Some Men and Deuce: Two Plays - Paperback

by Terrence McNally (Author)

Two heartrending and humorous plays about friendship, companionship, and love.

In Some Men, Terrence McNally takes us on a multi-generational journey of gay life in America. In interwoven vignettes, McNally uses the same characters at different points in their lives as gay men to address such issues as coming out, marriage, adoption, the military and the AIDS crisis. From a Harlem speakeasy to today's post 9/11 New York, these nine men reflect the enormous changes in all our lives.

In Deuce we meet Leona and Midge--two septuagenarian ladies doubles tennis champions who are reunited to be honored at a U.S. Open. As they watch the next generation of female athletes, these former tennis partners become embroiled in a verbal téte-a-téte as lively and nuanced as any match they ever played. During their exchange the duality of the two characters is revealed; while Midge is refined and tactful, her former doubles partner, Leona, is brazen and fearless. The "deuce" cannot only be found in their tennis game, but also in how they lived their lives.

Author Biography

Terrence McNally was the author of more than 50 plays, screenplays, and libretti. He won five Tony Awards, nominated for two more, and in 2019, he was awarded a Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theater. After his death in 2020, the New York Times noted, "Though the changes Mr. McNally wrote about were epochal for gay men, his plays were designed not to exclude. However furious, they are also ingratiating, emphasizing familiar situations, comic personalities and well-turned put-downs." The same notice later identified "Mr. McNally 's mature theme: that tragedy and comedy not only coexist but also, like all of us on earth, cohabit."