Love. Trust. Homosexuality. All of these are themes that circle above Guilt Comes After, one of six edgy new plays opening at the Christian H. Moe Laboratory Theater

Bill Kincaid hops out of his seat, runs a hand through his beard, and jogs over to the piano. This is how the scene should be played, he says like a light switch is being thrown. He pounds a series of ascending chords out of the keyboard, and his actors nod in understanding. They all head to their marks.

Do you hear yourself? shouts Rikki, played by Sadieh Rifai, at her husband, Alex.

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You’re not my father! concurs Alex’s sister, Drew, played by Libby McDermott.

Alex, don’t push her away! screams Rikki again.

Meet him before you decide I’m throwing my life away! Drew pleads.

OK, I’ll meet him! Alex finally shouts. For a moment, everyone is silent. Alex glances at the floor and heads for the door. I’m going for a drive, he announces. With that, the awkward scene concludes itself.

Rikki and Drew have little hope of understanding Alex’s reaction to the news of Drew’s engagement. After all, shouldn’t it be a happy moment when you learn your kid sister is getting married? A cause for celebration?

Maybe, but not so for Alex. He knows this man Chris played by Tom Dunn perhaps more intimately than Drew does. It’s not a business relationship he has with him, and it’s not a casual sports-club friendship. Their friendship is one that has been kept under a shroud of secrecy, consummated during the late hours in bathroom stalls and city parks. Rikki and Drew have no idea that Alex already knows Chris and he knows the truth of it threatens to shred his life at the seams.

Chris symbolizes the side of himself that he hates, says Nathan Kincaid, the director’s brother who was coincidentally cast in the role of the intense, brooding Alex. Most men have issues with separating sex and emotion and sex and love. They’re universal themes among men.

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Those emotions form the crux of Guilt Comes After, one of six student-written plays that will be performed over the next two weekends at the Christian H. Moe Theater in the Communications Building as part of Journeys:Explorations in New Works.

For actors and directors, it’s a chance to attack edgier themes that may not be possible in some of the Theater Department’s more conventional productions. For student playwrights like Marc Herb, who penned Guilt Comes After, it’s a chance to watch a script evolve into a legitimate production that encompasses the creativity of actors, directors and the playwright’s own insight.

Students need to learn how to write by seeing their script in the hands of actors and directors and technicians, said David Rush, an associate professor in theater who has helmed Journeys since its inception four years ago and assists students in the writing process. They learn how to collaborate. It’s like basketball. You can learn how to play through the rulebook, but you can’t play until you’re on the court with the players and the coach.

What does this mean for Herb, a graduate student who also works as one of the Theater Department’s publicists? It means his script, which he first began composing in December 2000, has gone through three drafts under Rush’s supervision.

During nightly rehearsals, Herb sits at a desk on the sidelines, scrawling suggestions on notebook paper that he will eventually give to the director. Although Herb says he concedes creative control to Kincaid, he still has his ideas, and he’s a nit-picker for maintaining the exact dialog that makes up the complexities of his story.

But what is the issue of Guilt Comes After? Homosexuality? A good deal of it focuses on that, but director and theater professor Bill Kincaid, who also directed this season’s Cabaret, says that the play’s themes often transcend that isolated issue.

It’s about the nature of betrayal and trust and reality, he says, what it is to really be committed to someone. When you enter into a relationship, you don’t get to twist the arrangements of it.

For Alex, this presents quite a complication. Nathan says that his character, a psychologist, truly does love his wife so much so that they are trying for a baby but that Alex has difficulties separating sexuality and love. As Chris steadily becomes more and more a part of Alex’s immediate family life, the conflict becomes larger. Chris’ own personal obstacles with his father, as well as Alex’s continued stresses and confusion, keep drawing the two awkwardly closer.

However, the story isn’t finished yet. The 35-minute play that audiences will see as part of Journeys is only the first act of Herb’s story. The rest, he says, will be produced this summer through the Playwrights’ Workshop. But he says the experience he has gained through participating in Journeys both this year and last year has provided a valuable footing for his future endeavors as a writer in the world of theater.

It’s an awesome experience, Herb said. Reading the words on paper is not the same as hearing it. I’m interested in seeing how people react. I’m anticipating some negative feedback. It’s not an easy issue, especially in Southern Illinois.

Reporter Geoffrey Ritter can be reached at [email protected]