The
close
bond
between
a
heterosexual
woman
and
her
gay
best
friend
is
the
basis
of
the
new
play
“Journeys,”
debuting
this
week
at
Dad’s
Garage
Top
Shelf
Theatre
via
Process
Theatre
Company.
Evan
Guilford-Blake,
a
veteran
writer
who
relocated
to
Atlanta
four
years
ago,
penned
the
play.
“Journeys”
is
based
on
a
true
story
about
the
decade-long
friendship
between
Karen
Skinner,
a
Chicago
theater
professional,
and
Wayne
Buidens,
her
best
friend
—
both
of
whom
were
also
colleagues
of
the
playwright.
“Karen
and
Wayne
met
when
Wayne
was
teaching
her
daughter,
and
they
immediately
bonded,”
Guilford-Blake
says.
“Wayne
was
very
instrumental
to
Karen,
who
was
recovering
from
an
abusive
relationship.
He
really
helped
her
stand
up
for
herself
and
get
over
what
had
happened.”
Buidens
died
from
AIDS
complications
in
1993.
This
memorial
service
included
readings
from
transcripts
of
actual
telephone
conversations
between
heim
and
Skinner.
“They
were
very
funny
and
powerful,
but
I
knew
it
was
very
personal
for
[Skinner],”
Guilford-Blake
says.
Later,
the
playwright
met
with
Skinner,
and
she
suggested
that
their
story
would
make
a
good
play.
Guilford-Blake
enthusiastically
agreed
to
write
it.
“She
gave
me
journals,
and
I
interviewed
her
for
hours,”
he
says.
“I
must
have
20
hours
of
tape
of
her
talking
about
Wayne.”
Guilford-Blake
also
talked
to
other
friends
and
Skinner’s
daughter.
In
the
play,
the
two
characters,
are
called
Jerri
and
Ben
and
are
played
by
Jill
Hames
and
Jeffery
Brown.
“Journeys”
has
an
important
non-sexual
scene
in
which
the
leads
strip
naked.
“Ben
takes
Jerri
up
a
mountain.
They
climb
for
two
hours.
When
they
finally
get
to
the
top
of
the
mountain,
Ben
looks
down
and
shows
her
a
beach.
Jerri
looks
down
and
says,
‘There
are
naked
people
down
there!’”
Guilford-Blake
says.
“Ben
responds,
‘That’s
why
it
takes
so
long
to
get
here.’
Ben
quickly
strips
in
front
of
his
friend,
and
after
some
hesitation
so
does
Jerri.
That
is
a
key
moment,
where
the
two
really
bond.”
But
the
turning
point
of
the
show
and
of
the
characters’
relationship
is
when
Ben
acquires
AIDS
and
initially
refuses
to
tell
Jerri.
According
to
Guilford-Blake,
in
real-life
Buidens
actually
created
an
argument
between
the
two.
They
didn’t
talk
for
a
while,
but
one
afternoon
Wayne
went
to
Karen’s
apartment
and
almost
forced
her
to
follow
him
to
a
restaurant.
“You
know,
don’t
you?”
he
asked.
She
did.
“He
wasn’t
very
good
at
covering
up
when
something
was
wrong,”
Guilford-Blake
says.
“Wayne
was
not
discriminate
about
his
sexual
relations.
Some
of
the
people
he
had
sex
with
used
drugs,”
Guilford-Blake
says.
“And
Karen
knew
how
he
lived
his
life.”
As
Buidens
died,
he
only
let
one
person
be
his
primary
caretaker
—
and
that
was
his
friend
Skinner.
“He
didn’t
even
let
his
mother
take
care
of
him,”
Guilford-Blake
says.
“Journeys”
debuted
in
Chicago
in
1995,
but
the
author
was
not
happy
with
that
production.
He
later
retooled
the
show.
“I’ve
tightened
it
up
a
bit,
especially
the
second
act,”
he
says.
“It’s
a
better
production
now.”
He
hopes
audiences
don’t
see
the
show
as
a
depressing
tale.
“These
two
people
became
as
intimate
as
possible
without
having
sex,”
Guilford-Blake
says.
“The
irony
is
that
Wayne’s
relationships
with
men
never
lasted
very
long,
but
his
friendship
with
Karen
lasted
10
years.”
Guilford-Blake’s
upcoming
projects
include
“Wilde,
at
Heart,”
an
adaptation
of
three
Oscar
Wilde
fairy
tales
as
part
of
a
reading
with
Theatre
Gael
next
year,
and
the
drama
“Easter
Sunday,”
which
he
is
shopping
around
at
various
venues.