Playwright: Jimmy Maize

At: Bailiwick Rep., 1229 W. Belmont

Phone: (773) 883-1090; $20

Runs through: Aug. 10

In One Room won Bailiwick’s first College/ University Playwriting Contest on GLBT Themes, which drew entries from across the county. This world premiere shows that author Jimmy Maize has some real writing chops now, and a lot more possibilities later. His one-hour piece is highly theatrical, well-edited and tightly woven. It is not, however, a play nor does it pretend to be. It’s a docu-drama, a voice collage, based on interviews with a diverse range of queer youth (under 25).

What these boys and girls—and that’s what they still are—have on their minds is the usual stuff most of us go through as we recognize our sexuality, and come out to family and friends. In brief monologues, linked by conversational snippets forming group commentaries, five actors take on multiple personalities, Black, white, Asian and Latino. But for the characters they portray—Elijah, 19, Chicago; Stephanie, 21, Seattle; Tim, 24, Albuquerque; Tia, 18, New York City, etc.—ethnicity means little, as sexual questioning and discovery connect them intrinsically beneath the skin.

Maize has selected good bits: the youth who takes his books about coming out and hides them in the closet; the born-again gay celibate who declares, ‘I refuse to base my self-image on my temptation; I am not my temptation’; the girl who isn’t quite sure she’s lesbian, saying ‘Maybe I was thinking about a muscular man with large breasts’; the boy with ‘a boner’ for his college dorm roommate, a tale that might have come word-for-word from the 1950s.

It’s apparent that In One Room offers nothing new or original, but that doesn’t diminish the relevance or importance of the material. Indeed, it’s surprising that, despite our high visibility compared to 25 years ago, teens still emerge into self-awareness thinking there are no others like themselves, and dealing with same old, hackneyed-but-devastating family conflicts and spiritual turmoil. The sense of community, or lack thereof, appears to be the overriding order of business.

There’s little to dislike about the quick show, staged in crisp, bare-bones fashion by Lee Peters on the drape-backed set of Naked Boys Singing. The addition of a few posters proclaiming GLBT events and themes provides the only decor. The cast—Calina Byrd, Jeffrey Fahey, Andre Ing, Sadie Rogers and Erez Shek—is young and appealing. There may be little differentiation in voice or acting as they bounce from character to character, but they do so with energy, and the style of the writing encourages little more than declaration. Maize should tackle a dramatic work next, requiring extended characterization and true dialogue scenes. I’d like to be there to watch.