Crafting a stage show around an academic theory might sound like a tough sell, but Boston-based playwright Tommy DeFrantz is able to nimbly maneuver around the big ideas of the academy using satire, physical comedy and good old musical theater in his new piece, "Queer Theory!".

DeFrantz, an associate professor of music and theater arts at M.I.T., knows all about the ivory tower, so it's no surprise that his latest work, which was co-commissioned by The Theater Offensive, a gay theater company in Boston, and the FlynnCenter, takes on the oft-impenetrable academic world from a theatrical perspective.

For the past week, DeFrantz and members of the Slippage Ensemble, an arts research group at M.I.T., have been in residency at the Flynn Center leading physical theater workshops and lectures about queer identity. Their week of work will culminate in two performances of "Queer Theory!" at FlynnSpace Friday and Saturday.

DeFrantz decided to explore the meaning of queer theory and how it relates to the lives of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, he says, because it was something he had been grappling with for a while.

"I wondered what the hell is queer theory. How can -- or does -- it help us form community and alliances?" DeFrantz said. "These are the questions I was asking and I wanted to bring the audience along."

Queer theory is a philosophical field that examines the connections between gender and sexuality, and tends to be broader in scope than traditional gay and lesbian studies. Queer theory deals with many intersecting identities, which DeFrantz sought to "tease out" in his work.

The revue, which took five years to realize, is set at an academic conference where the professorial characters work through the tensions between different identities in the queer community. But lest audiences expect a dry, stilted look at a serious topic, DeFrantz turns the characters into caricatures, and uses music and comedy to poke fun at academic ideas. As a performance artist who attends many academic conferences, DeFrantz says he can see the contradiction between these two identities that he embodies and tried to work that into the piece.

"The characters try to diffuse that," DeFrantz said of the incongruity of academic discussion and musical theater. "The people will literally try to perform their theories."

DeFrantz says this piece, which opened in Boston a few weeks ago and will be making its way to college campuses in the coming months, has helped to teach him the role that queer theory plays in his life, not only as an academic, but as a gay man and as a black man. As an area of thought, queer theory gives people a way to tie together race, age, gender, class and other identifying groups, DeFrantz said.

As a teaching piece, DeFrantz said he hopes "Queer Theory!" will create a space for conversations to occur about the intersection of the many identities under the LGBT umbrella. Once the conversations begin, DeFrantz would like people to ask themselves what queer theory has to say to them and what can they do about queer theory.

In asking these bigger questions, DeFrantz doesn't lose sight of the audience's need to be entertained and the piece doesn't browbeat the audience with politics.

"It's very much a comedy with teeth," DeFrantz said. "Unexpected things happen." If you go
WHAT: "Queer Theory!"
WHEN: 8 p.m., Friday and Saturday
WHERE: FlynnSpace, Burlington
TICKETS: $23 for adults, $19 for students; for tickets or more information, call 863-5966 or visit www.flynncenter.org
ETC: There will be a free pre-performance lecture at 6:30 p.m. Saturday in the Amy E. Tarrant Gallery. Playwright and MIT professor DeFrantz will discuss the origins of his new original work, "Queer Theory!"

Contact Lauren Ober at 660-1868 or lober@bfp.burlingtonfreepress.com