Dad Doesn’t Like Mr. Right

The Rising Action Theatre is billing its new play, The Sum of Us, in terms that could be bait for incest fetishists. According to the theater’s website, the play is “a love story... a love story about a widowed father and his gay son, who’s trying to find Mr. Right.” But, as Rising Action clarifies, there’s nothing Oedipal about The Sum of Us, an off-Broadway hit with a film spinoff starring Russell Crowe. Written by Australian playwright David Stevens and directed at Rising Action by Steven Chambers, it’s the tale of a young gay guy and his standoffish dad, who’s scaring off his son’s prospective lover. The dad has a lover of his own, a conservative woman from a dating site. She, in turn, is repelled by the idea of a gay son. It may not be Oedipal, but it’s certainly complex.

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• Russell Crowe
• David Stevens
• Theatrical Plays
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The Sum of Us plays at 8 p.m. Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays and at 7 p.m. Sundays until May 30 at Rising Action Theatre (840 E. Oakland Park Blvd., Fort Lauderdale). Tickets cost $35 to $60. Call 954-561-2225, or visit risingactiontheatre.com.
Thursdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 7 p.m. Starts: April 23. Continues through May 30, 2010