Andrew Keenan-Bolger Says It's a 'Blessing' to Play a Gay Character in “Scarlett Dreams”: I Can Be 'Myself'

'Scarlett Dreams,' by S. Asher Gelman, is now playing Off-Broadway

Broadway star Andrew Keenan-Bolger makes the leap to virtual reality in S. Asher Gelman bold new play Scarlett Dreams, now playing Off-Broadway in New York City.

In the futuristic and provocative show, the Newsies and Tuck Everlasting actor, 38, plays Kevin, a playwright whose career experiences an upswing after he embarks on a fitness journey via a revolutionary fitness and wellness application called RealFit. Launched by his husband Milo (Borris Anthony York) and Milo's sister Liza (Brittany Bellizeare), RealFit uses cutting-edge virtual reality technology to immerse users in a vivid new world, with the latest VR headset. But as Kevin develops an obsession with his workouts — and a strange friendship with Scarlett (Caroline Lellouche), his virtual guide — the line between what's real and what's virtual begins to blur.

What themes of the show made you want to star in Scarlett Dreams?

The themes surrounding artificial intelligence, especially how it relates to creators and artists, is what initially attracted me to the project. I feel like it is asking a lot of the questions that I've been asking myself as someone who generates work. The recent major industry strikes have gotten all of us talking about our responsibility to protect our craft, our desire to want to explore more with it, to feel like, especially as theater people, that we're not left behind if there is a big shift in technology — and how to make ourselves more relevant. And I think if nothing else, Scarlett Dreams poses these questions to the audience and makes them all think about how we are consuming arts, how we are interacting with technology and what our digital world means in today's world.

Have you ever given virtual reality fitness a try?

I actually have not, no. I think talking to Asher, S. Asher Gelman who wrote and directed the piece, he was inspired because during the pandemic he started working out in VR, in virtual reality. It was kind of his way to get himself off the couch. It's not something I have any desire to do. I can't even do a home workout. I love getting to go to a gym and forcing myself to spend some time there and listen to good music and meet people. So I have zero desire to use virtual reality in that way, but I get the appeal for some folks. I think, especially people who lack motivation in terms of, "If it's in my house, that is one less step," that's one less subway ride to have to get yourself into a building. But yeah, I have not actually used it at all.

Related: Ella Beatty, Daughter of Annette Bening and Warren Beatty, Beams as She Takes Her First Broadway Bow

What's it like to represent your community onstage in Scarlett Dreams?

I think any time I get to play a gay character on stage, it feels like a blessing. It's something that I have not been able to do all that often. I was trying to think of the last time that I played someone gay and it's been a minute. At the end of the day, most roles are written for straight people, so it feels really nice that I get to just come out on stage every single night, really, as myself. I'm not trying to put on anything.

But also I think the fact that my character's gayness, really, is not a part of the show. He is a married man and you're seeing a story about a married guy. They talk about sex a few times, but it has very little to do with the actual plot of the show. And to me that feels like the most groundbreaking thing, that I'm a character who happens to be gay rather than a character that the entire plot of it is either about the trauma surrounding it or self-discovery. You see a person who has, I think, been living in his identity very comfortably for a very long time, and that to me feels refreshing and nice.

What kind of conversations have you and your husband had about the themes of the show?

It's funny. We talk about AI a whole lot, and doing the show, there are ways in which my character uses the technology that I have sort of started implementing in my own life, from looking in my cabinets and seeing, "Oh, what do I have in here? What could I make for dinner?" And then taking a picture of it and uploading it in chat GPT and then coming up with a recipe. That's something that I was inspired to do one day after rehearsal when we were working on a scene that included that and something where I was like, "I wonder if this actually works. Oh my gosh, it totally does."

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

It's tricky because you let that kind of stuff into your life and then it's hard to live without it. It's like getting a microwave. You can't go back to not having a microwave, like what do we do with leftovers? So I think it's both figuring out new uses for this technology, but also having conversations with yourself and your partner. I'm like, "What should we keep physical? What are we losing if we start depending on a digital technology?"

So I think it's been a lot about that. I feel like I've had a lot of conversations about food with my husband in a way that I haven't before, just because fitness is such a big part of the show and I feel like my body is more on display than it usually is. Making sure that I have healthy attachments to food and that it's not getting to a problematic place.

Tickets to Scarlett Dreams are available for purchase.

For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter!

Read the original article on People.