Must Come Down

Written & Directed By Billy Ray Brewton

February 21-March 9, 2013
Thursday-Saturday Nights at 8pm
Sunday Matinee at 2pm

Performed at 5th Avenue Antiques

Charlie has never been a spontaneous person. But, one day – in the middle of the cafeteria – he acts on a compulsion and kisses his long-time crush (and quarterback) Nick in front of the entire school; and, for his troubles, he receives a black eye. The kiss awakens something in Nick – something he didn’t even realize was there and the two soon start spending time together, developing an odd relationship. All the while this friendship is chronicled by notorious blogger Teresa Ropchek and her misanthropic gal-pal Gert. Something dark always lies beneath the surface of something good, which send Charlie and Nick on an unexpected journey of self-discovery, self-realization and self-destruction.

Featuring: Dallas Taylor, Chris Pass, Daniel Martin, Mary Claire Owen, Katherine Ross, Sarah Schiesz, Penny Thomas, Todd Ponder, and Bert R. Payne

AL.COM REVIEW
“Brewton says this is his best work. And, whether or not we agree with him, he says this for a reason. Not because it’s his funniest work. Not because it’s his most thrilling. But because it’s his most important.”
— Jeremy Burgess

Billy Ray Brewton is an award-winning playwright and filmmaker. His plays include: A Beast/A Burden (Hollywood Fringe Festival; Off-Broadway So-Ho Playhouse); The Xmascist, Must Come Down, After School Special, and The 13th Friday: Ready, Set, Die! Musicals include: Country Roses: The Musical, Dragula: The Musical, Skanks in a One Horse Town, and We Three Queens. He has written stage adaptations of George Romero’s Night of the Living Dead, Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus, and John Dryden’s Marriage-a-la-Mode. Most recently he directed Red Light Winter for Los Angeles’s Catharsis Theatre Collective and Son-of-a-Bitch, an award-winner at the 2019 Hollywood Fringe Festival. As a filmmaker, he wrote and directed the horror film, Show Yourself (available on Tubi) and produced the 2025 documentary, Coroner to the Stars. He is a proud member of the Dramatists Guild, and is the co-founder of Birmingham’s Theatre Downtown.