- Adam and the Experts
Victor Bumbalo
A seriocomic play about the last days of a person with AIDS. (1990)
- Angels in America
Tony Kushner
Fictional and historical characters explore sexual relationships,
politics, religion, and AIDS in the Reagan era. (1993)
Part I: Millennium Approaches
Part II: Perestroika
- Another American: Asking and Telling
Marc Wolf
One-man show that documents the U.S. military’s “don’t ask,
don’t tell” response to the gays and lesbians in its ranks. (2000)
- As Is
William Hoffman
The struggle with AIDS and its impact on friends, lovers, family,
and the medical community. (1985)
- Auntie Mame
Robert E. Lee and Jerome Lawrence
The extravagant follies and demented escapades of a grand dame
with a heart of gold who teaches her innocent young nephew how
to “live” life to it’s fullest. (1956)
- Baltimore Waltz, The
Paula Vogel
A brother takes his ill sister on a trip to Europe to save her
life, when in fact he’s dying of AIDS. (1995)
- Beautiful Thing
J. Harvey
Called an urban fairytale, it is old-fashioned love story with a
fresh and contemporary twist. (1993)
- Beauty
Steven Patterson and John Sowle
Genet-inspired one-man play. (1997)
- Belle Reprieve
Split Britches
Burlesque of “A Streetcar Named Desire.” (1991)
- Bent
Martin Sherman
A relationship develops between two inmates in a World War II
concentration camp. (1979)
- Bible Belt and Other Accessories, The
Paul Bonin-Rodriguez
Trilogy of solo performances concerning a high school sissy
coming of age in fictional Cedar Springs, Texas. Includes:
Talk of the Town (1992)
The Bible Belt and Other Accessories (1993)
Love in the Time of College (1994)
- Blood on Blood
Rebecca Ranson
A man comes into his bedroom and finds his brother in bed with his wife.
(1987)An examination of their past, dreams and failures.
- Box 27
Michael Mann
Concerns a career Master Sergeant in the United States Marine
Corps, his long time friend, and his
friend’s son who is his lover. (1995)
- Boy Meets Boy
Bill Solly and Donald Ward
A gender revised romantic romp through the conventions
of 1930s film musicals. (1979)
- Boys in the Band, The
Mart Crowley
A classic of gay literature, self-hate turns a birthday
party into a punch bowl of piranha. (1968)
- Burn This
Lanford Wilson
A dancer’s accidental death brings together his brother and
the two people he had shared a loft with. (1988)
- Camille
Charles Ludlam
A document of what was arguably Ludlam’s greatest performance,
indeed an acting landmark of the twentieth century. (1989)
- Children’s Hour, The
Lillian Hellman
A vengeful child destroys the lives of two women who
run a girl’s school. (1934)
- Chorus Line, A
Kirkwood, Sante, Hamlisch and Kleban
Broadway gypsies (dancers) audition for and
rehearse a new show. (1975)
- Corpus Christi
Terrence McNally
A retelling of the end of the life of Jesus, with the assumption
that Jesus and Judas were lovers (in the Biblical sense). (1998)
- Clit Notes
Holly Hughes
A performance art tour across America;
explores female sexuality. (1996)
- Cloud 9
Caryl Churchill
A cornucopia of sexual permutations energize a cross-dressed
condemnation of British colonialism. (1983)
- Confessions of a Female Disorder
Susan Miller
Performed at The O’Neill, then produced by Mark Taper Forum. (1974)
Published: “Gay Plays, The First Collection,” Avon (1979).
- Conversations with a Diva
Shirlene Holmes
Culled from interviews with divas — of the male variety —
who make the journey from self-loathing and security
to becoming proudly gay and black. (1999)
- Design for Living
Noël Coward
Otto, Leo and Gilda attempt various combinations of living
arraignments until they settle on a ménage à trois. (1930)
- Destiny of Me, The
Larry Kramer
Companion play to “The Normal Heart,” Ned seeks to
understand his life as a gay man and as a leader of the
AIDS activist movement. (1993)
- Dog Plays
Robert Chesley
Three very short plays written by Chesley
after his AIDS diagnosis. (1990)
- Drag, The
Mae West
Three people in a love relationship ends in murder. (1927)
- Drag Queens On Trial
Sky Gilbert
A comedy about three drag queens who must defend
themselves against society. (1994)
- Dream Man
James Carroll Pickett
A gay, phone-sex host finds that his own loneliness does
not have such easy answers. (1986)
- Dresser, The
Ronald Harwood
The relationship of a theatrical dresser and
a self-centered aging actor. (1980)
- Dying Gaul, The
Craig Lucas
Two men weave a complicated emotional web
in an America on-line chat room. (1998)
- Edward II
Christopher Marlowe
The public and private life of England’s Edward II,
terminating in history’s most ironic execution. (1594)
- Entertaining Mr. Sloane
Joe Orton
A closeted car salesman bring home a young lodger who quickly
becomes a sexual target for him and his sister. (1964)
- Execution of Justice
Emily Mann
Docudrama about the trail of Dan White for the assassinations
of Harvey Milk and Mayor Moscone. (1983)
- Fairy Garden, The
Harry Kondoleon
A woman decapitates her husband, much to the amazement
of a homosexual couple, but disaster is averted by
the arrival of a genuine fairy. (1982)
- Falsettos
William Finn
Musical trilogy investigating the angst of mid-life coming out.
Includes:
In Trousers (1987)
The March of the Falsettos (1981)
Falsettoland (1990)
- Fefu and Her Friends
Maria Irene Fornes
Eight women gather to plan a program for the educational society,
as the audience is divided and rotates from room to room in Fefu’s
house, viewing scenes featuring the party’s individual guests. (1996)
- Fierce Love: Stories from Black Gay Life
Pomo Afro Homos
Members included: Djola Bernard Branner, Brian Freeman,
Eric Gupton, and later Marvin K. White. (1991)
- Fifth of July
Lanford Wilson
A comedy/drama about a gay man who lost his legs in Vietnam.
With the help of his partner, he learns about the liberating side
of commitment and the rewards of risk-taking. First performed
by Wilson’s Circle Repertory Company, NY. (1978)
- Fortune and Men’s Eyes
John Herbert
A sexual attraction between teenagers in prison leads
to rape and a death. (1967)
- Game of Fools
James Barr Fugate
Four gay friends in a small town are caught engaged in sex and sent to prison.
Later, two of them leaving town to seek a better life together. (1954)
- Gemini
Albert Innaurato
Harvard graduate from a working class Italian family in
the throes of homosexual panic. (1978)
- Glory Box
Tim Miller.
Performance piece on same-sex, binational couples
and the denial of immigration rights. (2000)
- God of Vengeance, The
Sholom Asch
Presented one of the earliest depictions of lesbians. First produced in
Berlin, then in Provincetown in 1922, and, in 1923, created a scandal
with the first passionate kiss between two women on a Broadway
stage. Originally written in Yiddish. (1907)
- Great Nebula in Orion, The
Lanford Wilson
Two women, who were schoolmates, meet years
later and compare lives. (1971)
- Green Bay Tree, The
Mordaunt Shairp
An older bon vivant disapproves of the pending marriage
of his young “protégé.” (1934)
- Gross Indecency: The three trials of Oscar Wilde
Moises Kaufman
Combining courtroom testimony with excerpts from Wilde’s writings,
the play not only unveils his genius and human frailty, but also the
era he lived in, with all its complacency and repression. (1997)
- Hannah Free
Claudia Allen
Hannah and her closeted lover, Rachel, desire to grow old together,
but due to the restrictiveness of their hometown, Hannah must
leave, but returns again and again for Rachel’s love. (1995)
- Haunted Host, The
Robert Patrick
An East Village playwright confronts an overnight guest who bares
a ghostly resemblance to the host’s recently dead roommate,
trying to exorcise an unresolved relationship. (1969)
- Have and to Hold, To
Paul Harris.
The first play to portray a relationship between two gay men,
who were HIV+, where one of them didn’t die.
Ends on an up-beat note. (1995)
- Here Lies Henry
Daniel Maclvor
A combination of off-the-wall contemplation,
mordant wit, and timing. (1997)
- Hot ’n’ Throbbing
Paula Vogel
A woman who writes feminist “erotica,” her teenage son and daughter,
and the estranged husband who comes to call, in a savagely funny
and disturbing investigation of sexual violence. (1990)
- Hyde in Hollywood
Peter Parnell
Dreams perpetrated by the dream factory during the movies’
golden age were as monstrous as Harry’s nightmares,
but far more lasting and lethal. (1991)
- I am a Camera
John Van Druten
Based on Christopher Isherwood’s The Berlin Stories, the play
depicts Germany during the rise of Hitler and is the
basis of the musical “Cabaret.” (1952)
- The Invention of Love
Tom Stoppard
A comedic tale of A.E. Houseman’s unrequited love for Moses
Jackson, with many scathing comments on classical and academic
homosexuality, as well as an imaginary meeting with Oscar Wilde. (1997)
- If This Isn’t Love
Sidney Morris
Romantic comedy about the vicissitudes of a gay
couple over a span of twenty-five years. (1982)
- Jack
David Greenspan
Jack sits alone in a circle of folding chairs, while a trio of
women chatters away about his sex life, his mother’s
illness, his illness (presumably AIDS), and death. (1987)
- Jeffrey
Paul Rudnick
AIDS prompts a fear of physical evolvement and
avoidance of emotional attachment. (1992)
- Jerker
Robert Chesley
Phone sex in the age of AIDS develops into
a profound if isolated intimacy. (1985)
- Judas Kiss, The
David Hare
Oscar Wilde’s relationship with Lord Alfred Douglas on the day
Wilde decides to stay in England and face imprisonment, and the
night after his release, two years later. (1998)
- Kennedy’s Children
Robert Patrick
In a downtown New York bar, a representative group discusses their
shattered dreams in the aftermath of U.S. president John F. Kennedy’s
assassination, and the end of the idealism he represented.
It ran on Broadway and in London’s West End. In 1978 it became
the first contemporary gay play to be televised by the BBC. (1973)
- Lady and a Woman, A
Shirlene Holmes
The working class love story of Flora Devine, an innkeeper and
midwife, and Biddie Higgins, an itinerant butcher. (1995)
- Language of our Own, A
Chay Yew
Witty dissection of the break-up between two gay men who seemed
destined for each other — until one tests HIV-positive. (1997)
- Laramie Project, The
Moises Kaufman
Based on interviews of Laramie, Wyoming citizens, during
the aftermath of the murder of Matthew Shepard,
and subsequent trial of his killers. (1999)
- Last Summer at Bluefish Cove
Jane Chambers
Lil, dying of cancer, spends a last summer with friends in a
summer resort on the north shore of Long Island. (1982)
- Levitation
Timothy Mason
A play about a family that actually cares for one another. (1993)
- Lilies or The Revival of a Romantic Drama
(Les Feluettes ou La Repetition d’un Drame Romantique)
Michel Marc Bouchard
Inmates of a Quebec prison re-enact the devastating tale of
impassioned love between two young men at a Catholic
boys’ school in rural Canada in 1912. (1987)
- Lips Together Teeth Apart
Terrence McNally
Two heterosexual couples vacation in a Fire Island house one of
the wives inherited from a brother who died of AIDS. (1992)
- Lisbon Traviata, The
Terrence McNally
Less than self-loving gay men escape in the fantasy world of
opera ending in a jealous murder reminiscent of Carmen. (1985)
- Loot
Joe Orton
A farce involving a nurse, two young thugs/lovers, and stolen
money hidden in a mother’s coffin, and introducing the seminal
Inspector Truscott of the Yard. (1965)
- Lord Alfred’s Lover
Eric Bentley
The relationship between Oscar Wilde and Lord Alfred Douglas. (1991)
- Love! Valour! Compassion!
Terrence McNally
Eight gay men spend summer weekends at the upstate New York
summer house of a celebrated dancer-choreographer who fears
he is losing his creativity — and possibly his lover. (1995)
- Madness of Lady Bright, The
Lanford Wilson
On a hot summer day, Leslie contemplates his unhappy past,
and an equally unpromising present and future. (1964)
- Maids, The
Jean Genet
One-act play: the first and ultimate presentation of role-playing
and exchange of identities, frequently performed in drag. (1975)
- Making Porn
Ronnie Larsen
Behind-the-scenes spoof of the gay porn industry, skewering the
gay-for-pay straight men who appear in the movies. (1995)
- Marriage of Bette and Boo, The
C. Durang
The marriage of a man (with an alcohol problem) to a women
(with a few dead babies on her hands). (1998)
- Math and Aftermath
Jim Grimsley
Set on the Bikini Atoll just before the historic bomb testing, it
investigates the Passion and just about everything else. (1995)
- Meet My Beat
Alberto “Beto” A. Araiza
Solo performance work about gay identity and empowerment. (1991)
- Men on the Verge of an Hispanic Breakdown
Guillermo Reyes
The gay lives of Latino immigrants in a wild
tragicomic one-man romp. (1997)
- Mr. Universe
Jim Grimsley
The rescue of a mute bodybuilder from the gritty streets of
New Orleans by a couple of drag queens. (1995)
- My Left Breast
Susan Miller
An autobiographical play that tells the story of losing
a breast, a lover, and rediscovering a son. (1995)
- My Night with Reg
K. Elyot
Six London gay men during the '80s; onset of AIDS crisis. (1994)
- My Queer Body
Tim Miller
Solo performance art work. (1992)
- Myron
Michael Kearns
Inspired by Rostand’s “Cyrano de Bergerac” the comedy-drama
concerns an interracial love relationship between a black man with
AIDS, his cousin, and his white buddy. (1992)
- Night Larry Kramer Kissed Me, The
David Drake
One-man show tells the story of Drake’s call to gay pride and
activism through a series of vignettes. (1994)
- Normal Heart, The
Larry Kramer
Ned Weeks fights the AIDS services establishment by preaching a
radical response to the disease, including abstinence. (1985)
- Now She Dances!
Doric Wilson
Characters from “The Importance of Being Earnest” act out “Salome,”
in a nightmare metaphor of the trial of Oscar Wilde; a subtle
scrutiny of homophobia. (1961/2000)
- One
Jeff Hagedorn
One of the first play to address the AIDS crisis, it depicts a
young man’s bewildered confrontation with his illness. (1982)
- One Fool
Terry Baum
Celebrates and criticizes Lesbian courtship and coupling. (1992)
- One Foot to the Sea
Harold N. Levitt
A merchant ship’s cook and a young sailor are lovers. Their relationship is tested
when the youth goes to a prostitute to prove he is a “real” man. Musical. (1953)
Music includes:
“One Foot to the Sea” by Fran Ziffer and Gordon Burdge
“Waiting for Tomorrow” by Fran Ziffer and Hardy Wieder
“Devil Take the Heart of a Woman” by Gordon Burdge and J. Russel Robinson
“Sailorman” by Gordon Burdge
- Oscar Remembered
Maxim Mazumdar
Lord Alfred Douglas reflects on his love affair with,
and his betrayal of, Oscar Wilde. (1977)
- Party
David Dillon
A positive gay play affirming “it is fabulous to be gay.” (1992)
- Perfect Relationship, A
Doric Wilson
Roommates find their friendship, not to mention apartment,
is up for grabs thanks to a trick with a penchant
for plants and bedtime stories. (1978)
- Pleasure Man, The
Mae West
A back stage Casanova gets comeuppance in a play
that has its climax at a gay party. (1928)
- Poor Super Man
Brad Fraser
Sexual intrigue and the blurring sexualities in today’s culture. (1994)
- Porcelain
Chay Yew
Confessional drama about a horrible crime, a caring priest,
police detective, and psychiatrist; each with an agenda. (1997)
- Private Lives
Noël Coward
A divorced couple reconnect on their Riviera honeymoon. (1930)
- Psycho Beach Party
Charles Busch
A mischievous gay beach-fest in the style of old 50-70s
thriller beach party/slasher movies. (1987)
- Quaint Honour
Roger Gellert
Two-act play about a British public school boy who bets he can
seduce another lad. In the process he falls in love, is found out, and
subsequently expelled. The seducee quits the school in protest. (1958)
- Queen of Angels
James Carroll Pickett
Drama with music, encompassing AIDS, medieval miracle plays,
carnival clowns, Punch and Judy shows, all mixed into a
retelling of the Orpheus myth. (1992)
- Remedial English
E. Smith
A gay schoolboy obsessed with a classmate. (1986)
- Safe Light
Adele Prandini
A dying Lesbian, her lover, and her best friend deal
with love and loss. (1984)
- Satan and Simon Desoto
Ted Sod
An AIDS play based on the Faust legend. (1994)
- Six Degrees of Separation
J. Guare
Inspired by a true story, a young black con man insinuates
himself into the lives of a wealthy New York couple (1993)
- Small Craft Warnings
T. Williams
A group of lonely and disparate individuals, rejected
by “normal” society, come together in their need for
human contact and understanding. (1973)
- Small Domestic Acts
Joan Lipkin
Complex friendship between a heterosexual couple
and a lesbian couple. (1996)
- Some Golden States
Tim Miller
Solo, autobiographical performance pieces covering Miller’s
childhood in Whittier, Calif., and teenage coming out. (1985)
- Stray Dog Story
Robert Chesley
The Fairy Dog Mother turns Buddy the dog into a boy, who begins
a troubled adventure in newly gay-liberated Manhattan. (1984)
- Street Theater
Doric Wilson
Drags, dykes, leather men, flower children, cruisers,
and vice cops on Christopher Street in the hours
leading up to the Stonewall riot. (1982)
- Streetcar Named Desire, A
Tennessee Williams
Blanche du Bois, undermined by romantic illusions and tragic
self-delusion, goes to New Orleans, where an encounter with
her sister’s husband leads to madness. (1947)
- The Strip
Phyllis Nagy
A vast epic of sexual identity and synchronicity. (1995)
- Suddenly Last Summer
Tennessee Williams
Mother love, cannibalism, a pending frontal lobotomy, and a hot
and steamy garden-run riot. (1958)
- T-Shirts
Robert Patrick
Three gay males of varying generations investigate
the new — or lack of — morality. (1978)
- Take Me Out
Richard Greenberg
Humor and questions about masculinity, sexuality, and race
ensue from the collision of sports and sexual politics when
a star baseball player outs himself in a press conference.(2003)
- Taste of Honey, A
Shelagh Delaney
A young, gay man befriends an unwed pregnant woman,
abandoned by her mother when it is discovered the
father of the baby is black. (1961)
- Tea and Sympathy
Robert Anderson
An effeminate teen is suspected of being gay. The respectable(?)
headmaster’s wife offers herself to him as a “cure.”
Originally banned in England. (1953)
- Ten Percent Revue
Tom Wilson Weinberg
Songs and dance that tackle many issues of the
gay and lesbian experience. (1985)
- Terminal Bar
Paul Selig
A comedy in which three people meet in a bar
at the end of civilization. (1986)
- This Island’s Mine
Philip Osment
Gay Sweatshop’s definitive English soap opera for the 80s. (1988)
- Torch Song Trilogy
Harvey Fierstein
Arnold, a professional female impersonator, his bisexual
boyfriend, a street hustler, a gay teenager and Arnold’s
Jewish mother; the perfect nuclear family. (1982)
- Total Eclipse
Christopher Hampton
Fact-based story of the great 19th century French poets,
Arthur Rimbaud and Paul Verlaine (1969)
- Two Lives
Arthur Laurents
Autobiographical play by a New York theater legend. (date?)
- Unidentified Human Remains and the True Nature of Love
Brad Fraser
A world of drinking and one-night stands, heroin use, and
a morbid fear of AIDS. (1995)
- Untold Decades
Robert Patrick
Seven, one-act plays that trace the romantic comedy of gay
male love in America through the last seven decades (1988)
- Vampire Lesbians of Sodom
Charles Busch
Parody of various show-biz genres, from biblical epics and
silent films, to glitzy Vegas floor shows. (1984)
- Voluptuous Madness
Fabulous Monsters and Robert Pryor (a review lists “Richard Prior”)
A spectacle delving into mythology. (1999)
- Warren
Rebecca Ranson
One of the first heartfelt plays about the loss
of a dear friend to AIDS. Autobiographical. (1984)
- Weldon Rising
Phyllis Nagy
Ground breaking dark comedy about personal responsibility
within the gay and lesbian community. (1992)
- West Street Gang, The
Doric Wilson
Denizens of a bar defend themselves from a variety of bashes,
ranging from a street gang to Anita Bryant. (1977)
- What the Butler Saw
Joe Orton
Sex farce in a private clinic, with doors slamming and people
caught in their underwear, and an ending that includes
Winston Churchill’s missing projectile. (1969)
- What’s Wrong with Angry
Patrick Wilde
A 16 year old schoolboy falls in love with the school jock. (1994)
- Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Edward Albee
A blistering late night confrontation of genders
and generations, combining too much alcohol with
potentially lethal “fun and games” (1962)
- Young Man from Atlanta, The
Horton Foote
A couple attempts to cope with the suicide
death of their only son. (1995)
- Zoo Story, The
Edward Albee
A man reading on a park bench is confronted by young, unkempt
vagrant, who tells a story about his visit to the zoo,
ending in a bloody encounter. (1960)
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