The "villainous homosexual" has long stalked America's cultural imagination, most explicitly in the figure of the gay murderer, a character in dozens of plays. But as society's understanding of homosexuality has changed, so has the significance of these controversial characters, especially when employed by gay theater artists themselves to explore darker fears and desires. "Murder Most Queer" examines the shifting meanings of murderous gay characters in American theater over a century, showing how these representations wrestle with and ultimately subvert notions of gay villainy.
"Murder...