Next Fall

What is religion? Who is God? Does God matter when we face love? What if we love God more than our partner? What if our partner believes we are going to hell? Does any of it really matter in the end?
These are all questions posed in Geoffrey Naufft's tremendous drama, Next Fall. All the cliche reactions occur, to be sure (I laughed, I cried, I wanted to touch the actors), but I was affected by this show more than I have been by theater in a while. There are shows that I have seen where I have been impressed by the writing, the guts, and the mind that must be crazy to think up those scenarios (Shepard...), but Next Fall touched me in a way that I have been waiting for.
This play made me yearn to be in love.
A very deep sadness runs through the play, sometimes voiced, always apparent. Luke believes Adam is going to hell unless he accepts Jesus as his savior. Luke does not want his family to know Adam. To know that he is his boyfriend, that he exists at all. 5 years, and Adam is a hell-bound non-entity. But through it all, Adam stays. He watches Luke pray, allows himself to be referred to as a co-worker to Luke's father. But he also lies on top of Luke, strokes his hair, loves him completely.
And then the tragedy, at which point all things must converge and make themselves known.
Patrick Heusinger, who plays the believer and young lover Luke is, without a doubt, serious eye candy. But he possesses an innocence and a caddish charm as well. He is not just a pretty face (and best butt on the NY stage, probably). His frustration with Adam's questions and teasing remarks about God are evident on his face and in his body language, but, just as Adam stays with Luke despite his beliefs, so does Luke stay with Adam in spite of his warring views.
A young man who is sure of his place in heaven, and his (slightly) older boyfriend (an excellent Patrick Breen) without such a sure spot. A simple premise. An enormous lot of questions. A fantastic play.