In the Navy

Gay-themed theater, already a Bay Area perennial, blossoms in June during Gay Pride month. Among the most promising entries thus far are the local debut of the international hit Burning Blue, and the Shotgun Players' production of Martin Sherman's Bent. Blue, written by former naval flier D.M.W. Greer, is the story of four male pilots whose close-knit friendship becomes the target of a homosexual witch hunt conducted by the military brass. (The time is recent, just prior to Clinton's "Don't ask, don't tell" compromise.) A night in a Hong Kong disco sets the probe in motion, although sexuality is merely a catalyst in the drama's keen exploration of love, honor, and brutality. The play, lavished with awards and critical praise, sold out houses in London, Johannesburg, and L.A., and actor Kevin Otto, who starred in the L.A. and Johannesburg shows, reprises his role as Lt. Dan Lynch in the local production, joined by other international cast members and guided by L.A.-London director John T. Hickok. Bent, meanwhile, first opened on Broadway in 1979, where it was greeted with a kind of collective shocked disbelief. It's hard to imagine now, but before gay history had found the kind of audience it has today, Sherman's account of gays being persecuted during the Holocaust and the homoerotic element in the concentration camps was a widely unheard-of war story. Burning Blue opens at 8 p.m. Wednesday (and runs through July 5) at the Lorraine Hansberry Theater, 620 Sutter (at Mason), S.F. Admission is $25-30; call 474-8800. Bent opens at 8 p.m. Saturday (and runs through July 12) at the Adeline Street Theater, 3280 Adeline (near the Ashby BART), Berkeley. Admission is $8-10; call (510) 655-0813. For more information on Gay Pride events, see the listings on Page 35.

-- Heather Wisner