ABOUT THE SHOWS

The Sum of Us by David Stevens

June 13 - 22, 2025

A hit Off Broadway and later a film starring Russell Crowe, this play by gifted Australian writer David Stevens explores the volatile relationship between an aging widower and his gay son. After meeting in a local pub, Jeff and a young gardener, Greg, hit it off and begin to date. When he meets Jeff’s stubborn, opinionated dad, however, Greg begins to back off.  Meanwhile, Dad also has a new flame: a woman he met through a dating service.  Put off by Jeff’s homosexuality, prosaic Joyce, too, pulls away, just before Harry & Jeff’s lives take a dramatic turn.

"A father-son play with a big heart. Its first act has plenty of laughs, while the second half balances humor and pathos and includes a surprising conclusion… ought to run in resident theaters and summer stock for years to come." - Variety

"An old-fashioned play in the best sense. There's a real story and fully developed characters an audience can care about." - Associated Press

Perfect Arrangement by Topher Payne

February 14 - 23, 2025

It’s 1950, and new colors are being added to the Red Scare. Two U.S. State Department employees, Bob and Norma, have been tasked with identifying sexual deviants within their ranks. There’s just one problem: Both Bob and Norma are gay, and have married each other’s partners as a carefully constructed cover. Inspired by the true story of the earliest stirrings of the American gay rights movement, madcap classic sitcom-style laughs give way to provocative drama as two “All-American” couples are forced to stare down the closet door.

“Usually a playwright has to choose between writing a laugh-out-loud comedy and a very serious drama. Topher Payne has written both with Perfect Arrangement.” – TheatreMania

“As hiding gets harder, pitch-perfect comedy ensues: slamming doors, strange disguises, preposterous excuses... Eventually, the four must decide whether face-saving domestic lies are worth it, or whether ostracism beats living in fear. In our own era of surveillance and paranoia, their mid-century problems don’t feel so far away.” – The New Yorker

The Vultures by Mark A. Ridge

October 18 - 27, 2024

It’s a dark and stormy night at the mansion on Westmount Estate.  As the guests arrive for the reading of a will, the mysterious housekeeper declares, “The relatives are swooping in like a wake of vultures ready to pick the carcass clean.”  Who will ultimately inherit the fortune? Will it be the charming realtor, the handsome male model, the dimwitted nail technician, the bitter old woman, the endearing hairdresser, or the mild mannered accountant?  Throw in a priceless pocket watch, an androgynous housekeeper, an escaped mental patient, and a pair of reunited lovers and the result is murder, with a hefty dose of laughs.  The Vultures puts a comedic, modern day, gay spin on the classic murder mystery genre.

“Suspense Builds as six cousins arrive at a secluded estate for the reading of the will of a wealthy patriarch who died years before. Events require everyone to stay overnight (uh-oh!) amid ominous portents, including several things that go bump in the night.  Although cell phones amusingly accent a few scenes, the... piece still evokes a hoary mystery melodrama from generations ago.  No wonder: Ridge adapted 'The Vultures' from several 1920s plays, such as 'The Bat' and 'The Cat and the Canary,' that helped define the cliches of this genre.” - The Columbus Dispatch

(l to r) Kelly Simon, Mark Neufang, Kevin J. Gadzalinki & William Salinas in 2023’s TORCH SONG. photo by Sara Risley.