SAD BOYS, WILD PLAYS

Where Peter Thiel, Judy Garland, and
anal warts somehow make perfect sense

Chris Jaymes and Juan José Mojica

Theatrical experiences often move us with realism. Other times we end up with a musical number featuring an actor in drag portraying Judy Garland seeking treatment for anal warts. That’s the kind of outlandish novelty inside Portraits of Gays in Despair, a cycle of five short plays written and directed by Paul Kubicki presented at HB Playwrights Theatre. We never know what’s around the corner as Kubicki takes us down a heartbreaking and hilarious path for 80 minutes.

Juan José Mojica and Moshe Henderson

The three-man cast represents three generations, ranging from Peter Thiel to a porno actor playing the role of “step-son.” Covering everything from Hamlet to hard-core industry tropes, tech oligarchy, and age gaps, Kubicki favors surprise and misdirection over a conventional dramatic arc, charting the disjointed lives of gay men sorting out their psyches.

Chris Jaymes

But even as the show sprints toward excess, I was never left wanting for complex, intimate performances. All three actors adroitly walk the tightrope of melancholy and comedy, karate-kicking across the stage as often as they wistfully watch the ones who got away. In one powerful moment, Moshe Henderson and Chris Jaymes play former lovers who remain on friendly terms; Jaymes’s lonely character yearns for the past so powerfully that I almost yelled at Henderson to indulge his drunk and nasty ex’s unreasonable request for a nighttime skinny dip. Though it breaks his heart, Henderson leaves him wading in the water, alone.

Juan José Mojica

The work reaches its most poignant moment in the final act as Juan José Mojica portrays the playwright seeking resolution to the titular despair. His performance—somehow solemn yet hilarious, anguished and still hopeful—captures an honest gay pain that transcends age or decade. Bleak as this may sound, surrounded by a circle of audience members, Mojica’s character reaches the sanguine irony embedded in generational trauma: at least we’re not in it alone.

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photos by Nate DiDomizio

Portraits of Gays in Despair
Loose Delights & Basement Theatrics
HB Playwrights Theatre, 124 Bank Street in New York City
approximately 80 minutes
played June 23-25, 2026

for more shows, visit Theatre in New York

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