Arts & Entertainment
Mart Crowley, ‘Boys in the Band’ playwright, dies at 84

Mart Crowley, the playwright behind one of the most groundbreaking queer plays of all time, has died at 84.
Born in Vicksburg, Mississippi as Edward Martino Crowley, his play “The Boys in the Band” was the first major American drama explicitly dealing with the lives of gay men. Reportedly written at the suggestion of the actress Natalie Wood, for whom he worked as a personal assistant, it debuted off-Broadway in 1968 – at a time when queer representation on the stage and screen was largely non-existent. It drew packed audiences, both gay and straight, and was made into a film by director William Friedkin in 1970.
While the play has long been seen as a seminal work in the LGBTQ canon, it has not always been embraced by critics or by the community; its caustic, bitchy characters, who viciously take out their frustration and self-loathing on each other at a birthday party as they get progressively drunker, have been criticized by many as presenting a negative image of gay life – such as the legendary out gay playwright Edward Albee, who said in an interview for the 2011 documentary “Making the Boys,” “I went to see ‘Boys in the Band’ several times, and more and more I saw an audience there of straights, who were so happy to be able to see people they didn’t have to respect.”
It was only within recent years that the play has been reassessed to take its place as an important piece of LGBTQ history, a portrait of gay existence before the Stonewall Uprising jump-started the Gay Liberation Movement the following year. When “Boys” was remounted on Broadway in 2018 with an all-star cast, director Joe Mantello told the New York Times, “The people who criticize the play have the luxury to do so because of the play.”
The Tony-winning 2018 production, which was the play’s official Broadway debut, is being brought to the screen later this by Netflix; it will feature the acclaimed revival cast reprising their roles, including Zachary Quinto, Matt Bomer, Andrew Rannells, and Jim Parsons.
Crowley wrote a sequel, “The Men from the Boys,” in 2002. He also wrote several television scripts, including for “Hart to Hart,” starring Robert Wagner, the widower of former employer Wood who remained a lifelong friend to the playwright.
Wagner, speaking to the New York Times in a phone interview after Crowley’s passing, said, “He was his own man at a time when it was really, really difficult.”
Crowley died Saturday night in Manhattan as a result of complications from heart surgery following a heart attack. He has no immediate survivors.
The 2026 World Pride March was held on Saturday, Aug. 8 in Amsterdam. Tens of thousands of participants marched from Martin Luther Kingpark to the grounds of the Pride Village at Museumplein.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)








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The weekly drag show “Daddy Issues” was held at Kiki on Wednesday, Aug. 5. Performers included Evry Pleasure, Indiana Bones and Tiara Missou-Sidora.
(Washington Blade photos by Landon Shackelford)









Books
Something’s off about Dad. When is it time to step in?
‘When Memory Fades’ can help when families face dementia
‘When Memory Fades’
By Nathaniel Chin, MD
c.2026, St. Martin’s Essentials
$30/422 pages
Mom called you in a panic the other day.
She’d lost her keys and by the time you arrived to help, she’d found them. In the refrigerator.
These kinds of things keep happening, not often but often enough, and you don’t know quite what to worry about. But in the new book “When Memory Fades” by Nathaniel Chin, MD, you’ll learn about the journey ahead, for both of you.
You can’t remember why you walked into a room. You got lost last week, going to the bank. Popular wisdom says that things like that are normal as we age, but Chin says that’s not true – although the answer may not be a worst-case scenario, either. Yes, memory problems could just be signs of stress, dehydration, or lack of sleep – or is it time to see a doctor?
Chin says maybe, yes.
He was working his way through medical residency when his father, a geriatrician in Madison, Wisc., was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. Chin, now a geriatrician, was blindsided, but that diagnosis also changed his life.
Here, he writes about the brain, and how Alzheimer’s and dementia are diagnosed, explaining that dementia has many faces and, depending on a doctor’s evaluation, memory problems might be slowed or improved. He shares his father’s illness with readers, but he also writes about his mother, a steadfast, steady caretaker.
Her story reminds reader-guardians to care for themselves, too.
Know how to talk the talk, so that you can have “a more productive” conversation with your doctor. Understand that there’s nothing “normal” about dementia or Alzheimer’s. Know the statistics – African Americans are affected with dementia twice as much as whites – and know how to lower your risks. Learn here what questions to ask, how to break the news to everyone, and any legal matters that will be important soon. And know how to tend to you.
Says Chin, “The best action you can take is to educate yourself… The more you understand, the better equipped you are to make sound judgments.”
Something’s off about Dad, just a lot of little things that don’t add up. When is it time to step in? “When Memory Fades” can help you decide.
Wise, wide-spread, comprehensive, and compassionately helpful, this is a book you can read and then take it to the doctor with your loved one. It’s a book that makes sense when nothing else does, and its biggest feature is that it smoothly transitions from easy-to-grasp science and charts, to gentle coaching for caregivers. Author Nathaniel Chin, MD writes with storytelling, humility, grace, and experience from both sides of the Alzheimer’s/dementia issue, and his words are reassuring but also urgent. Learn, but don’t wait, he says. Know how to safeguard yourself. See your doctor, and don’t fear testing. Watch for signs of depression. And never, ever stop asking for help.
Read those last seven words, and find “When Memory Fades” now. It’s a book to have on your shelf, whether you’re 45 or 95 because, as you’ll see, dementia happens and knowledge is key.
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