1110 NW Broadway Years of plays: 1985-1988

EMBERS and EMBERS AVENUE plays

Embers was known as a bar with two spaces – the front where there was a stage to the side where various functions took place such as drag etc. In the backspace or “Ember’s Avenue” was a large warehouse room where on any given night it would be full of people dancing, cruising, and enjoying themselves.

During Ember’s reign from 1981-2017, the space was also used to host theatre productions. Here are a few gay shows that were produced:

FOREVER AFTER - 1985

JERKER 1987

SWITCH – A Musical Extravaganza 1988

1985 – Funtastic Productions presented FOREVER AFTER by Doric Wilson directed by Jerry West

[The full title of the play is FOREVER AFTER: A Vivisection of Gaymale Love Without Intermission]

Play written in 1980 – 4 characters – 2 men in flannel shirts and 2 drag queens.

Below Left article from The Eagle newspaper January 1985; the ad and article below Right from TheEagle newspaper March 1985.

1987 - Spread Eagle Productions Producer – Kevin Koesel

The full title of the play: Jerker, or The Helping Hand: A Pornographic Elegy with Redeeming Social Value and a Hymn to the Queer Men of San Francisco in Twenty Telephone Calls, Many of Them Dirty is a 1986 one-act play by Robert Chesley.

Per Wikipedia: "Jerker" can be seen as referring to masturbation and to "tear-jerker". Chesley wrote the play because he believed it was "important to remove the stigma against sex that AIDS has created, and ... to remove the stigma against gay men".

Below LEFT, ad in City Week May 29, 1987. Below RIGHT Article below is from City Week newspaper, June 26, 1987.

1988 - SWITCH – A Musical Extravaganza produced by Spread Eagle Productions.

Below Ad and article in the Oregon Gay News newspaper Wed Feb 10, 1988. Further below is an article in City Week newspaper, March 9, 1988. Please note Oregon Gay News and City Week was the same newpaper.