Short Play. The Children of Tantalus The play, The Children of Tantalus, features men of the postmodern, twentieth century who do not appear to fit normative standards of masculine behavior and desire, and are consequently led to question their sexuality. The story is told from the perspective of Ethan, a college-aged, gay Mormon, who shortly after the death of his father, begins to crave intimacy with his best (and married) friend, which sets him on a somewhat desperate and impulsive soul-searching path of sexual and religious identity. In the process, Ethan reveals the complex nature of his dilemma: the integrity of his faith and his love for Mormonism (and all that its theology of eternal marriage implies), and his genuine need for human affection.

Devan M. Hite