About the Show

Lincoln Center's U.S. premiere is an intimate yet explosive family drama about two Ugandan brothers at odds - one a gay man in a secret relationship, and the other a church pastor.

Dembe, a college student in Kampala, Uganda, has been secretly seeing Sam, an Irish-Ugandan doctor. He longs to tell his family about their relationship, but his brother, Joe, is a rising church pastor who rails against the lifestyle Dembe is forced to conceal. And to make matters more precarious, a local newspaper has begun to publish photos of faces, and the names and addresses of gay men so that they may be hunted down and imprisoned or killed.

Critic Reviews (17)

"Piety Laced With Poison in the Uganda of 'The Rolling Stone.' In this latter-day variation on Arthur Miller’s 'The Crucible,' the young British dramatist Chris Urch creates a portrait of gay love under siege."
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"The Rolling Stone Goes for Big Feelings Over Rigor"
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"Morals and Monologues in 'The Rolling Stone' and 'Mojada.' New plays by Chris Urch and Luis Alfaro center on a gay man in Uganda and a Mexican immigrant in Queens, each facing dangers."
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"The writing doesn't live up to the importance of the subject matter."
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"'The Rolling Stone' Recounts an Antigay Witch Hunt in Uganda. Chris Urch dramatizes a call-out culture with deadly consequences."
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"The contemporary drama bookshelf is positively groaning with coming-out dramas, but in very few, if any, are the stakes as high as in 'The Rolling Stone'...Remarkably, [it] is Urch's second play; even this early, he looks like one of the season's great finds."
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"Don't be misled by the title. Playwright Chris Urch's 'The Rolling Stone,' opening tonight at Lincoln Center's Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater, is neither about Mick Jagger nor the U. S. popular culture magazine which bears that name..."
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"★★★★ 'Gathering Moss and Facing Danger in Uganda.' A vital and harrowing new play by Chris Urch looks at a young Ugandan's struggle to conceal his homosexuality."
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