[NoHo Arts District, CA] – A NoHo Arts 2026 Hollywood Fringe Festival review of David Pavao’s new solo show Poster Child: How Charlie’s Angels Kicked My Ass Out of The Closet, a funny, moving and deeply personal Pride Month story of self-discovery and acceptance.
David Pavao’s new solo show Poster Child: How Charlie’s Angels Kicked My Ass Out of The Closet chronicles his coming of age, as it were, as a young gay man in his hometown when we hardly knew who he was or how to be himself.
The Charlie’s Angels reference is a big thank you to his schoolboy crush on the Angels in all their luminous beauty, inclusive natures, and glamorous fantasy lives full of glitter and grace. As a young boy growing into his body and a young man growing into his gayness, these three angels really did protect him. When he pretended to be straight and decorated his bedroom in their posters, they held his secrets. When he took the almost daily bicycle ride to the only store in town that carried his precious posters and was also, by chance, owned by his first real live crush, they not only protected him, they rewarded him!
One day soon, because, as we all still sadly know, there is still so much prejudice in this world, who we love will matter no more than what color our eyes are. But until that day, it’s important to remind ourselves that it wasn’t so long ago when it was even harder to come out and to live a gay life than it is now.
Poster Child is David’s story of finding his place in the world and embracing his perfect gay soul. From his first sexual encounters, his understanding of who he was and the safety of his room emblazoned in every 70s glamour goddess to his first outing to the gay iconic club where to step through the door was a true coming out. This beautiful, funny and brilliant play is not only an homage to all the young gay men still too shy to be themselves and all the older gay men who walked through fire to do the same. It is David’s own acknowledgement of the bravery and the emotional intelligence it took to know himself and ultimately to be himself.
David is a master storyteller. A superb actor and quite a nifty dancer! He moves through this story with perfect timing, a saucy grin and the kind of confidence and self love that I could only dream of.
Although of course it took an awful lot for him to get here. But that is the point of the show! To give space to a story of a boy becoming a man. And just like any other rite-of-passage story, there are highs, and there are lows, but in the end there is triumph and a deep and profound understanding.
Poster Child: How Charlie’s Angels Kicked My Ass Out of The Closet is a wonderful addition to the Hollywood Fringe and the absolute perfect show for Pride Month!!!! Bravo, David, and Happy Pride!!
Tickets:
https://www.hollywoodfringe.org/projects/13976?tab=details
Where:
The Zephry Theatre
7456 Melrose Ave, Hollywood
When:
Sunday, June 7 at 8:45 pm (Preview)
Friday, June 12 at 2:45 pm
Sunday, June 21 at 7:45 pm
Sunday, June 28 at 5:45 pm