The Dying Gaul Debuts in Little Theater by Sam Weisberg
		Last fall Leslie Korein '02 worked with playwright Craig Lucas at the Vineyard Theater in New York. As a result of the experience, Korein decided to tackle Lucas's 1998 drama, The Dying Gaul, as her senior project. "I really enjoyed working with Lucas and decided to read up on him," Korein says. "I ended up reading all his plays, and thought that they had a lot of truth to them, especially The Dying Gaul. It broke a lot of rules. I'm basically doing this play because when I read it, I was taken aback and shocked by the characters and the plot twists." Set in Los Angeles in 1995, The Dying Gaul focuses on Robert (played by Nathan Winkler-Rhoades '04), a struggling playwright whose lover, Malcolm, has just died of AIDS. Robert attempts to sell his latest script, which is based on his relationship with Malcolm, but is persuaded by producer Jeffrey (Seth Stewart '03) to change the character of Malcolm to a woman. Reluctant at first, Robert agrees once Jeffrey offers him a $1 million deal. Complications ensue when Jeffrey, who is married to Elaine (Catherine Miller '02), strikes up an affair with Robert. "The play is very much about Zen Buddhism, in that it reinforces the belief that everything that happens to you and makes you a victim is your own fault," says Korein. "You have control over your own fate." Lucas, who also wrote Longtime Companion, the first film to address gay community issues accurately, wrote The Dying Gaul in just 12 days, a year after his own lover died. In past interviews, Lucas has commented on the play’s overall message: "Where did so many of us learn to believe that the victims of terrible loss are ennobled by their suffering? My lover, my best friend, my mother, my father-in-law, and another several dozen friends, ex-lovers and colleagues all died rather horrible deaths in rapid succession, and I did not find myself ascending into a compassionate place, but instead a significantly meaner and less generous one." The Dying Gaul opens in Little Theater Thursday, October 11 and runs through Sunday, October 14. The production is for mature audiences only. Tickets can be purchased by calling Oberlin College's Central Ticket Service at (440) 775-8169.
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