There are thousands of stories you’d love to see brought to the stage. Stories that slip into the lives of people who walk through the world either unseen or are barely considered by those possessing more standard existences. People who, because of the way they look or talk or are intrinsically wired to move through life find themselves on the periphery. Or who mask their true selves by pretending to be something they’re not. With all the same desires, hopes and dreams of a common human being, something about them hinders them from freely striving for type of self-actualization we all crave.
How they see themselves, relate to others and fulfill their aspirations can produce illuminating and often engrossing stories about who and what we, as a species, inherently are. They’re in the family of stories queer focused About Face Theatre has been telling boldly and honestly since 1995. And it’s current production by playwright Preston May Allen, Modern Gentleman, fits snugly in the theater company’s oeuvre of truth.
By stepping into and exploring the life of Adam, a trans man living in present day New York, About Face again provides a platform to enlighten through alternative storytelling. Uniquely structured, and under Landree Fleming’s novel direction, Modern Gentleman presents ideas, beliefs and circumstances that provoke serious and stimulating contemplation. Despite all the things it either suggests or leaves a mystery, it’s the common threads of life that stand out most distinctly.
Passion, drama and rewardingly precocious humor are the trinity that pervade this profile of a person trying to live their most complete life in the gender they feel most comfortable.
Its passion that opens the play as Adam (Alec Phan) and his girlfriend Lily (Kaylah Marie Crosby) tumble through the front door of Adam’s apartment tearing at each other’s clothes in their rush to get busy between the sheets. A young articulate couple, they’ve been together for five years and have that satisfyingly acclimated aura of a happily nested pair. The only odd note is that after a certain point, they seem to be a little awkward about undressing in front of one another.
It isn’t long before the barely visible specter of foreboding that steals over them gets pulled from the shadows. Sometime since they’ve been together, Adam’s found the courage to confess his desire to transition from being a woman and become male. When they originally met, they were two women, lesbians whose relationship led to love. It may have been a startling revelation for Lilly. But that depends on the amount of candor that defined their union. Others in her position would have left immediately. Lilly stayed, but two years into a regimen of testosterone treatments and the transformation of her once girlfriend’s physical appearance, and Lilly is experiencing a change of heart. She eventually tells Adam she can’t go do it and leaves.
Her departure though doesn’t prove final. She keeps resurfacing, coming back to the apartment to house sit and care for Adam’s diabetic cat when he needs to travel for work. Stopping by repeatedly to clarify her position and probe his. Through their back and forth, we get an enlightening, indeed an enlivened picture of the complexity and far-reaching ripple effects a single very personal decision can produce.
Because they’re both so expressive, so fluent in disclosing their innermost feelings, we learn the rupture isn’t at heart due to superficialities. It seems to center on personal perception of self and how they both want to experience intimacy beyond sex.
Because he has allies, Adam enjoys the benefit of other insights. His friend Samuel (Omer Abbas Salem), whose “gayese” is superb and whose piquant wit is lined with razors, has tons of excellent advice. Adam’s sister Natalie (Ashlyn Lozano) is equally supportive and just savvy as Sam. We never know why neither Samuel or Natalie seem to care for Lily who, despite the amount of time she has on stage and the good sense she consistently demonstrates, seems bereft of boosters in her corner.
A woman Adam meets at a family social event and eventually hooks up with, Alycia, played with wonderfully brash assurance by Emma Fulmer, helps paint a bracing image of what dating looks like 2 ½ decades into the 21st century. Through her frankness, she lets Adam get a clearer picture of how a trans man who hasn’t had any below the belt alterations can fit into today’s sexual cosmos.
Milo Bue’s subdued polished set offers an unobtrusive and pleasing backdrop to this edifying drama of the heart. Ethan Korvne’s sound design and original music bring unexpected texture to Adam’s story and shows how well composed sound elements can complement dramatic theater. And thanks to Catherine Miller’s cosmopolitan approach to casting, we gain a promising view into the possible.
Language that sometimes strays toward the ponderous, and occasionally less than fluid scene transitions, prove only mildly distracting. They don’t lessen the suspense of how Adam will come to fully accept himself as the man he now is rather than some fantasized ideal. Nor do they leave us less curious of about how that kind of epiphany will impact his relationship with Lily.
What Modern Gentleman does most gratifyingly is shed thoughtful and intelligently humane light on one of the unseen and unheralded in our midst to give us a fuller understanding of ourselves.
Modern Gentleman
Through April 18, 2026
About Face Theatre
Venue: Raven Theater
6157 N. Clark Street
Chicago, IL 60660
For more information and tickets: https://aboutfacetheatre.com
This review is proudly shared with our friends at www.TheatreInChicago.com.
