Out - A Short Play

by
Timmy Ong

117 Saint Pauls Avenue

Jersey City, NJ 07306.
+1 347 281 1280
timmyong.works@gmail.com
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CHARACTERS

TOMMY 29 turning 30 years old. Queer, technically not out because of his ideas about being out.
Little romantic experience, and only began dating again after a ten-year break. A kind
and earnest man who is exploring his sexuality.

TAYLOR 35 years old. Gay, out and proud. A lot of experience with dating and relationships, but
keeps an open mind with each new person he meets. A generous and caring man who
listens well and is accepting.
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SETTING
A franchise coffee shop in Manhattan. It is cold outside, which makes the inside a little cozier than usual.
It is a medium to large coffee shop with different types of seatings, including bar-height long tables and
chairs, couches and low coffee tables, and regular café tables and chairs. There is a crowd, but people are
gathered in pockets, leaving a few areas of quiet. One of those areas is a bar-height table, where the scene
takes place.

TIME
Sunday afternoon; late lunch time. Late November 2019.

NOTES ON TEXT
… indicates a pause, or natural trailing off, or on, of a line.
// indicates an interruption.
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(TOMMY and TAYLOR just got their coffee, and, for a moment, cannot decide
where to sit. They point at different spots, and then proceed to sit at a bar-height
table. There is a pause after they settle down. They check each other out, as if to
confirm that they are real. TOMMY is a little nervous, but TAYLOR is at ease.)

TAYLOR
Thanks for coming out to see me.

TOMMY
And thank you for coming out to see me.

TAYLOR
Your hair is very different than your profile picture.

TOMMY
...Is that okay?

TAYLOR
No, it’s fine. I’m just making an observation. It’s cute.

TOMMY
Oh, thank you. You’re cute too. You look exactly like your profile picture.

(A small nervous laugh from TOMMY.)

TAYLOR
Thanks.
(A Pause. Beat.)

TAYLOR
So... Are you out?

TOMMY
What do you mean?

TAYLOR
I mean, are you out? Do your family and friends know about…you?

TOMMY
I mean, let’s just say, I never feel the need to come out.

TAYLOR
So, you’re not?
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TOMMY
No, I mean, I don't believe in coming out.

TAYLOR
Oh?

TOMMY
I mean, I am comfortable with who I am. I am interested in men, in women; it doesn't really matter to me.
Each person is different. And I'm not hiding that or anything.

TAYLOR
But do your family and friends know?

TOMMY
I mean, I don't know if they know. If they know, they know. It doesn't really matter to me.

TAYLOR
But if you suddenly brought a man home…

TOMMY
I know my friends won’t be surprised. They have always teased me. “Come out already!” Even though to
me, there is nothing to come out from. I mean, I’m just me.

TAYLOR
But what about your family?

TOMMY
(A little sheepishly)
Mmm, they don’t know.

(TAYLOR becomes visibly wary.)

TOMMY
No, I mean, I don’t know if they know. But it’s just not something that we talk about.

TAYLOR
But are you going to talk to them about it, eventually? Do you think they’ll be okay if you talked about it?

TOMMY
I don’t know, to be honest. My siblings, I think they’ll be okay. I mean, I don’t actually know if I’ll have,
like, “the talk” with them, but I think if they knew, they’ll be fine. And my dad’s passed // it’s fine, it was
so long ago—so that’s that.
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TAYLOR
I’m sorry.

TOMMY
But my mom, I mean, I don’t think she needs to know.

TAYLOR
Oh yeah?

TOMMY
Yeah, I mean, maybe she already knows, maybe she doesn’t. But we are never going to talk about it.

TAYLOR
Do you and your mom have, like, a strained relationship or something?

TOMMY
No, we’re pretty close. I’m very okay with my mom.

(TOMMY laughs a little at how he phrased the last sentence.)

TAYLOR
Then why not? You’re her son!

TOMMY
And she’s my mother! I know her. She’s a woman of her generation: I kind of know what she thinks
about it, and I don’t think she will ever be ready to face it, or talk about it. And that’s okay with me. I am
not about to burst her bubble.

TAYLOR
Wow, what a way to look at it. But it’s not about bursting her bubble though.

TOMMY
Then what’s it about?

TAYLOR
It’s about being true to who you are.

TOMMY
I mean, I am true to who I am. Doesn’t mean I have to announce it to the whole world.
(Realizes that he jumped the gun, and adds)
Or my mom.
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TAYLOR
Huh.

TOMMY
I mean, this is what I think: a person’s faith is between that person and their God; a person’s sexuality, or
orientation or preference, is between that person and themselves—and their partner. The world doesn’t
have to know.

TAYLOR
But is it that way though? If we all thought that way, LGBT rights wouldn’t be where it is today. We have
made some significant progress because people came out.

TOMMY
That’s true, I won’t take anything away from that. But! If we ​all​ thought like that, there wouldn’t need to
be a fight for gay or queer rights. It’s precisely because straight people don’t think like that that we have
to suffer the consequences.

TAYLOR
Exactly. This is why there is still a need to come out.

TOMMY
I am not saying you can’t come out if you wanted to. You can tell whoever you want to tell. But I’m also
saying, ultimately, when it comes down to it, especially in this time and age, who you are, sexually,
should only matter between you and your partner, shouldn’t it? ​(Beat.) ​But anyway, back to my mom, I
actually think it’s a little selfish to throw it at her. She worked hard, all her kids are all grown up, she’s at
her comfortable place. She doesn’t need the hassle of navigating this… whole new world.

TAYLOR
(Thinking)
Alright.

(A pause.)

TOMMY
But why did you ask? I mean, if I’m out?

TAYLOR
Well, we met on an app.

TOMMY
So?
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TAYLOR
So, it’s a question I need to ask. Some people go on gay dating apps because they don't want to be out.
And finding people on apps, they don’t need to be out.

TOMMY
Oh. I never thought about that.

TAYLOR
Yeah, apps let people be…discreet.

TOMMY
Hmm. But if you’re using an app, doesn’t that make you out, in a way?

TAYLOR
I don’t see how that works.

TOMMY
I mean, by taking the steps to be on an app, doesn’t it mean you are, in a way, sharing who you are with
some few hundreds or thousands of people out there? And you never know if family and friends are on
that app!

TAYLOR
Is that your idea of coming out?

TOMMY
I don’t know. I don’t have an idea for coming out. Because to be out means that you have to be in first.
And I don’t think I was ever in. It’s always been there, floating, hanging around, and if anyone knows,
they know! If they don't, that's okay too… But then again, this is my first time using a dating app.

TAYLOR
Oh?

TOMMY
Yeah, I have never used dating apps before. My previous job was really, really overwhelming. I was just
working all the time. But I have a new job now, like I told you in our chats. With this new job, I finally
have a little time for myself. So I'm trying it out. And it’s working quite well, I’d say. I'm glad to be
meeting someone awesome—and hot—like yourself.

TAYLOR
Oh… Thank you?
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TOMMY
What about you?
(Parodying how TAYLOR asked it)
Are you out?

(TAYLOR laughs a little because he gets the tease.)

TAYLOR
Yeah, I am. I came out to my mom at 15 years old. And then soon after I told my brother and sister too.

TOMMY
What about your dad?

TAYLOR
Well, he’s not really in the picture // oh it’s fine.

TOMMY
Oh, I’m sorry.

TAYLOR
But he knows. My whole family knows.

TOMMY
And how was coming out to your family?

TAYLOR
Oh, it was fine. My mom and siblings took it very well. It was rather uneventful.

(TAYLOR laughs at himself a little.)

TOMMY
Why did you feel the need to come out?

TAYLOR
Well, I didn’t ​need t​ o come out, but it was the natural thing to do. Being gay is something important to
me, so I want to share that with my family.

TOMMY
Okay, I can understand that. And did coming out change anything with your family? Did you guys grow
closer, or…?
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TAYLOR
Well, nothing changed between us. We’re the same. But it changed me.

TOMMY
How so?

TAYLOR
Well, it’s like a big secret that’s been revealed. There is just this sense of…relief.

TOMMY
But were you trying to keep it as a secret though?

TAYLOR
Well, no, I was not. But still, it was like, I could finally speak my mind.

TOMMY
Oh okay, I see. Erm, what about your friends? How did they take it?

TAYLOR
Well, I was in high school at the time. I kinda already had a boyfriend when I was coming out to my
family—well, I was really close to a boy in school. So after I came out to my family, we just kinda made
things official, whatever that meant for 15-year-olds, and everything else was easy to deal with. I mean,
my friends in high school were supportive. But then I got to college, and it felt like I had to come out all
over again.

TOMMY
Oh, why?

TAYLOR
Well, because I was in another state, it was a new environment, and it was all new friends, so naturally
nobody knew. So I had to tell them. Coming out never really ends.

TOMMY
Or it doesn’t have to start. You didn’t have to tell your college friends if you didn’t want to.

TAYLOR
But it’d be like I was hiding something from them.

TOMMY
But you were not. It’s just one part of you that they didn’t necessarily have to know, and shouldn’t change
anything between you and them.
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TAYLOR
Well, that’s the ideal, but you have to remember there are homophobic people. This was college, and
years​ ago. I went to school in a pretty conservative place, and coming out was a good way to tell who was
a friend and who was not.

TOMMY
Right, of course.

TAYLOR
That is one of the reasons why we still have to come out.

TOMMY
You have a point. I have not thought about that. I guess I was thinking, if people knew and they didn’t
like or agree with it, they would just slowly fade themselves away from your life.

TAYLOR
Well, some of them don’t. Instead, they give you hell. But, sure, we hope that one day the haters’ll all just
fade away.

TOMMY
Or, hopefully one day fading away will no longer be necessary because who we are won’t even matter! It
shouldn’t be something to hate.

TAYLOR
That’s the dream.

(A pause.)

TOMMY
Anyway, you said you came out when you were 15? And you’re now… 35?

TAYLOR
Yeah, I am 35. And yeah, it’s been, what, 20 years. I have a long history of dating.
(Matter-of-factly)
I have even been married and divorced.

(TOMMY was not expecting what he just heard.)

TOMMY
Wow.
(After a moment to recover)
May I ask about the marriage and divorce?
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TAYLOR
Sure.

TOMMY
So what happened?

TAYLOR
Oh, it was nothing dramatic. We were married for three years, but then we changed, we were becoming
different people, in a natural way, not because of the marriage. But that made us argue a lot. We both
thought a divorce was the way to go, and so we did it. We kinda saw it coming for some time before it
actually happened.

TOMMY
Wow, just like that.

TAYLOR
Yeah. But it’s no big deal, really. It happened a while ago. We are still best friends. Our relationship has
improved so much since the divorce. We are still in touch, and actually he’ll be coming down for a visit
later this year, in the holidays.

TOMMY
Aww, that’s nice. You’re sweet.

TAYLOR
Thanks. What about you? How’s your love life?

TOMMY
Oh, it's, err, actually pretty empty. I should be embarrassed, but honestly I'm not.

TAYLOR
Oh yeah?

TOMMY
Yeah, I mean, I spent the past 6, 7 years or so of my life focused on my career. It's not like I was avoiding
dating or having a relationship. It was just always, "Not now." My job asked for a lot from me. I'm talking
like, 12-hour days, or more.

TAYLOR
Yeah, you told me that in our chats.

TOMMY
Yeah. So it was a combination of my circumstances and a choice, that I basically had zero romantic life.
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TAYLOR
Aww, I’m sorry.

TOMMY
No, it’s fine. I mean, I’m going through big changes now. I got a new job, I'm living in a new city—it was
the years spent in my old job that propelled here, actually. And, my new job is easier, I have a little bit of
time. And I'm also ageing.
(A small laugh.)
I am turning the big three-oh, and priorities are changing. Also, I'm living in the big En-Why-See! Where
else to meet people than here?

TAYLOR
Okay. So have you been seeing people? Have you had any luck meeting people through the app?

TOMMY
Wow, you know, don’t you? Online dating is harder than I thought! But nmnm, I’ve met a couple of
people, but it’s not, like, meet-meet like what we are doing now. This is nice. I think I can consider this
my first successful date from the app, if you will.

TAYLOR
Okay, it’s my honor.

(They share a quick laugh.)

TAYLOR
When was your last relationship?

TOMMY
Erm, my last relationship was actually with my college sweetheart, and that was—
(A realization)
Wow, that ended 10 years ago now. Wow. She was awesome, but wow, I have not seen anyone since.

TAYLOR
That ​is q​ uite amazing.

TOMMY
Yeah, it is.

(Beat.)

TAYLOR
Did she know…?
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TOMMY
No, she didn’t. I mean, ​I​ didn’t know. I mean, I wasn’t sure. It took me a while to deal with—and
accept—who I am. But that was all ​after ​her. So no, we didn’t break up because of that, if that’s where
you were going with. But we were friendly after the breakup—kind of like you and your ex-husband.

TAYLOR
That’s nice. But actually I just wanted to know if you ever came out to her.

TOMMY
I mean, once I was sure of who I am, I thought about it. I mean, this is all post-graduation, and we were
not really in contact anymore. But I knew we worked close to each other. And I still had her number. But,
erm, no, I never did it. Because, like I said, I don’t believe in coming out.

TAYLOR
If she knew, she knew.

TOMMY
Yeah, exactly. But I loved her though. It was quite a relationship.

TAYLOR
Relationship of the decade?

TOMMY
What?

TAYLOR
10 years ago you were seeing a girl. And 10 years later you’re dating a man for the first time.

TOMMY
(A small laugh as he finally caught on)
You’re right.

TAYLOR
I feel like your time has finally come to explore yourself.

TOMMY
Yeah, it sure feels like that. First time dating in 10 years? First time using a dating app? First time using a
gay ​dating app? First date from the app? And first time dating a man!

TAYLOR
This feels like you’re coming out.
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TOMMY
Does it?

TAYLOR
Yeah.

TOMMY
And is that okay?

TAYLOR
It’s fine. I’m just making an observation. It’s cute.

(TAYLOR puts his hand on TOMMY’s hand.)

THE END