Presented by TOSOS (The Other Side of Silence – NYC’s oldest and longest producing LGBTQIA+ theater company) for a limited world-premiere engagement at A.R.T./New York’s Jeffrey and Paula Gural Theatre, Our House, playwright Barry Boehm’s highly entertaining and impactful new comedy about a lot of indefensible discriminatory human drama, considers the effects of local homophobic and racist attacks and family dynamics that threaten the upcoming wedding of gay inter-racial couple Brendan and Eugene (who just arrived from the East Coast), about to be hosted in Iowa at the home of Brendan’s uncle Andy and his husband Stanley, in the year before the Marriage Equality Act was established by the Supreme Court ruling of 2015.
Under the clear and well-balanced direction of Mark Finley (TOSOS’ Artistic Director since 2001), a masterful cast of six delivers the laughs and love, tension and confrontations, and personal backstories (including Andy’s activism with ACT UP, the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power, in the 1980s and ‘90s), drawing us in with distinctive characterizations and a full range of believable natural emotions, as they share drinks and pass a bong, are joined by Brendan’s mom (and Andy’s sister) Paula – a boisterous single mother and performer in her town’s community theater, who’s helping with the festivities – face the all-too-familiar issues that plagued America then (and still do now), and struggle with providing a safe house and support for their family and identities.
The meaningful narrative, which takes place over the period of one day and night, is set in the fenced-in backyard of the remodeled 1905 titular house (which has been in the family for three generations), replete with attractive current outdoor furniture, strings of colored lights, and a small bar, the back wall and door to the kitchen inside, and a gate to the street outside (set by Evan Frank, enhanced with shifts in lighting by David Castaneda and ambient sound by Morry Campbell). There are also two baskets on the back porch, filled with walnut seed pods that were cleaned up by Stanley after being thrown into the yard, at the house, hot tub, flowers, and rainbow flag, by a local group of harassing teens or young adults – a foreshadow of what’s to come when Brendan and Eugene venture out to the nearby liquor store to replenish the vodka, are attacked by the gang, hurling epithets and brandishing a broomstick, until Eugene bravely fights them off and chases them away.
Christopher Borg flawlessly expresses all the thoughts and feelings of Andy, a loving and nurturing uncle with a close-knit lifelong bond to Brendan, going so far as to gift him his valued ACT UP tee-shirt and vintage leather jacket (costumes by Ben Phillipp) in addition to the wedding, enjoying their time together with family at the house, passionately reacting to the events that transpire there and outside, and adamantly defending his nephew and Eugene in a profound performance that hits all the right notes and makes us care deeply about him and everything he’s endured in his life, in his relationship with Tim Burke’s less explosive and more controlled Stanley, and in his revelatory clash with Nancy Slusser’s defensive hard-partying Paula.
CJ DiOrio as the openly affectionate Brendan and Jalen Ford as Eugene, who is more introverted around others but begins to open up as the drinking and smoking take effect, embody the love and attraction they feel, and their different responses to being attacked, both physically and verbally, be it intentionally or unintentionally, and a serious mistake Brendan makes in trying to deal with it, which ultimately puts their marriage at risk. Rounding out the cast is Jon Spano as the Police Officer, who is dismissive about the walnuts thrown into the yard and later, wielding a gun, questions if Eugene was, in fact, the perpetrator of the violent assault on them, as falsely reported by the true assailant.
Boehm’s incisive writing, Finley’s engaging direction, and the cast’s compelling performances address profound social issues that continue to resonate, with fully fleshed-out three-dimensional characters, touches of laugh-out-loud humor, and the realization that missteps occur, even among those closest to one another. Will the wedding go on? Will Eugene be cleared of suspicion? And will the family find safety, solace, and unity? Find out in TOSOS’ top-notch production of Our House.
Running Time: Approximately two hours, including an intermission.
Our House plays through Saturday, March 21, 2026, at TOSOS, performing at A.R.T./New York, Jeffrey and Paula Gural Theatre, 502 West 53rd Street, NYC. For tickets (priced at $45-70, including fees), go online.
