Little Passion for Gay Soap at Preview Party : Televison: The Orange County-produced show went over like beefcakes at a convention of vegetarians.

Lying bare-chested beneath the sheets, Neal and Stan disentangle after spending a night together.

“Neal, I know you’ve heard of foreplay,” Stan says. “Have you ever heard of afterplay? A hug, a kiss, anything! Breathe on me!”

Neal tenderly pulls Stan’s unshaven face close to his own--then exhales harshly. “Satisfied?” he smirks.

Stan turns away. He is wounded, rejected. . . .

You’ve read about it in TV Guide and USA Today, you’ve seen provocative excerpts on local TV news, you’ve heard about it on the radio. And now, finally, “Secret Passions,” the gay-oriented soap opera being produced in Orange County, has had its local debut--Wednesday in a Costa Mesa nightclub.

About 300 people, mostly men, crowded Newport Station for a spirited premiere party and watched Neal and Stan and the rest of the show’s cast of characters, mostly gay, on a large-screen TV.

The show went over like beefcakes at a convention of vegetarians.

The one-hour soap, made on a shoestring budget for public-access cable TV and believed to be the first of its kind in the country, had its cable debut Tuesday at 11 p.m. on a gay network in New York City. About 15 people, out of a potential 800,000, called to say “they liked it,” though some complained of boredom, according to Butch Peaston, the network official who aired it.

David Gadberry, who produces, writes and acts (as Stan) in the soap, said he intends to send the pilot Mondayto nine Orange County public-access cable stations, and to others in at least 15 U.S. cities. Public-access operators are generally legally bound to broadcast any non-commercial program for which they have air time.

The national media blitz caught fire weeks before a single episode was even complete. Wednesday night, as he has told scores of reporters already, Gadberry again said he made the show to counter negative media stereotypes about gays.

It realistically depicts the gay life style, said Gadberry, 29, who has produced live theater but not TV before.

“I’m tired of being portrayed in the media as someone made to suffer, as a victim, as a pervert,” he said.

But just a few of the soiree’s party-goers seemed to be caught up by life in the fictional Orange County town of Orange Grove, where dirty politics, big business, domestic strife and romance reign. They wanted to know more about Chaz Cavanaugh, a gay counterpart to “Dallas’ ” sleazy J.R. Ewing; June Tshwaila, a smarmy black lesbian running for City Council, and an anti-gay fanatic, the Rev. Arthur Dimsdale.

Others supported the project in concept. Jeff LeTourneau, co-chairman of the Orange County Visibility League, said the program “could break down more barriers” by exposing gay behavior to unenlightened heterosexuals

“I see that as a positive step forward for the gay community,” he said.

But most said they thought the “Secret Passions” pilot--which shows men kissing, as promised--is not true to life. Its characters and situations are “extreme,” “overly dramatic” and “far-fetched,” like those in other soap operas, viewers said.

Plus, many said, it was just plain boring. Several left before the show was over or mumbled restlessly throughout its second half.

“It is awful, awful,” said Mike, 24, of Orange, who would not give his last name. “That’s not the way I live my life. It’s corny and misrepresentative. Every relationship (in the show) has a problem. Why don’t they show the positive side of things?”

Randy, 22, who also declined to be further identified, said: “It doesn’t present an accurate, well-rounded picture.”

Cast member David Burrill put it this way: “I think they should have spent more time in production than hyping it up to the media.”

Even Gadberry, while quick to defend the project, conceded that the show is decidedly “slow.”

“Oh yeah,” he said, “to be honest with you. But it was great as a first effort working with volunteers.”

And, he said, he can “guarantee” that the next episode will be improved.

Meanwhile, national media coverage of “Secret Passions” continues. A producer for MTV, the 24-hour music video network, said he would be showing clips from the soap Thursday night at 11:30. Gadberry and the Rev. Louis P. Sheldon of Anaheim, an anti-gay evangelist, are scheduled to face off this morning on “Nine Broadcast Plaza,” a nationally broadcast news magazine carried (at 7 a.m.) by some local cable companies on WWOR out of New Jersey.

And Gadberry continued to say Hollywood executives assure him that they will help market the soap to such commercial cable outlets as the USA Network. He would not name these individuals (who, he said, fear reprisal for supporting homosexuality), nor would he say whether any commitments have been made.

But even without their support, he insisted, he will keep producing the soap for biweekly broadcast on public-access TV.

It took about two months to finish the pilot, but future episodes can follow quickly now that cast and crew are in place, he said. He is now editing a second segment and taping a third.

“To hell with the entertainment industry!” he told Wednesday’s crowd. “We’re going to do it on our own!”

* ‘SECRET PASSIONS’ REVIEW. F26