says Jade Esteban

Estrada, writer and star of "ICONS: The Lesbian and Gay History of the World, Vol. I."

     "You say the word `lesbian' and straight audiences start laughing. They think it's just a funny word, like `midget.'"

     But Estrada, an actor, raconteur and frequent "Comedy Central" star, may be opening some minds with "ICONS," which highlights the lives and contributions of notables from Sappho to Ellen DeGeneres.

     In his one-man musical comedy show, which debuts in Chicago on Oct. 26 at the Bailiwick Theatre, Estrada morphs through the millennia, depicting Michelangelo, Oscar Wilde and Gertrude Stein. He also portrays iconoclasts such as Sylvia Rivera, the 17-year-old transvestite credited with sparking the gay rights movement in June 1969 by protesting a police raid at the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in Greenwich Village.

     Estrada describes his storytelling this way: "Me and George [W. Bush] have the same kind of job--picking people to show our views. Except none of his people can sing and dance. That I know of."

     In addition to the comedy and glittery costumes, Estrada tackles issues of bigotry, oppression and abuse.

     And he upsets the apple cart when it comes to activism. His purse-lipped and buttoned-up Gertrude Stein sternly says that the gay rights movement is over-rated. "Don't get caught up in this gay activism," Stein exhorts. "It's not a gay thing, it's a human thing."

     The comment has irked some viewers. "I've had Stonewall vets come up to me angry about that piece of the show," Estrada said. "But it's what Stein believed. Sure, it's a contradiction to have a show that celebrates gays in history and says being gay isn't the point. Life is a contradiction."

     Bailiwick Artistic Director David Zak says the fact that Estrada is in his early 30s gives the show a candid quality. "My generation, we grew up without a place to express our sexuality or knowing much about our history," says Zak, 50. "People my age, we went to see Tennessee Williams' plays and read between the lines. Jade represents the generation that grew up with `Will and Grace.' His show is open, right out there and very funny. It's great that we can bring our history to the stage like this," he said.

     Estrada is no longer surprised when the history-bereft show up expecting a drag queen interpretation of Judy Garland, Barbra Streisand and Liza Minnelli. "I meet so many people who think gay history began with Judy. Drives me crazy."

     Actually, gay history is everyone's history, according to Frank Barnhart, founder and artistic director of the National Columbus Gay and Lesbian Theatre Festival, where "ICONS" premiered in 2002.

     "`ICONS' is about acceptance, love and human rights as well as history. Jade tells the stories through specific filters, but he deals with universal issues," Barnhart said.

     Eric Rosen, the artistic director of About Face Theatre, a company that explores gender and sexual identity, says, "I think `gay theater' can't just be about celebrating ourselves anymore, putting on gay shows for gay people. It's important to know our history, but it's equally important to see our stories in relation to wider history, and to present those stories to a wide, diverse audience."

©2005 Chicago Tribune