Baby Crib: The Complex and I Ski Maybell

It was a time when personal exploration was a way of life-a time when it was still okay to hitchhike, grow your hair long, and be carefree. But during the 1970s and early 1980s, it still was not okay to be gay.

In Complex, the first of the two plays presented in Baby Crib, author Michael J.-P. Williams introduces Mickey, a man haunted by guilt-and a dark secret. Just as a new consciousness is lighting the way for those who wish to escape the closet, artist wannabe Mickey is battling internal demons. Ashamed that he is homosexual and even more ashamed that he is still alive after his twin brother dies from cancer, Mickey must struggle to accept himself and his desires.

In the second play, I Ski Maybell, Paul West is on the road to success. With a newly acquired MBA in hand and a good job in a new city, Paul's fresh start in life suddenly goes awry when he allies himself with Nova McWorth. Unfortunately, she is his boss.

Williams interweaves multifaceted characters within poignant storylines that prove that perhaps life really is too short to worry about what we cannot control.

Michael JP Williams loved a great American writer, Thomas Lanier Williams of Key West, Florida. His influences include the works of Eugene O'Neill, Tennessee Williams, Edward Albee, as well as many other American playwrights; these are his first published plays. He currently lives in Bucks County, Pennsylvania.