SOURCE: Clum, John M. “Love and War: Gay Drama at the Turn of the Century.” In Still Acting Gay: Male Homosexuality in Modern Drama, pp. 284-316. New York: St. Martin's Press, 2000.

In the following excerpt, Clum presents an overview of themes in contemporary gay drama, theorizing that there has been an evolution from depicting the impossibility of gay life to presenting realistic portrayals of such a lifestyle.

In a state of war, as in a state of love, the familiar world is turned upside down, belief systems and values are put to the test, and the body becomes central, vulnerable. Whereas war is intent on destroying the body, love has the ability to reconstruct or rediscover the body's sensuality.

—Naomi Wallace¹

What do I want from contemporary gay theater? I have a menu, not one item. I would like it to examine the assumptions of urban gay culture...