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XY Magazine
Feb 99

Nate Wheeler and James Marks, both gay, 22, cute, and stars of the impressive West Coast premiere of "Beautiful Thing" at the New Conservatory Theater in San Francisco, took time to sit down with XY after a performance of Jonathan Harvey's endearing play, which was made into a popular British film in 1996.

For James, who plays the role of the athletic, charming Ste in this love story about two teenage boys growing up in lower-class London, the chance to be in "Beautiful Thing" wasn't one he was going to pass up.

"When I saw that they were casting for the play, I just said 'I have to be in it,'" says James, a junior at San Francisco State University who has appeared in two independent films, "Daisy's Fortune" and "Gypsy Boys," where he played a crazy club kid. "'Beautiful Thing' is one of my favorite movies."

Nate, who graduated last year from Northwestern University, hadn't see the movie before he decided to audition. Both boys beat out about 40 others for the roles.

"I think this is a really powerful play to do for any gay boy, because it just rings so true to what a lot of us go through coming out and with our first loves," says Nate, who was recently hired as the Artistic Manager at San Jose Musical Children's Theater. "This may sound kind of corny, but about half the time after I do the coming out scene to my mom in the play, I end up just crying backstage because it reminds me of what it was like to tell my dad."

Director Ed Decker had both boys watch the movie version of "Beautiful Thing," mostly to get a good sense of the British accents. But unlike both actors in the movie, who have said they are straight, Nate and James didn't have to fake anything they were feeling.

"It really just came naturally, and the tenderness and the closeness that we have to have on stage wasn't hard for us," James says. "This play is not so much about the characters as about how they interact, and I think the fact that we are both gay probably comes across."

Fortunately, both James and Nate look younger than their 22 years, making it easy for the pair to pass for the teenagers they portray in "Beautiful Thing."

"I feel like I'm 16 anyway," Nate says, "so it wasn't much of a stretch at all."

James, who grew up in Cleveland, came out when he was 19. He and his then girlfriend were driving from Cleveland to California, and soon after crossing the California border, James spilled the beans.

"Yeah, she was a little upset," James says. "We get along great now, though."

For Nate, who came out when he was 18 thanks to a passionate romance in Germany, moving to San Francisco and starring in "Beautiful Thing" beats the heck out of the cold Chicago winters at Northwestern University.

Let's just say I'm really, really happy," he says.

-Lance Taylor