– William Faulkner

Playwright Mart Crowley’s groundbreaking and well-known The Boys in the Band, which invited (nay, demanded) audiences to see through gay stereotypes to the joys, agonies, insecurities and mainly the humanity beneath the often flamboyant surface, is part of an autobiographical trilogy that also includes For Reasons That Remain Unclear and A Breeze from the Gulf.

A terrific production of the seldom-produced For Reasons That Remain Unclear is on the boards at 6th @ Penn Theatre through July 24, directed by Claudio Raygoza. Reasons, as introspective as Boys is splashy, is a memory play about the effects of clerical child abuse.

Rome, the holy Vatican city where “bells ring like cell phones,” is home to Patrick (Jeffrey Jones), a 45-year-old Hollywood screenwriter of “brilliantly packaged lies” who quite by chance encounters Conrad (Jerry Phalen), the priest who molested him as a boy. Recognizing this as a chance to exorcise those demons, Patrick invites the unsuspecting priest to his apartment, where the story gradually unfolds in a lengthy verbal cat-and-mouse game.

At first friendship seems to blossom with shared experiences, Conrad even implying interest in a more personal liaison, until Patrick mentions he is from “a little cow town” in Mississippi. Initially overwhelmed by the coincidence, Conrad finally realizes who Patrick is and starts to tell his own dark secret, but Patrick is too busy with his own problems.

“A bright ray of light from a projection machine offered me a way out,” Patrick says, and it’s clear he has used emotional detachment and the acquisition of expensive objects as shields for the unresolved hurt underneath.

Jones is a standout as the injured Patrick, playing with the abuser like a panther getting ready to spring. The emotional pitch, and Patrick’s voice and intensity level, rise steadily until the audience fears Patrick’s next move along with Conrad.

Phalen is also excellent as the unsuspecting prey, perhaps unconvinced even by his own assertion that, “Life is not black and white. Life is endless shades in between.”

Crowley has described this powerful play as “the way I dreamt I’d exorcise my demons.” Though the writing is at times overwrought (“Ask him why, after all these years, he’s permitted this curious little collision in the mad mix-up of streets in this ancient holy town!”), but the subject is so topical, the emotional content so horrifying, and the acting so right that it is impossible to leave the theater unaffected.

For Reasons That Remain Unclear plays through July 24 at 6th @ Penn Theatre. Shows Thurs.-Sat. at 8:00 p.m.; Sun. matinee at 2:00 p.m. For tickets, call (619) 688-9210 or visit www.gaylesbiantime.com for a link to their Web site.