The Last Laugh : Allen Perfectly Cast As Gay Actor Who Wants To Come Out

By FRANK RIZZO | Courant Staff Writer

Chad Allen remembers facing network executives, managers, agents, publicists and the producers of the TV series he was on — "Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman" — to deal with a photograph that was about to come out in a tabloid that showed him in a swimming pool kissing another man.

"So, what do you want to do?" asked the Hollywood powers of the then-22-year-old actor who in 1996 just wanted to have some fun in his private life.

"They're going, 'Soooo, are you gay?' And I'm going, 'Ahhhhh, I dunno. Errrrrr, maybe.'"

Allen laughs now at his dilemma. But at the time, it was no source of amusement for the young man who grew up in Hollywood dreaming of being a successful actor.

"They wanted me to make a decision so they could manage around that," he says. They would find him a "girlfriend," if that's what he wanted, but if he wished to come "out," they would deal with that, too — though the indirect message was that if he chose that route, he would never work again.

The world of closeted gay actors, as depicted in the 2007 Tony Award-nominated comedy "The Little Dog Laughed," hasn't changed all that much. Allen stars in the TheaterWorks production, which begins performances Friday. The show continues through March 9.

The play centers on Mitchell (Allen), a young movie star who wants to "out" himself when he falls in love with a hustler (Jeremy Jordan) while his tornado of an agent (Candy Buckley) does everything in her power to keep that closet door locked tight. Complicating matters is the hustler's girlfriend (Amanda Perez).

Mitchell's conflict is one that Allen knows well.

"He is faced with following his heart or collapsing back into what is safe and living a life that other people tell him he should live," he says. "It's one I know and one that I see so many closeted gays face, especially in Hollywood, where there is still that fear that you can't be successful if you're openly gay."

When Allen was summoned to the "Dr. Quinn" powwow 12 years ago, his decision was to make no decision.

"This was before the blogs and Paris Hilton and the Internet thing, and the mainstream media at that time didn't pick up on tabloid stories and certainly did not 'out' actors," says the 33-year-old Allen.

With no response, the story had a short shelf life, and Allen continued in the series as Matthew Cooper, Dr. Quinn's adopted son.

But after the series ended in 1998, Allen found few offers.

He became involved in theater projects (including "Temporary Help" at the Westport Country Playhouse and off-Broadway) and charity events that supported gay causes. But it would be several more years before "I finally stepped all the way through the door."

Chad Allen Lazzari was raised in Long Beach. Calif. He and his twin sister, Charity, began public life at "twin events," but it was the angelic-looking Allen who took to the spotlight and began to work in commercials at the age of 4.

At 8, he began playing the part of Tommy, the son of Dr. Westphall in the TV series "St. Elsewhere." (The series ended with a surprising episode that revealed the entire "St. Elsewhere" run was all part of Tommy's autistic imaginative world.) Allen followed that run with several popular TV series, including "Our House" and "My Two Dads."

"There were expectations placed upon me since I was very young to make a lot of money that would take care of a lot of people," he says. "I was the golden boy. Many people were absolutely convinced that there was no reason why I shouldn't continue on this path of ultimate superstardom. That's where Mitchell is in the play."

After "My Two Dads," Allen stepped back from acting and went to high school, where he tried to live a normal life, a task that was difficult, at first, when classmates who knew him from the TV series and fan magazines "followed me around like apostles because I was famous."

He discovered a genuine love of acting — and more — in his high school drama program.

"I was an early bloomer in terms of an awareness of my sexuality and my desire to pursue it," he says. After high school, he planned to go to New York University to study literature, far away from home and show business, and explore his sexuality.

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