Characters include Mata Hari, Trilby, Svengali and Santa Claus, and Ludlam acknowledged no fewer than 40 sources for Big Hotel - everything from ads and Hollywood films to literary classics, textbooks and essays." Ludlam wrote a second play for the Play-House, Conquest of the Universe, but during rehearsals Ludlam and Vaccaro had a disagreement. Ludlam left to form his own company, which he named The Ridiculous Theatrical Group, and took many of the Play-House actors with him. Vaccaro held the rights to Conquest of the Universe, and was able to perform it first, delaying the production of Ludlam's competing version (called When Queens Collide) for several months. Vaccaro's Conquest of the Universe was performed at the Bouwerie Lane Theatre with many members of Andy Warhol's Factory, including Mary Woronov, Taylor Mead, Ondine, and Ultra Violet. The Play-House of the Ridiculous was a resident company at La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club in the East Village of Manhattan. Gay themes Vaccaro's Play-House of the Ridiculous and Ludlam's Ridiculous Theatrical Company had similar approaches to gay themes. Both ensembles used cross-gender casting, often recruiting drag queens as actors. One perspective of the Play-House of the Ridiculous is that they were reluctant to address queer themes. According to Ludlam, the Ridiculous Theatrical Company's productions were more daring: "I felt John [Vaccaro] was too conservative. He didn't want homosexuality or nudity onstage because he was afraid of being arrested. I wanted to commit an outrage. For me, nothing was too far out." Another perspective is that Ludlam's productions were too close to conventional comedy, while Vacarro's work was more challenging, emphasizing social commentary. Leee Black Childers was quoted in Legs McNeil's 1997 Please Kill Me: In my opinion, John Vaccaro was more important than Charles Ludlam, because Ludlam followed theatrical traditions and used a lot of drag. People felt very comfortable with Charles Ludlam. Everyone's attitude going to see Charles's plays was that they were going to see a really funny, irreverent, slapstick drag show. They never felt embarrassed. But John Vaccaro was way past that. Way, way past that. John Vaccaro was dangerous. John Vaccaro could be very embarrassing on many levels. He used thalidomide babies and Siamese triplets joined together at the asshole. One actor had this huge papier-mache prop of a big cock coming out of his shorts, down to his knees. He also couldn't control his bowel movements, so shit was