When a gay or lesbian couple decides they want an offspring, other than by adopting, a surrogate mother or a sperm donor, anonymous or not, will likely be involved, there may or may not be artificial insemination, and there will surely be a legal contract, as complicated as any prenuptial agreement, determining whether or not the third party will have a part to play in that child's life, covering any eventuality that might conceivably occur, dealing, in fact, with "All That Might Happen" in such a situation.

And "All That Might Happen" is the name of a new play by John Philip-about a gay male couple, entering into an agreement with a surrogate mother, regarding having a child-which will have its premiere, under the auspices of 3A Productions, on February 19, at Manhattan Theatre Source, 177 MacDougal Street, off Waverly Place, in the Village. "All That Might Happen" will play on Thursdays through Saturdays through March 6 and tickets, at $18, are available through www.theatermania.com or by calling 212/352-3101. The cast consists of playwright John, his partner Andrew Loren Resto, Mariah Bonner, and Barbara Mundy. Michael Portantiere directs and George McGarvey designed the set.

Early in January, Michael and I found ourselves sitting next to one other at a Metropolitan Opera performance of "Carmen" and much of our conversation, before the opera and during intermission, concerned the forthcoming "All That Might Happen." We made arrangements to speak about the play again later in the month, once rehearsals were well underway, and the discussion that Q on Stage had with the director follows.

Q on Stage (QoS): When we first talked about "All That Might Happen," we discussed surrogates, sperm donors, contracts, donors or surrogates playing an active part or not in a child's upbringing, so many permutations involving couples that we knew or knew about, that I came away not remembering exactly which situation the play dealt with. So, please do tell us what the play is about.
Michael Portantiere (MP): The situation is it's 1984 and this middle-aged gay couple is planning to have a child with a surrogate, with a younger woman, and they are planning to do it by natural means, by having one of them actually sleep with her rather than doing it by artificial insemination.

QoS: Will you tell me something about the couple's motivations for having a child, and about the potential mother's motivations?
MP: The back story is that she is quite young, she's, I guess, in her late 20s, and she had been married, and had had a child, and lost them both in an accident several years ago. That was obviously a great loss. She wants to help these guys have a child, but she's not prepared to raise the child herself, because she's going to go back to school to get a master's degree. And the guys-at least in certain cities, it's not totally uncommon today to raise a child or to adopt, but we forget how incredibly uncommon this was in the previous generation. So, I think they have the same motivations people have now.
QoS: Do you know if the characters are based directly on actual individuals?
MP: I think that they are, in part, but not necessarily. There are elements of [people's] lives that were used.

QoS:. Who, do you think, is the audience that this play is directed at, whom will it be meaningful to?
MP: It should be meaningful to everyone. Anyone who has any impulse to have a child can imagine what it means to be in this situation. Some of us tend to take it for granted, but we forget how there was a time, not so long ago, that these things just didn't happen. It was extremely rare in 1984 to have gay parents. Not totally unheard of, but certainly much, much rarer than today.

QoS: John Philip is a lawyer, who is also an actor, and now a playwright. Andrew Loren Resto is an artist, a painter, who is also an actor and a dancer. Are the characters that they are playing anything like them? Will people who know them recognize them in these characters?
MP: Well, again, parts of them. John's character, they didn't actually say that he's a lawyer, but he pulls out this surrogacy contract and he reads it, so people might be aware of this. And Andrew's character is, in fact, a painter. Some of his actual paintings will be used.

QoS: I've known you for a number of years as a singer and as a writer and reviewer, but this is the first time I'll be seeing your work as a director. You told me earlier in the month about your directing experience, so would please repeat some of what you told me for Q on Stage readers.
MP: I did a lot of shows in community theater. This was totally gratis. But it was an incredibly great opportunity to do some amazing plays like "Bent," "Barefoot in the Park," "Streetcar [Named Desire]." I did a production of "The Who's Tommy" before it had ever really been staged as an actual musical.

QoS: This was on Staten Island?
MP: Yes. It had been done in concert, but we actually staged it. I did the libretto-I mean, some of it is obviously in the songs. And we took some things from the movie.

QoS: And you said you directed at least one opera?
MP: I directed "Madama Butterfly" and I actually translated it into English, I wrote a singing translation of it.

QoS: And that was also on Staten Island?
MP: Yes.

QoS: What impact do you think being a performer yourself has on your directing? Does it give you a special empathy with the actors that you direct?
MP: I hope so, yes. A lot of directors are former actors. We try to walk that line between giving guidance and direction, but not trying to create the entire performance.

QoS: Do you think the performers you work with know that you've also been a performer?
MP: It might have been mentioned in passing. And honestly, it's been a while since I've acted.

QoS: Are you pleased with how rehearsals for "All That Might Happen" are going?
MP: Yes, I am. It's a short play. We're not sure exactly, but it's certainly less than an hour. But there's a lot that happens emotionally. As the play begins, we think everything is settled Then, all of a sudden, the surrogate, who was going to help them-she lives in their building-she comes to say that she's changed her mind. As you can imagine, they're taken aback. The three of them try to figure out what's the best thing to do. They try to discuss it.

QoS: "All That Might Happen" is scheduled for a three-weekend run at Manhattan Theatre Source. What do foresee as the play's future and would you like to be involved with future productions of it?
MP: I would. I would say that its future is very promising, although it's somewhat of an issue that it's a one-act play. That might be challenging. It wouldn't necessarily be performed by itself. But, yes. Specifically, it's about gay parenting, but also it's about people's fears. There are so many reasons not to do anything, especially anything major. Any time you plan to do something like have a child, it could be so easy to find it scary and decide not do it in a panic. But if everyone did that ... it's about recognizing fear. QoS: Do you think the couple is going to try to pursue having a child with a different woman?
MP: Oh, no, we eventually see what happens.

QoS: Is there anything we haven't covered that you would like to add?
MP: I can say this without giving too much away. There are four characters. There are the two men and the woman in 1984, but then we also see her more or less in the present day. She has a scene at the beginning and at the very end. And we basically see what happens, we find out. In life, obviously, we can't know what the future is, but in the play, we can see flashbacks and then come back to the present day.