Mart Crowley (1935–2020), “Boys in the Band” playwright

Mart Crowley wasthe groundbreaking playwright whose 1968 play The Boys in the Band was one of the first to portray the lives of gay men on stage.The play is about a group of gay and bisexual friends at a birthday party in New York City.Itwas a hit which led to a 1970 movie adaptation directed byWilliam Friedkin.Crowley had been an assistant and close friend to actress . In 2002, hewrote a sequel The MenFromthe Boys, that looked at the original characters lives 35 years later. In 2018, a revival of The Boys in the Band onBroadway featured out gay actors including Jim Parsons, Zachary Quinto, and Matt Bomer.A new movie version of the play is due out on Netflix in 2021.