←Recommendations of A Queer Rodeo Fantasia

I was lucky enough to see this play when it was selected for a reading at Playwrights Realm, and it was powerful enough to stay with me these years later. Epic and intimate all at once, evoking the natural landscape of the West and the interior landscapes of men (and especially gay men) raised in that setting, Pulling Leather is poignant and probing and witty, and I sincerely hope I have the chance to see it fully realized on stage again soon.

Will Brumley has captured something epic and magnificent - and personal and true down to its core - in this play. The central relationship between Uncle and Nephew, both exploring the landscape of the American West and simultaneously the landscape of the gay experience across different generations is captivating and resonant. The staging possibilities alone should make any director leap for the chance to bring this one to life. Worth your time, and the emotional investment - you may, as I did, find tears in your eyes while reading it.

What a nuanced and compassionate piece that examines masculinity, identity, the loneliness that can be associated with being a gay man, and complex family dynamics. Darby and Glen are such rich characters and their relationship is rendered beautifully here--what they get from one another feels real, organic, and poignant. The theatricality Brumley uses to tell this story is also thrilling, with the malleability of time/space, the balancing of spare lyricism with humorously observed naturalism, and lots of room for exciting and creative staging and movement work. I'd love to see a full production of this!

A sexy and sad theatrical journey that pulled me in from the first moment. Will is a really exciting voice and captures this uncle, nephew relationship with such sweetness and repression.

It is the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center's pleasure to recommend Will Brumley and their play Pulling Leather as a finalist for our 2018 National Playwrights Conference. The play rose through a competitive, anonymous, multileveled selection process that took nearly nine months to execute. As one of 53 finalists out of more than 1,4200 submissions, the strength of its writing has allowed this work to prosper in such a competitive selection process.