I wrote the first draft of The ReProgramming of Jeremy in a bit of a blur. I had escaped from a noisy family visit by sneaking off to my hometown library, finding a secluded spot with only my laptop and a picture in my mind of a mild, teenage boy named Jeremy who was kind, wise beyond his years, and who just so happened to be gay. .

S adly, he was also dead..

I knew from the second I sat down to write this play that the script would be a kind of eulogy for a boy who died not only too young, but by his own hand. I wrote this play in response to a sick feeling I had in the pit of my stomach after seeing another news report about a gay teen committing suicide after being constantly bullied at his school. Shortly before this story, I had read another about a young man who had attempted suicide after being sent to a “straight” camp to “pray the gay out of him.”

I never intend to stand on a soap box when I am writing a play, and I certainly don't wish to do so here in this note. What I will say, is that the original production of this play, and the discussions held with the audience members after each performance, confirmed to me how vital this issue is to speak of, not in a political manner, but as human beings.