TV Boyfriend by
Jake Gilmore, 24, is an Olympic freestyle skier on the X-Games circuit about to come out of the closet in a very public way. Ken Markus, 48, is a gay playwright who’s been out longer than Jake has been alive. Despite differences in age, experience and profession, the two men have formed a loving relationship which has somehow survived a year in the closet. Coming out to family and friends may prove just...
Jake Gilmore, 24, is an Olympic freestyle skier on the X-Games circuit about to come out of the closet in a very public way. Ken Markus, 48, is a gay playwright who’s been out longer than Jake has been alive. Despite differences in age, experience and profession, the two men have formed a loving relationship which has somehow survived a year in the closet. Coming out to family and friends may prove just as tricky. The play “TV Boyfriend” alternates between two timelines – the events in the present surrounding Jake’s coming out, and the night Jake and Ken first met, which turned into a long weekend together forming the foundation of the relationship that prompted Jake to step out of the closet and into the light. Since one of the characters is a playwright and the two men first meet in a theater, the script also consciously operates on a third (meta) level outside the two time streams, where actors out of character address the audience in words and song through the fourth wall, make-up is removed and clothes changed in view of the audience as scenes progress and transition, and characters call attention to the use of actors in multiple roles ("is it weird that she reminds me of my mother?"; Jake bonds with his agent over their sisters, the actress in the role the agent later takes on the role of Jake's sister, etc.) The play ultimately becomes the vehicle of the two men sharing their story.