Marvel Comics writer returns to theater with 'Good Boys' premiere

Robert Aguirre-Sacasa is best known for his work with Marvel Comics; he just completed a series on "Spider-Man" and is currently finishing up the story for a series in "Dead of Night."

"One of the characters in the book is a character named Swamp-thing," Aguirre-Sacasa said. The character is a mutant combination: half man, half swamp vegetation.

But Aguirre-Sacasa's first love is theater. He graduated from the Yale School of Drama and is currently in Chicago working on the world premiere of his new play, "Good Boys and True," which opens tonight at the Steppenwolf Theatre.

"Marvel knew full well that my background was in drama writing when they hired me," Aguirre-Sacasa said. "What appealed to them was the idea that my writing would be much more character-based."

Aguirre-Sacasa began as a devoted comic-book reader in his early teens. He also loved horror movies and novels.

"I fully embrace my pulpy roots," he said with a laugh.

Theater, on the other hand, entered his life a little later, in his mid-20s, when Aguirre-Sacasa was living in New York City and working on a horror fan magazine, Fangoria.

"I first started seeing a lot of plays while I was in New York City," he said. "It was 'Angels in America,' and that experience was amazing in so many ways."

This dual interest explains why Aguirre-Sacasa swings effortlessly from comics to theater and back again.

"Everything feeds everything," he said. " 'Good Boys and True' began as a commissioned play for the New York-based Manhattan Theatre Club. But sometime in the process, it became clear that they were no longer interested in producing it.

"That was when we made up a list of dream theaters and sent it out," Aguirre-Sacasa said. "Lucky for us, one of my dream theaters (Steppenwolf) chose it."

The story, about a sex scandal at an all-boys private school, draws on Aguirre-Sacasa's own experiences attending the all-male Georgetown Prep near Washington, D.C.

"Even when I was a student there I knew I wanted to write about that world," he said. "Stories set in boys' private schools are their own genre." Then he ticks off a series of books, plays and movies set in an all-male private school: "Catcher in the Rye," "A Separate Peace," "The Dead Poets Society."

"I didn't know what my story was going to be, but I knew I wanted to write something," he said.

Aguirre-Sacasa's inspiration came when he read a couple of articles about "sex scandals that erupted in these (as Aguirre-Sacasa puts it) bastions of privilege."

"I thought maybe there is a play in this," he said. "But the final play is less about the student scandal and more about that boy's relationship with his mother."

Interestingly Aguirre-Sacasa is also writing a comic-book series, "Angel," set in an all-boys' prep school.

"Some of the characters in 'Good Boys and True' also appear in 'Angel,' " Aguirre-Sacasa said with a laugh.

"Everything feeds everything," he said. "Good storytelling is good storytelling."