Horton Foote’s Pulitzer Prize-winning The Young Man from Atlanta, which premiered in 1995 at Signature Theater and was revived on Broadway in 1997, reflects the attitude towards gays of the era of its setting (Houston in 1950). The queer figures are not even on stage (one of them has committed suicide), and they are only important in how they affect straight people.
The main struggle is that of bragging businessman Will Kidder (bluff but vulnerable Aidan Quinn) and his flighty, sweet wife Lily Dale (simultaneously tragic and comic Kristin Nielsen). Several months after the mysterious death of their only son Bill, they are confronted by the unwelcome visit of the title character, Randy, Bill’s much younger roommate. Will does not want to see Randy, but Lily Dale craves his company as a reminder of her child.
While the word gay, queer or homosexual is never even spoken and Randy remains offstage, it’s clear he and Bill were in a relationship and neither parent can face the truth. This unmentionable secret is but one of many problems confronting the Kidders. Will loses his job just as they move into an expensive new home (Jeff Cowie created the period-perfect suburban 1950s set) along with Lily Dale’s stepfather Pete (subtly tender Stephen Payne).
The play has some clunky structural problems. The first scene is all exposition with Will pouring his life story out to a young co-worker (Dan Bittner). Later, Pete’s great-nephew Carson (Jon Orsini), who just happened to be living in the same Atlanta boarding house as Bill and Randy, conveniently comes to call. But Young Man from Atlanta honestly examines American middle-class morays of equating wealth with happiness and unflinchingly rips away the prosperous facade of the couple’s elegant existence as they must confront economic and emotional reality.
Michael Wilson, who has helmed many previous Foote plays including the epic Orphans’ Home Cycle, delivers a heartfelt, straightforward staging with an impeccable and moving cast capturing the quiet desperation of Foote’s lonely family, detached from their gay son.
