The Boys in the Band at Boston Center for the Arts

The Boys in the Band stands as a cultural watershed, one of the first plays to openly and courageously portray gay characters in the days before the Stonewall Riots. Its 1968 off-Broadway premiere, 1,001 subsequent performances and motion-picture adaptation make it historic, but it's the play's intelligence, scathing wit and almost naked sincerity that make it an enduring, living piece of theater. The plot is as simple as the characters are complex -- friends gather for a birthday party in an upscale Manhattan apartment along with a surprise birthday gift: Cowboy, a street hustler. As the evening lengthens, and the guests get tipsier, harsh truths are revealed and friends confront each other with startling intensity. Catch the Zeitgeist Stage Company production of this seminal work at the Plaza Theatre of the Boston Center for the Arts.