Aug 6th, 2007
Gay family offspring on stage
I have recently learned about two plays that include adult children of gay or lesbian parents.
“Fading to Grey” is about the 25th anniversary of a gay couple, and includes an adult son of one of the men — a result of a one-night stand. I am not yet able to find a review for it online. It premiered last month at Cherry Lane Studio Theatre in NYC as part of the LGBT “Fresh Fruit Festival.” It is now running in Minnesota at Mounds Theatre through August 19th. (Ticket info here.)
[UPDATE 8/18/2007: Playwright Richard Pettey contacted me to draw my attention to this online review.]
“Two Thirds Home” (July 26-August 12 in NYC) is about two grown sons having to face the sticky situation of dividing their mother’s assets with her partner after their mother dies. Like many adult children, their relationship to their mother’s partner was that of a distant step-parent at best, and not nearly as tidy as the community short-hand habit of saying these men have “two moms.”
Bonus queerspawn discovery: In the review for Two Thirds Home, the critic Duncan Pflaster, writes:
As a child of a lesbian myself, I assumed there would be a few elements I could identify with more than others might, but this is certainly accessible to anyone- actually, probably more accessible to people who haven’t met real lesbians.
And so, the reviewer (and playwright) Duncan Pflaster will be linked to my growing roster of adult children at Oversampled.net.
While the review describes the play as “two thirds excellent” gay families who never see the play can still learn from the lesson it explores: Get your paperwork in order before it is too late. Save your children the pain of hashing it out with legal and non-legal survivors after you are gone.
Hey, that’s me!
I stumbled on your website today. There is a review from the New York production of my play “Fading to grey”. It is on http://www.nytheatre.com.
I would be happy to answer any questions you have about the play.
Richard