First, let’s get something out of the way: Straight is finely acted by Jake Epstein, Thomas Sullivan and especially Jenna Gavigan. The three play Boston residents entangled in an unorthodox love triangle; oft-stressed banker Ben (Epstein) is in a relationship with bio-geneticist Emily (Gavigan), but is also sleeping with Chris (Sullivan) a 20-year-old college kid with whom he hooks up over beers and “guy stuff”. As the two men’s relationship becomes stronger, Emily is left aside wondering what is she doing wrong that is keeping Ben from committing to her. Epstein portrays his confusion with charm and arrogance, Sullivan is quite fascinating to watch as an object of desire who himself is plagued with doubt, and Gavigan is a revelation who makes Emily vulnerable without ever allowing her to become a “victim”.
Because of the great cast, it might be tempting to pat the show on the back and move on, but the script is already patting its own back so hard, and so constantly, that one wonders whether there is a sadomasochistic subtext somewhere in there. The play written by Scott Elmegreen and Drew Fornarola would seem fresh if we were in the year 1983 or any time before The Normal Heart really, for its takes on sexuality and gender are positively medieval. The play, from its obvious title to its attempt at exploring the zeitgeisty phenomenon of “men who sleep with other men, but don’t identify as gay”, spends most of its 90 minutes precisely trying to fit these characters into boxes.
It gives them professions that only perpetuate the archetypes the characters are trying to avoid, and in some instances relies on these very jobs to define their personalities. In one of the most unsubtle elements in the play, it turns out that Emily is essentially working on the idea of “nature vs. nurture” by giving mice leukemia. This not only sets the stage for some cringe-worthy scenes where Emily is the only one not in on the joke, but also reflects how Fornarola and Elmegreen think of these characters as rodents they can use to try out their "progressive" ideas.
It’s been more than a decade since Brokeback Mountain came out in theaters, and its plot seemed slightly dated by that time already, so to have a show written by and starring young people treading the same territory is lamentable for various reasons. The most obvious one is that it forces us to wonder if we as a society have actually changed at all, is Straight onstage because we still need to listen to stories about being in the closet? Can it be that equal marriage and the improved representation of LGBT characters in the media hasn’t been as strong a change as we might have perceived? If Straight is truly a reflection of our times, then we certainly have lots of work to do, and perhaps for that reason alone, one can applaud Fornarola and Elmegreen’s PSA.
