In a season full of fantastically boring and dust covered shows, (BCT is doing Crazy For You. YAWN. Park Square will be doing A Midsummer Night’s Dream. What in Gaye Hell are they thinking?) Matthew Everett has written an original play (produced by After Dark Theatre Company) that has perked up the Gaye-dar of this Fairy Bored-Mother.  Fresh from the same man that brought one of my Fringe Favorites, “The Bronze Bitch Flies at Noon”, and “Dog Tag” comes, Leave.

Here’s a synopsis:

Seth is a young Marine serving during wartime. Nicholas is his civilian longtime companion who waits back home. In addition to the strain on their relationship caused by distance and absence, they must hide their love for one another behind code words and secret identities because of the don’t ask, don’t tell policy barring gays and lesbians from serving openly in the United States military. Seth’s mother Anne assists them by providing the cover of a woman’s handwriting for Nicholas’ daily letters, but Nicholas and Seth’s resolve is starting to weaken. Jonas, another young gay Marine in Seth’s unit just coming to terms with his identity, forms an intense bond with Seth overseas. Tyson, a former Army soldier who got fed up with “don’t ask, don’t tell” and didn’t reenlist, now works alongside Nicholas, providing temptation as well as a reality check. When Seth returns home for an unexpected leave, with Jonas at his side, and post-traumatic stress following him from the battlefield, old relationships are tested, and new ones bloom. In the end, the realities of war call on one man to make the ultimate sacrifice.

I can’t tell you how excited I am to see this show. But I’ll try. I’m about as excited as a gay hooker during the Republican National Convention! Not only is Matthew Everett a fantastic writer, but he is taking the gay genre to a respectable level. The characters he writes aren’t gay clowns. They are real people. And it’s about damn time. With this new show, it seems Everett is raising his own bar…and my bar as well. He’s taking on the military. This show has the promise of good looking men, emotional insight, and provocation written all over it. Three things that can also describe my bedroom on Tuesday night. I am definitely going to see this show and you should too!

Thank you Matthew Everett, once again, for being totally Gaye…in a good way!

September 5th and 6th at 7pm at the Black Box Theatre in Morris, MN

or…

September 11th and 25th at 7pm at the Bryant Lake Bowl