Jon Gentry (left) and Tyler Gevas. Photo by Sorcha Augustine.

On October 31, Urbanite Theatre will kick off its 12th season with the regional premiere of Monsters of American Cinema. The play, written by Christian St. Croix, made its debut in 2023 at the ArtsWest Playhouse in Seattle and is befitting of its Halloween premiere date in more ways than one. Set outside of a drive-in movie theater, Monsters of American Cinema follows Remy Washington, a Black man who recently lost his husband and now has taken on the responsibility of raising his late husband’s teenage son, Pup. Although Remy and Pup bond over a shared affinity for classic American monster movies, their fraught relationship is tested when Remy discovers that Pup has been antagonizing a gay classmate.

“One of the things that attracted me to the play is that we’re exploring issues of anti-LGBTQIA sentiment through this relationship between a gay father and his son,” says Summer Wallace, producing artistic director of Urbanite Theatre. “Families come in all different colors, shapes and sizes— there’s so much pressure and controversy today around not having the standard family dynamic that producing a play that showcases that and lifts up the queer community is extremely important.”

Although Remy and Pup—played by Jon Gentry and Sarasota native Tyler Gevas, respectively—live together in an RV, there are layers of separation between them. Remy is Black, Pup is white. Remy is gay and Pup is straight. They are not related by blood, instead bonded by marriage and the loss of Pup's late father. “It’s navigating being a parent in this very difficult situation,” says Wallace, who will also direct the play. “We’ve never quite done a play with this type of father-son dynamic. There are the growing pains of raising a teenager as teenagers become monsters themselves.”

Wallace intends to use the play’s setting to further accentuate the pressures and mounting tension in Remy and Pup’s relationship. Not only does staging the production in an RV force the characters into close proximity with each other, but it allows for moments where the play can leave the boundaries of reality, the projections of cinematic monsters on the drive-in theater’s screen coming to life. “The play goes to these interesting, wild places where we’re witnessing the monster within Pup. Pup is behaving like a monster, but Remy isn’t clocking it yet, he doesn’t realize what’s happening to Pup,” says Wallace. “We really get to see the inner turmoil that Pup is going through and the demons that he’s dealing with in his personal life.”

Monsters of American Cinema, October 31-December 7, Urbanite Theatre, 1487 2nd St, Sarasota, 34236

Jon Gentry (left) and Tyler Gevas. Photo by Sorcha Augustine.

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