Joel Bailey
High school senior and star athlete, Jack Cusack, secretly writes a play for theatre class about his experience growing up athletic and closeted. The play is found by his classmate, Rudy, who pitches it as an idea for the spring play without Jack’s name attached. However, the school principal stops the production under the guidance of a spirit from an early 1900s politician intent on imposing a “Christian morality”, and the students plan to secretly produce the show off campus. Meanwhile, Jack’s identity as the playwright is revealed and he is confronted by two of his friends who later attack Rudy and put him in the hospital. While Rudy is in a coma, Jack visits and comes to terms with his own identity. The play ends with Rudy getting out of the hospital, the students’ show amidst protest, and Rudy being killed.
| Playwright: | Joel Bailey |
| Publication Year: | N/A |
| Publisher: | New Play Exchange |
| Date of Access: | 05/2022 |
| Genre: | Drama |
| Length: | Full-Length |
| Cast Size: | 16 + |
| Specific BIPOC Characters: | Yes |
| Identity Structures: | Gay |
| Plot Tropes: | Anti-Queer School Staff, Bullying, Closeted, Coming Out, Drama Kids, Spray Painted Hate Speech, Gender Roles and Stereotypes, Gossip, Hate Crimes, Internalized Homophobia, Locker Room, Outing, Physical Violence, Queer Murder, Religion-Christianity, Transphobia |
| Red Flags: | Language, Sexual Content, Religious Content, Physical Violence |
