David Mauriello was one of the first playwrights to start hitting Portsmouth with original works way back in 1992, when F. Gary Newton founded The Players’ Ring in Portsmouth. A reference from a mutual friend put the two in touch, and Mauriello’s been producing roughly a play per year ever since, paving the way for other original playwrights and eventually earning himself a place on The Players’ Ring Board.

But, Mauriello’s plays differed from most other playwrights in a specific way—he was among the first to write plays that consistently had gay men in leading roles. And, oddly enough, the fact that these characters were gay was not the focus of the plays. They just happened to be gay people, going around, living their lives.

What a concept.
Mauriello’s groundbreaking plays were met with moderate success. Then, in 2005, he knocked one so far out of the park that they’re still searching for the ball.

The name of the play was “Just Say Love,” and it was a love story, plain and simple. It had all the realistic and honest nuances that make a love story touching, moving, and relatable. With just one tiny twist: It was between two men.
“When it premiered as a late night show at the Players’ Ring in July of ’05,” Mauriello told me in a recent cyberchat, “I had friends who had read the play. They actually cautioned me not to do it, that it was too much of a gay sexual fantasy.”

Still, something in Mauriello’s gut made him persevere, and before he knew it, it was opening night.

“Frankly, when I saw the audience filing in, it wasn’t just gay people, it was a mixture of young and old and male and female,” he said. While some might comment that this was a positive sign, it gave Mauriello a few nervous moments of pause. “I had visions of being tarred and feathered,” he admitted.

But, the audience surprised him.

“When I felt the audience ‘go’ with the play, from the very opening, I was delighted,” he said. It also reminded him of the old saying, “Believe in yourself.”

The audience response also reminds of the Buddhist phrase “Just Say Love,” which is a mantra of one of the play’s main characters and the inspiration for its title.

The play was so popular, it inspired several other productions in Ogunquit, Portsmouth and Boston, among other places. Each production met largely with the same reaction—that they were love stories, not gay stories. It inspired Mauriello more than he’d ever imagined.

“I do think general audiences have a stronger reaction because they may have a built-in idea of what a ‘gay’ play is,” Mauriello muses. “They are surprised to find this play is not what they expected. Some have told me they expected to learn something about our differences, but instead learned about our similarities.”

Finally, it occurred to Mauriello that he might be able reach an even wider audience, rather than simply continuing to mount productions of his plays—which, at best, will only be seen by a few hundred people per production.

Enter Bill Humpreys of BBT Films. Most well known for his work as artistic director of Seacoast Repertory Theatre, his body of work in film and stage is impressively prolific. He has racked up 10 Emmy nominations for his work with PBS, and he worked on a six-episode HBO pilot series called “The Bridge.”

“Bill Humphreys and I have long had this idea of taking stage plays and filming them on a soundstage,” Mauriello explained. “This process saves money and time. For our first film, we wanted a play that had few characters and very minor technical needs. “Just Say Love” not only fit those requirements, but the play also has a proven track record. I want the story to be seen by as big an audience as possible, and putting it on film will help me do that.”

The two have found their work relationship so mutually satisfying that they’re becoming partners in a company yet to be named. “In talking to Bill,” Mauriello said, “oftentimes, our ideas just matched.”

Asked how he felt his movie production measured up to his play productions, Mauriello said the similarities outweigh the differences.

“Personally, I’m new to filming, but I see many similarities. Except that, with the film, we prepare and rehearse for the camera rather than for an audience that will be sitting out front. The camera will move onstage with the actors, capturing close-ups or cutting away to heighten the effect the director wishes to make,” he said.

All that’s left is to find the audience—rather, the distributors—who will help Mauriello and Humphreys find their audience. Which, if past productions are indicative, should be the least of their problems.

For more information about “Just Say Love” or BBT films, contact Bill Humphreys at This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it