As the mascara runs, Bailiwick Repertory. Written and directed by Ed Basden, this late-night one-act in the Pride Performance Series aims for the success of Claudia Allen’s Gays of Our Lives, a three-part soap-opera spoof that twists gay cliches to some bold purposes. But unfortunately, for all its warm intent and proselytizing, As the Mascara Runs merely wallows in 85 minutes of unreconstructed stereotypes. One pair of embattled male lovers (swishy and studly) are computer-matched with a female pair (ditzy and butch). A homophobic, Valium-popping Republican matron is transformed into an equally radical homophile. An equal-opportunity offender, the play also gives us Consuelo, a blackmailing Latina dyke dominatrix-fascist. Played by a man, this mutation manages to insult everyone. (Torture victims and double amputees get spoofed, too.)
