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Like Father, Like Son 

A Comedy / Drama
By Jim Dalglish

Teddy’s father is coming out of the closet - with a bang.  His college roommate is a sexually insatiable football star. And he’s met a good-looking doctor, whose husband has just walked out on him and their adopted infant son.  Boston’s Gay Pride celebration is shaping up to be memorable.  If only Teddy can survive it.

"I’ll be the best buddy you ever had.  You just gotta help me pull a C+ average and win a national title.  Give the pros something big enough to overlook my serious cock addiction." - Bucky

Reviews

"Like the great playwrights of Britain, Dalglish creates evocative characters and then rains existential rocks on them, revealing their core humanity in the process....  it is hard to take your eyes off (Brandon Chinn) as he embodies a quarterback all-star football player who has scheduled a time to come out as a gay man on national television." - Reva Blau, The Provincetown Banner

“Although the cast consists of only four men, their well-drawn characters fill the stage with believable personalities... The play's strengths lie in its relevance and believability. The interactions are convincing without the scripted feel of many other plays... Dalglish does a terrific job of incorporating these new, omnipresent aspects of contemporary society into the ancient art form of theater.” - Caroline Hughes, Cape Cod Times

“‘Like Father, Like Son’ is a nice compliment to the summer performance palette in Provincetown and is sure to appeal to those looking for a distinctive gay voice and an exploration of the issues facing gay men of all ages… The production features a talented quartet of actors.  David A. McCarron presents a delightfully nerdy Teddy, who is naively cynical and despondent that his father is getting more action than he is.  Mark Meehan adds a quirkiness to the newly out, middle-aged father, Ted, as he tears through his newfound sexual freedom with both abandon and glee.  Tony Travostino plays the heartbroken Geoffrey with sincerity and authenticity, while Brandon Chinn gives a layered performances as the hot, but challenged football star Bucky.” - Steve Desroches, Provincetown Magazine

Characters

• Teddy – 19-year-old college student.  Studious, serious and painfully self-conscious.  He has no clue how attractive or funny he is.  He was the founder and sole member of his high school’s Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Student Alliance.

• Ted – Early 40s.  Teddy’s father.  A high-powered attorney who has given up his marriage, career and home in the suburbs to live in Boston’s South End and wait tables at a gay nightclub/restaurant.

• Bucky – 21-year-old college football star.  As the quarterback for Boston College he leads the league in passing completions and touchdowns.

• Geoffrey – Late 30s early 40s.  Recently adopted a child from a war-torn country.  A well-meaning doctor whose good deeds have come at a price.

Place

Locales scattered across the Boston metropolitan area.

Time

This summer.

Interview with the Playwright

Q: What is the genesis or inspiration for "Like Father, Like Son?"

A: A few years back I wrote a short play called "Like Father, Like Son."  It was included in a collection of short plays Lynda Sturner -- a brilliant playwright and actress and a wonderful friend -- and I produced at the Provincetown Inn that we called "SexTet."  The production was a huge success.  But I always wondered what happened to the characters in this particular short play after the lights came down.  Where did they go with their lives next?  When you like the characters as much as I liked the two in this play, you kind of miss them when the show is over.  So... this Spring, I asked them back into my life and I "found out" what happened to them next.  

Q: What ideas, themes and issues do you take on with this play?  

A: As you can probably tell from the title, father/son relationships are very central to this play.  Every man has had one issue or another with the man who brought him into this world -- whether he was an absentee father or one who either nurtured or ignored him.  With this play I explore what happens when a man decides to become a parent.  What does he take on?  Is he ready for it?  How can he be an authority figure and also express his nurturing side.  It's also about the son's perspective.  What happens when you grow up and begin to see the man who has raised you in a new light, as a fellow adult.  Not that the play is heavily burdened with "ideas."  These are just at the base of what is -- I hope -- a very amusing play.

Q: You've subtitled the play "a romantic comedy."  Does this mean you've written the gay male equivalent of a Chick Flick?

A: I'm not sure there is an equivalent!  I used the subtitle to signal that this wasn't some play about naked boys getting their rocks off at a bath house or a coming out drama or a play set in a drag bar.  Those all are great and have their place.  I just wanted to write something different.  Gay men are capable of mature romantic relationships.  And these can be damn funny.  But we don't get to see those types of plays very often.  Hopefully this play will change that.  

Q: Tell us about your cast.
A.: I've got amazing actors for this play.  Two are wonderful actors from Cape Cod -- Mark Meehan and David A. McCarron.  Mark is one of the founding members of the rock band Space Pussy and has performed in a half-dozen Ryan Landry productions.  He's got an amazing presence on stage -- you'd have to to complete with Ryan and his wonderful and wacky crew.  I've been watching David McCarron perform since he was 16.  (That was only three years ago!)  He is an alumnus of Harwich Junior Theater and when I saw him perform in "The Scottish Play" a few years back, he blew me away.  I basically wrote this role for him.  Tony Travostino is a very dear friend who has been willing to take on quite a few of the most challenging roles I've written.  Tony has a wonderful soul that comes through beautifully in everything he does.  He'll be traveling up from New York to play the role of "Geoffrey."  Brandon Chinn is also coming up from New York.  A recent graduate of Brown University's acting program, Brandon auditioned for me at a Mid-town studio this spring and he brought the right combination of swagger, machismo and vulnerability that make up my star college quarterback.  It doesn't hurt that in addition to being talented actors all four of my men are beautiful to look at as well.

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