THE STORY
Game On! Summary
Same sex couple Sam and Chris own a successful toy store focused on electronic gaming in a quaint yet fairly bustling small city downtown. Adopted children Rachel and Marcus try to fit in the best they can, each with their own specific set of difficulties. Rachel, the eldest, always feels like she has to prove herself and continually strives towards overachievement. Younger brother Marcus on the other hand just wants to bring the disconnected and too busy family closer together because of his fear of abandonment after some difficult time in foster care. Quinn lives nearby and befriends Marcus through a shared afterschool activity, but secretly she longs to get to know Marcus's family better as she begins to suspect that she may be gay. Together they bond over some board games found stashed in his parents storage area, and these games become a catalyst throughout the rest of the story. However, Quinn has to keep her friendship with Marcus a secret from her ultra-Christian parents when they become appalled to discover that the store they have been frequenting is owned by a same sex couple. Quinn's parents Paul and Lily bring this to a head by organizing a boycott of the store along with their bible group despite Lily's reservations about taking such a harsh stance.
Meanwhile, after a combative phone call with her friend Kendall about not taking everything so seriously, Rachel gets pulled into a board game with Marcus and Quinn while Sam and Chris ruminate after catching wind of the boycott. Quinn and her childhood best friend have a brief and awkward “romantic moment” after Alex questions Quinn about her absence as a friend. Eventually Paul and Lily discover that Quinn has been lying to them about her whereabouts. When confronted about this Quinn pushes back, asserting that she no longer wishes to live the life her parent's have laid out for her but wants to chart her own course. An altercation ensues where Paul is furious with Quinn when she lets on that she might be gay. End Act I
The next day, Quinn runs away, and after some words where Paul tells Lily that he doesn’t care what happens to Quinn, Lily decides to go look for her at the Stafford’s house and ends up apologizing to Quinn and the Staffords. Paul, however, ends up ramping things up from a boycott to planning an outright protest after blaming the Staffords for “turning” his daughter gay. The next day, Lily and Quinn, while stopping quickly at home for a few things while Paul is at work, discover the plans for the protest. They leave to warn the Staffords but on their way out run into Alex, and Quinn unfairly blames her for all her troubles. Alex is left feeling alone and confused about what is going on with her life-long friend. The next day, Quinn, after apologizing to Alex, they join Marcus, Rachel, Kendall and Max (“the gang”) to discuss plans to host a board game event to try to lure the protesters to change their plans as part of a cunning trap.
After a hard night planning, the gang decides on organizing a board game tournament in the town square. Paul catches word of the board game event and does indeed see it as an opportunity to protest in front of a larger audience and quickly organizes his group. As the protesters begin to arrive, “the gang” sets their trap in motion and the kids begin sneaking off one by one to gather for their counter-protest. Just as the protest begins to get heated, the youth arrive wearing rainbow colored shirts emblazoned with words of kindness and tolerance, they walk calmly and silently and form a barrier between the audience and the protestors. At this point the scene freezes and Marcus breaks the fourth wall rallying the audience to stand for tolerance. Hopefully they do, and the kids part revealing a mass of counter-protestors. The effect is profound, and the protestors begin to lose their will. Paul, sensing a change in the tide, yells at his fellow protestors, attempting to rile them up again, and even tries shaming them. When the protestors finally shrink away, Paul collapses, a broken and defeated man. The youth protestors also silently dissipate and while Chris, Sam, Rachel, and Marcus look on. Quinn and Lily approach Paul, attempting to give him another chance, but sadly he shakes them off and leaves. End Act II