Playwright Geoffrey Nauffts takes some familiar dramatic setups -- believer vs atheist, gay hiding sexual identity from straitlaced family -- and puts a fresh wrinkle on them in Next Fall, now in is West Coast premiere (after a recent Broadway run). As slickly directed by Sheryl Kaller (on an ingenious set by Wilson Chin), the play centers on Luke (the buoyant James Wolk), a young New York actor, and Adam (a low-key Nauffts) a 40-year-old substitute teacher, who meet at a party and fall in love...somewhat.
What keeps them from having a completely fulfilling relationship are their religious differences. Luke says grace before meals and is waiting to be raptured up to heaven (assuming that God will forgive him for being gay). Adam, on the other hand, scoffs at Christianity and at Luke's evangelical notions of sin. The clash of opposites leads to juicy confrontation scenes, played mostly for laughs.
Next Fall has a darker side, though. The play opens in the hospital where Luke is being operated on for life-threatening injuries suffered in a motorcycle accident. Nervously awaiting news from the doctors are Adam and two of Luke's friends: Brandon (Ken Barnett in a largely wasted role) and Holly (Betsy Brandt), owner of a candle shop, Butch (gruff Jeff Fahey) and Arlene (the garrulous Lesley Ann Warren). The latter two are Luke's divorced parents, up from bible-belt Florida with a bigoted abhorrence of homosexuality.
In flashback we learn that Adam has tried desperately to convince Luke to come out of the closet, only to have his chicken-hearted partner put the day off, time and time again. The argument boils over in the hospital ward when Adam faces off against Butch and Arlene in an attempt to assert his right to be by Luke's side.
Ultimately Next Fall explores questions of faith, afterlife and the state of grace, but with a deft, light-fingered touch. The play could have been dismissed as superficial if not for its intelligence, wit and compassion.
