PIZZA HOUSE
To prepare his parents, Tim has sent ahead the script of his new play, which is about a young man who goes home to the midwest to confess to his parents that he is–oh, you get the idea. Tim has not sent his lover, Arthur, ahead, but Arthur has decided to come out all on his own. Script, lover, and playwright arrive in Ames within 9 minutes of one another, which sets the scene for the surprise party planned to celebrate Tim’s homecoming.
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Tim presents problems as well. In one scene he shares his hopes for his play’s success by talking in jargon rarely heard outside professional theater circles, then is disappointed when the others don’t understand him. We can’t help but wonder whether this protagonist isn’t being just a bit unreasonable. And he could have announced his homosexuality to his family in a letter, which would have allowed them time to absorb the news in private. Instead, he chooses to confront them face-to-face, after informing them that he is planning to hang them all out to dry in front of all New York. Why does Tim have to tell them all, for that matter–it’s not as if he were a teenager still living at home. As the conflicts escalate, the question recurs: didn’t he know this would happen? Did he really think that his parents would immediately forgive, accept, and rejoice? When his mother suggests that he “threw it in our faces,” one can’t help considering that the accusation might be valid.
