Robert Chesley

Plays By Robert Chesley

This collection includes two full-length plays, STRAY DOG STORY and JERKER, and three interconnected one-acts, DOG PLAYS. STRAY DOG STORY: In the opening scene a "lonely faggot" named Jon wishes out loud that his faithful Buddy were human and his lover. "If people were as good-hearted as dogs," he sighs, "we wouldn't be in the mess we're in, that's for sure." No sooner has Jon left the room than presto! Buddy's Fairy Dog Mother appears, and his and Jon's wish is granted. JERKER: J. R. and Bert's anonymous telephone-sex relationship continues to evolve into something deeper until Bert's health begins to fail. DOG PLAYS: A trilogy of interconnected one-act plays, whose subject matter is the AIDS epidemic. In (WILD) PERSON, TENSE (DOG) Dog and Buck, former lovers, run into each other at a bar. Both now have AIDS. Buck's disease is in the advanced stages, and Dog refuses to recognize and acknowledge their shared past and, inevitably, their shared future. In THE DEPLORATION OF ROVER Fido is angry that Rover, in spite of being sick, continues to act on his desires. And in HOLD Dog reminisces with Lad, his lover, as he undresses him, but Lad, who has died of AIDS, exists now only in Dog's imagination. "These strange, wonderful, heartbreaking plays go beyond magic realism into something very deep and primal. No matter where he began, in fairy tale or phone sex, Robert Chesley always took his audience someplace new. He could shift from the silly to the dangerous to the tender in the blink of an eye. His plays are not period pieces, but startling glimpses of a recent past that tell us things we badly need to know about our present and future." -Christopher Bram "Without question, Robert Chesley is the most incisive gay playwright at work in America today." -Mark Thompson, The Advocate "Robert Chesley wrote gut-wrenching plays." -Linda Winer, Newsday STRAY DOG STORY "STRAY DOG STORY is both brutally shocking and a warmhearted fairytale." -Gay City News JERKER "... although Robert Chesley's JERKER does indeed center around two naked men whacking off while exchanging fantasies on the phone (well, to tell the truth only one bares all), it is finally a funny, thoughtful, tender story that emerges ... the most wonderful thing about JERKER is its sense of humor. Some performance artists have been known to do appalling things to their genitalia for no apparent artistic reason, but this playwright is not out simply to shock. And because Chesley peppers his scenes with gentle wit and good-natured joking, he eases our potential embarrassment at the play's action." -Diana Spinrad, Chicago Reader