Western Gold Theatre stages Sandsprite, a late-life coming-out comedy, at PAL Studio Theatre

Two men who were teenage lovers meet again after 50 years in Sandsprite, a Canadian comedy opening at PAL Studio Theatre November 12 and running through November 29. Western Gold Theatre stages the mainstage premiere, directed by Christopher Lam.

The play is by North Vancouver playwright Peter Zednik, who wrote it in 2019. Brogan and Si have taken very different paths in the decades since they were young. Old feelings come back, and they have to face buried truths and missed chances. The cast is Allan Morgan and Adam Henderson, both veteran performers, with emerging actor Alek Toledo-Cisak.

Zednik was a national-level junior figure skater in a small Ontario town in the 1970s, and was bullied for being gay on and off the ice. After five years dating a woman and getting engaged as a young adult, he came out and moved to Toronto. One character represents the life he chose; the other represents the man he might have become had he married and stayed closeted.

Zednik said older gay men are rarely at the centre of stories. "If there's an older gay character, they're often not at the centre of a story," he said. "They're on the sidelines. They might be the gossipy next-door neighbour, or they're the first victim in a murder."

Lam said the appeal was the love story itself. "I was excited about a queer story that centered on two senior men," he said. "There's the element of a love story, and I just don't think we see a lot of stories like this."