Billy to his Friends could be appropriately subtitled With Friends Like These, Who Needs Enemies? It is a well written and brave play by Cassandra Rose. Most important is the courage Rose displays in writing the piece. Taking on and showing the warts on a gay icon is dangerous ground for any writer to tread on, but even more so for Rose who is female, not lesbian and married to male presenting individual. Communities can be very, if incorrectly, protective of their heroes especially from perceived “outsiders”.

The show is very well directed by Andrew Coopman who uses the whole stage, simple set, and innovative casting to present the show. What he doesn’t have, and cannot be expected in a festival show with a large cast, is a cast of actors of equally talented individuals. Billy Oxendine as the troubled title character, Oliver “Billy” Sipple, turns in a high quality performance. Ria T. DiLullo takes on the challenge of playing Harvey Milk. That invites attacks just because she is woman playing a male icon and because she is asked to play a negative version of that icon. Sam Selleznow’s Walt, a gay San Francisco cop, who seems to be in love with Billy also does a fine job. In the ensemble, Aditi Sanghavi embraced the three characters she portrays and immediately improvises when an important prop crashed on stage.

For those unfamiliar, “Billy” Simple was a closeted gay, ex-marine war hero who saved President Gerald Ford from a pistol attack by Manson follower Sarah Jane Moore in 1975. Milk decided, perhaps for the gay rights cause, perhaps for his own political career to exploit Sipple’s heroic act and out him to the press and the country. As a result, Sipple, already suffering from PTSD and hiding his sexual orientation from his religious Detroit mother is left exposed as his protective cocoon is ripped away. All of his friends and the press each serve to push Sipple to self destruction as the White House and his family turn their backs. Deteriorating mental health found Sipple in and out of mental hospitals until his death in 1989 at the age of 47.

“Billy” to his Friends in an interesting case study of the harm that can be done by those trying to exploit an individual for their own purposes. Rose’s attack on Milk, usually portrayed as a selfless human being who gave his life for Gay Rights exposed his underbelly as a narcissist who would destroy his friends to support his beliefs and political gain. Definitely a work the deserves to be seen.