Manus and Browder to Star in JEFFREY at Out Front on Main in August

Buddy R. Jones directs Paul Rudnick's Jeffrey, starring longtime friends and collaborators George W. Manus Jr. and Richard Browder, for Murfreesboro's Out Front on Main, Inc. for a three week run August 11-28, with shows Thursdays-Sundays at 7:30 p.m.

When Rudnick's Jeffrey hit the off-Broadway stage in 1993, it took a decidedly different approach in its depiction of gay men and AIDS: it's a laugh-out-loud comedy.  Presenting the play as a period piece, Jones hopes to show how little has changed in so much time. 

Jeffrey is the hilarious story of a 30-something actor/waiter who has become so disenchanted with safe sex and the terror of AIDS that he has decided to give up all forms of carnal knowledge forever.

"Sex is too sacred to be treated this way," Jeffrey  (George W. Manus, Jr.)  declares directly to the audience. "Sex wasn't meant to safe, or negotiated, or fatal... So. Enough...no more sex."

As a result, celibacy becomes Jeffrey's new mantra and he heads to the gym to find a new outlet for his energies and immediately meets Steve  (Justin Hand).  Steve is everything that Jeffrey has always wanted in a man but, because he has vowed to give up sex, he panics and makes a quick exit stage left. But they meet cute again. Steve is persistent and eventually wins Jeffrey over - until he discloses something that sends Jeffrey into his cocoon again. 

The very scenario that he fears is embodied by his two best friends.  D. Richard Browder  plays Sterling, an ascorbic interior decorator who is always ready with an Oscar Wildean bon mot for every occasion. Sterling is a catty queen but he also has a big heart. He urges Jeffrey to find a boyfriend. His younger lover is Darius (Andy Woloszyn),  a dancer who is appearing in Cats.

In addition to Manus, Browder, Hand and Woloszyn, the cast also includes Anderson Dodd, Jessica Theiss, Seth Limbaugh and Zach Parker.

Darius is HIV positive. Sterling maintains a healthy attitude about the situation and tells Jeffrey that they still have sex: "Safe sex. The best." But he is also being a bit delusional ("You are not going to get sick," he tells Darius. "I thought I made that clear.") and his words do nothing to assuage Jeffrey's ultimately selfish terror of living with such a man and eventually having to watch him die. 

As Jeffrey ponders the meaning of life, the universe and everything, playwright Rudnick skewers every gay stereotype under the sun and pokes fun at all the cliches in gay drama. The comic settings and situations include a hoedown for AIDS, bogus self-help groups, queer vigilantes, an amorous priest and a Gay Pride Parade. No sacred cow escapes Rudnick's laser-like ability to zero in on them.

"Living up to our mission to bring edgy, thought-provoking and Contemporary Theatre to Middle Tennessee, Out Front on Main does not blunt the dialogue or action of this play," explains Manus, who is producing artistic director of the theater company.

Out Front on Main, Inc. is located at 1511 E. Main Street in historic downtown Murfreesboro, next to MTSU. Information and reservations are available by calling (615) 516-6279 or at www.OutFrontOnMan.com. Manus says one dollar of every ticket sold will go to benefit Nashville CARES.

Pictured: George W. Manus Jr. and Justin Hand

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