The Naked Truth
Season I: The Rise and Fall of America’s Only Public Nudist Colony in Four Acts
May 2016, Zoro Gardens, San Diego, CA
For the two-year run of the California-Pacific International Exposition during 1935-36 at Balboa Park, anyone could pay their 75 cents and spend as long as they wished watching up close fellow human beings hang out and move about stark naked. Nudist historians, of which there are apparently very few, feel this was the first, and only, nudist park open to the casual public.
Seventy years later, lots of San Diegans don't believe it actually happened. But it did, right there on the Prado, in Zoro Garden, a verdant glen especially designed for the show by famed architect Richard Requa and used now as a butterfly sanctuary. The women sometimes wore "ghost panties" and the men had loincloths and shorts on hand. But often, all were discarded.
Cultural journalist Welton Jones tracked down the elusive details of Zoro Garden and fashioned them into a four-part pageant that came as close as possible to the "truth." Each 40 minute act occurred at 1:00, 3:00, 5:00 + 7:00 pm.
Production Team
Playwright: Welton Jones
Direction: Kate Clark and Welton Jones
Sound Production: Steve Stopper
Sets, Costumes: Kate Clark
Production Assistance: Jerry Blackman, Peter Chen, Sierra Miller, Elizabeth Sutton, Celia Gold, Nick Lesley, Marina Grize, Meegan Nolan
Robotics: Jon Pucci
Stills Photographer: Camille Laut
Channel Parkeology Video, Editing, Direction: Ren Ebel
ParkCast: Sound, Editing and Direction: Parker Bray
Research support by Committee of 100, San Diego History Center, San Diego Public Library
Carpet Sponsorship by North Park Rug and Carpet
Parks and Recreation Administration Support
Park Ranger Carina Weber
Park Ranger Kim Duclo
Cast
StoryTeller: Todd Blakesley
Yvonne Stacey (“Queen Zorine”): Maria Mathioudakis
Florence Cubitt (“Queen Tanya”): Alison Cummings
Four Sisters: Diana Benavidez, Jeszi McPeak, Alyssa Tucker, Alena Vasquez
Queen Elizabeth: Alyssa Tucker
Queen of San Francisco: Jeszi McPeak
Nudists: Diana Benavidez, Jason Crane, Alison Cummings, Jeyla Spencer, Yelena Gluzman, Maria Mathioudakis, Jeszi McPeak, Max Nanis, Jon Pucci, Jeremy Raab, Ashley Ray, Rafa Rios, Dylan Wilde, Alena Vasquez, Hannah Johansen, Kate Clark
King Adolph: Max Nanis
Male “Authority Figure": Dylan Wilde
Press Agent: Hannah Johansen
Physical Trainer: Jason Crane
Reporter: Jeremy Raab
Alpha the Robot: Jon Pucci
Reader ACT II: Jeszi McPeak
Reader ACT III: Yelena Gluzman
Reader ACT IV: Maria Mathioudakis
Photographer: Camille Laut