A new Musical
Book and music by Jon Burr
Synopsis
“Sammy,” a post-pubescent boy, became smitten by Musical Theater following a trip to NYC with his parents, where they ended up seeing “Kinky Boots.” Back home in Dixville, Tennessee, Sammy is becoming aware he has growing feelings for men and boys, not like his platonic feelings for his best friends, who are mostly girls. His sense of guilt and dread grows as the feelings strengthen, realizing that homosexuality is not accepted in much of his rural small-town community, or his family’s church, or his peers. He hears his straight friends, parents and neighbors talking disparagingly about gay people, and is full of anxiety about his situation, which is becoming more painfully obvious to him with each passing day. Boys in school are starting to notice his mannerisms, and beginning to bully him.
His parents (Brent and Peggy) begin to suspect his situation – although he tries to conceal it, his mannerisms, mode of dress, and intense interest in Musical Theater lead them to suspect his situation, and they resolve to solve it by sending him away to a Conversion Therapy camp.
At first he tries to remain open, but his sense of alienation from the therapists is profound, and he feels completely un-seen and un-heard, as if he’s forced to deny his very being.
They confiscated his phone – or what they thought was his phone – but he kept a hidden spare “burner” phone for emergency use, and used it to text with his best friend Charlise.
At first he was willing to try to listen and see if there was some “cure,” not wanting to become alienated from his family and community – but the longer he stayed, the more urgently he wanted to escape. Scenes at the camp included shaming, emotional abuse, punishment, confinement, isolation, and psychological torture.
He meets fellow youngsters with the same orientation, and for the first time starts to feel like he’s not alone. The “residents” converse among each other, offering surreptitious support, along with a sense that there’s a larger world out there, and communities of kindred spirits. One new friend at the camp (Chloe) even knows somebody (Jason) who went to New York to get away, and had found a job and a place to live.
Meanwhile, the head of the camp (Reverend Crowe), a local minister and town selectman, is caught soliciting sex in a men’s room in a rest area of the interstate that passes through their county, arrested in the next town and held overnight in jail, to much scandal in the community. The chaos of the event affords Sammy enough cover to make his exit from the camp in possession of a few hundred dollars and a bus ticket given to him by Charlise when during her visit to the camp.
He escaped from the camp, hitchhiked to the bus station in the county center, and got on a bus to New York. He got in touch with Chloe’s friend Jason, who offered him a floor to crash on while he looked for a job. He finds a place in the gay community, getting a job in a gay bar/cabaret, starts reading BackStage, and is soon making auditions. He finally gets a part, and sings the closing number to end the show.
GoFundMe
We’re raising funds to hire singers to perform the demo tracks, which are currently AI voices.
https://www.gofundme.com/f/a-boy-escaping-a-pray-away-the-gay-camp