San Diego’s Diversionary Theatre is just full of drama, politics and separation — and it has everything to do with outgoing executive director Chuck Zito. That’s because Zito knows good drama when he sees it, and Zito knows that the subjects of politics and separation make good theater.

This week Zito has launched his last piece at the Diversionary, Guillermo Reyes’ Places to Touch Him. It is poised to be a tour de force for Anglo-Hispanic relationships and politics, gay or straight. Previous to Places to Touch Him was David Henry Wang’s M. Butterfly, the thrilling intrigue of 1960s Chinese-Franco politics.

Zito has lined up Lee Blessing’s Thief River, set to kick off next season, the tale of two young men in love who go their separate ways, only to find themselves thrown back together twice over the next half-century. Also scheduled is Jane Anderson’s ambitious Looking for Normal, about a man who takes his whole family on his journey to become the woman he has always believed himself to be.

Founded in 1985, the Diversionary Theatre’s mission is to “provide quality theatre for the lesbian, gay and bisexual communities” and “to produce plays with gay, lesbian and bisexual themes that portray complexity and diversity both historically and contemporarily.”

“Our goal is as the name says,” suggests Zito, “to produce theatre with diversity, in terms of the themes, the audience and the actors.”

One of the greatest accomplishments for Zito as executive director has been to bring diversity to roles that have otherwise been defined in very specific ways.

“I don’t think anyone would have thought of Farhang [Pernoon] as the Oscar Wilde dandy that he came to be for the audiences,” says Zito. “The Diversionary is about presenting a range of roles and characters that are just as diverse in their casting as they are in their performance.”

Local actress Melissa Supera-Fernandes is a perfect example. Among her eight appearances at the Diversionary include “Helga” in M. Butterfly, “Trina” in Falsettos and “Janet” in The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

“There is such a stereotype in gay and lesbian theater,” says Supera-Fernandes. “But the Diversionary has been going beyond that stereotype, beyond what we see on television in ‘Will & Grace’ and portraying gays and lesbians as human beings with different temperaments and individualities. As an actor, I am pleased to be able to play such a wide range of characters.”

Having played alongside Supera-Fernandes in The Rocky Horror Picture Show as “Frank. N. Furter”, fellow Diversionary Associate Artist David McBean agrees.

“There is a trend toward the inane and the glamorization of gayness,” says McBean. “But the real goal is to bring truth to the wholeness of the gay person. That takes integrity.”

“I think theatre in general is very supportive toward gay members,” says McBean. “But at the Diversionary it goes beyond being supportive to being welcoming. The whole political aspect of empowering the community is very rewarding.”

Supera-Fernandes, who is married to another actor often seen on Diversionary’s stage, is very proud of her work in the GLBT theater community.

“These are times of change,” says Supera-Fernandes, “and I want to be part of that. I have a great admiration for the Diversionary for being at the lead of that change.”

McBean, who can be seen in Sledgehammer Theater’s upcoming production of Jordan Harrison’s Kid Simple: A Radio Play in the Flesh, agrees.

“I admire the effort, the determination,” says McBean. “I admire the strength, the willingness to deal with adversity and the stigma that goes along with being ‘gay theater’ and coming out with not just quality ‘gay theater’ but just plain quality theatre.”

And San Diego’s theatre community in general is sitting up and taking notice. In fact, you might say it is “straightening up.” That is, under Zito’s leadership, the straight community has come to represent over a third of all audience members.

“We are very pleased to have such a large audience of straight people, as well as our LGBT community,” says Zito. “I think that is a result of the kinds of plays we produce and the diversity reflected in those pieces.”

Supera-Fernandes and McBean attribute this rise in audience diversity to the Diversionary’s continued mission of producing, first and foremost, good theater.

“Theater should make me think and feel,” says Supera-Fernandes. “I want to be moved — angry, sad, happy, laughing. I want to be moved. I want theatre to make me think about life, love — anything — as long as it is making me think. The pieces that the Diversionary selects do that.”

“As an actor,” says McBean, “being on stage is my passion. It is who I am. I get to be other people, I get to escape from who I am, while at the same time exploring who I am. It is very empowering. And I think when it is done well the audience experiences that same empowering transformation, if only momentarily. In that, theatre expresses ideas that create change, that provoke thought, or move people.”

And while Zito has provoked both thought and change, and although he is moving to New York, it is still the Diversionary Theatre that he keeps at the forefront of his thoughts these days.

“My hope would be that the Diversionary continues on this great path of inclusion,” says Zito, “and that the theater will continue on a path that presents the complex nature of gay and lesbian community.”