In Paul Rudnick’s play, Jeffrey, the titular hero, a proudly promiscuous actor/cater-waiter in AIDS-ravaged Manhattan, decides the only way to live with the looming threat of death is to cut himself off from sex and the possibility of love. Candide-like, Jeffrey leads his audience on a picaresque tour of sexy vignettes and eccentric characters, as he struggles to forge a path forward in life. He is determined to stay safe and celibate, but the gods of love and theater have other plans in store.

It might seem surprising, even unbelievable, to audiences of today that an absurd, goofily-romantic comedy like Jeffrey could once have been considered unstageable. But in 1992, the prospects for the newly-written play were bleak. Rudnick encountered a number of obstacles en route to its premiere: trepidatious actors, who worried that even auditioning for a gay play would drive a pink stake through the heart of their career; skittish artistic directors and producers, unwilling to openly support such raunchy and irreverent material; and an unpredictable public, who might not feel free to laugh at a contemporary farce fashioned out of the raging tragedy of AIDS.

Fortunately, Rudnick’s visionary and persuasive agent, Helen Merrill, convinced the tiny WPA Theater to bring the provocative play to the stage, and Rudnick assembled a stalwart cast of largely unknown actors, almost all of whom would go on to become mainstays of theaters, TV shows, and films. Enthusiastic responses from critics and audiences alike propelled the hot-potato play to a wildly successful Off-Broadway run and, miracle of miracles, to enduring life as a landmark independent film.

After the blistering fury of Larry Kramer’s The Normal Heart (1985) and the thrilling intellect of Tony Kushner’s Angels In America (1991), Paul Rudnick questioned whether he could compel an audience to laugh in a time of such terrible sadness. In addition, he was recovering from the quite public trauma of his 1991 Broadway playwriting debut, I Hate Hamlet, which had become the talk of the town less for its own theatrical merits than for the ongoing feud between its leading actors. Rudnick has spoken openly about the challenges of responding to that time through his art. “I wanted to capture the insanity of the AIDS era … I was a comic writer and, for a while, I thought maybe there was no way into this material and into the subject, but I couldn’t help myself because all the people around me were so funny … a sense of humor was kind of the only weapon anyone had.” He embraced the seemingly impossible, determined to pay tribute to the indefatigable wit of his gay community. “My career has been one of self-education; I’ve been teaching myself to write by making some fairly sizable mistakes as publicly as possible. With Jeffrey I felt some sense of progress, or at least a lessening of embarrassment …. Jeffrey is the work that has been most satisfying to me, the piece in which my own personality is most evident.”

It seems fitting therefore that Sherry Jackson Thompson, the director of ActOut Theatre Group’s upcoming production of the play, tackles this project at a time of change and renewal in her own life. She beams in anticipation, while chatting in the Black Box Theater of the Pam Miller Downtown Arts Center, “This is the first show that I have been involved with since I’ve gone through a huge metamorphosis in my life, and made good decisions about being honest and vulnerable and bringing my heart more to things; and it has been just cathartic and lovely.”

Jackson Thompson is a long-standing member of Lexington’s theater community, having performed, designed, produced, or directed for nearly every central Kentucky company. A board member of ActOut Theatre Group, she most recently acted in their production of Harvey Fierstein’s Torch Song at the Farish Theater in 2024. A spirit of openness and liberation underpins her discussion about her revitalized approach to theater making: “No fear. You know, I’m not afraid of being embarrassed. It’s my mind that has spilled out onto the stage, and I’m fine with taking that risk.”

Jackson Thompson’s excitement is palpable, as is the appreciation and tenderness she feels for the material. She exudes possibility, ingenuity, and, perhaps most importantly, practicality.

“I started out with ‘less is more.’ There were never going to be flats or a couch. I said, ‘There’s no set. It's cubes and blocks and boxes.’ So my garage is full of all of these different shapes, and we've been rehearsing in my backyard sometimes. And, also at Bluegrass United in the sanctuary. It’s fantastic. They are so wonderful. Community. That's community theater, you know. And it's great.”

Sherry clearly views this production as an opportunity to celebrate her community as much as Rudnick celebrated his own. Working with designer, Tom Willis, the visual world of the play will incorporate projections that blend 1990s Manhattan with Easter egg references to Lexington and today. This will help to ensure that the play doesn’t feel like a mere time capsule, while giving her team the ability to capture Rudnick’s rollicking mayhem.

“We don't have to spoon-feed people. It's just, it's messy, you know, I just think that real life is so ridiculous and funny; but then, the ridiculous also has a lot of real life in it. The ridiculous and real life are married always, and the real stuff — people and human nature — is hilarious and exaggerated …. And, this cast, the combination of these guys, they will do anything. And they’re gonna do anything. We’re having the best time.”

Every train of thought, every observation about the process, leads Sherry back to her cast, made up of people with whom she has spent years together onstage and off. Jeffrey is the kind of play that requires fearlessness, a playfulness, and trust from its ensemble of actors, as well as a deep commitment to an inner truth at the center of the relationships. Sherry underscores how meaningful it is to be creating this world with people who are dear to her. “Well, I had seen the movie, but years ago. I had never had the chance to see the play because, you know, in 1995 I had my first child, and I was kind of absent while I was raising kids and so, I wasn't super familiar with the play. And then when I read it, I thought ‘Oh, this is cute.’ But, now that we've got it up on its feet and the actors faces are here and their souls and their hearts …. They have been so flexible and adaptable and trusting, just so trusting. I get so much value in my life from watching them.”

The biggest take away from the actors who comprise the eight-member ensemble of Jeffrey (Daniel Ellis, Wylie Caudill, Marcus Roland, Gregory Bow Bloom, Brian Estes-Uecker, Brad Ulery, Tommy Gatton and Kyle Wade) is the overwhelming appreciation they feel for each other, for Sherry’s supportive guidance, and, tellingly, an acknowledgment of the laughter that has been a constant presence in their work—laughter brought on by Rudnick’s words and characters, as well as by the wild abandon with which their director has encouraged them to approach the material. “That’s how I do everything,” Sherry admits, “I go balls to the walls always. And, I guess I’m speaking through this play. Finding and embracing my own truths has allowed me to better be an impetus for my fellow artists to be the artists they are … It’s time to be honest. If not now, when?” Daniel Ellis, who plays Jeffrey, echoes that sentiment in what he considers “a formula for happiness” expressed by the play: “You can’t sit on the sidelines and wait for life to be what you want. Make it so.”