Glenn is a college dean and professor specializing in theatre history and literature. In this essay, Glenn applies the principles of gay/lesbian studies and "queer theory" to Mart Crowley's 1968 drama The Boys in the Band and to McNally's play, and explores how the depiction of gay characters and gay identity has changed in the last three decades.

Playwright Terrence McNally has been faced with the same persistent question about his work throughout his career: "What does this play mean for the gay community?" Perhaps it should not be surprising, considering that in more than three decades of playwriting, McNally has contributed such well-known, gay-themed creations as the homosexual bathhouse farce The Ritz (1975), the gay breakup drama The Lisbon Traviata (1985), and Corpus Christi (1997), his retelling of the life of Jesus in which Christ and his disciples are all homosexuals. Still, McNally resists being categorized. "I'm always accused...