There is a certain type of theatergoer who, upon seeing Joan Crawford turn, a sudden spotlight on her furious eyes and her dark lips snarled in melodrama, cannot help but cream themselves. Of those types of theatergoers, Charles Busch is king, and more often, queen; he's made an acting career out of evoking the acting style of film divas of the 30s, 40s, and 50s. Sometimes somber, mostly hilarious, "The Lady in Question is Charles Busch" is a biography described by one of its creators as a "love letter to Charles" five years in the making. It covers his roots -- being taken to the Metropolitan Opera House at the age of seven, and a deep obsession with classic womens' films that nearly caused him to fail out of school -- through his early professional career in a sketchy off-off-Broadway theater, and his later work as a film star and the author of "The Tale of the Allergist's Wife," a mainstream Broadway hit.

As a young actor, Charles found it tough to get work as an impersonater of classic film stars. So he turned to writing, creating plays like "Vampire Lesbians of Sodom," which allowed him to enact the melodramatic leading lady roles that he couldn't find elsewhere. Eventually, the audiences at these shows grew, and someone realized that they might be able to make a living off of their campy productions. Hysterical performances and dialogue abounded in those shows -- our favorite example being a girl character who boasts of her maturity, "I'm bleeding regularly!" There's a wealth of archival footage from Charles' mid-80s stage productions; thank God someone had the presence of mind to videotape them, because this collection makes fascinating viewing.

The Lady in Question screens again on Saturday, the 18th, at 6pm at someplace called the Victoria Theater. (It's in the Mission.)