General Hospital: Night Shift’s Matter-of-Fact Gay Romance

It’s that idea of two men falling in love that Allen finds so refreshing about General Hospital as there isn’t really too much else unusual about Kyle and Eric. Said Allen, “Ang Lee who directed Brokeback Mountain, they were always asking him why he wanted to tell that story. He kept saying it was such a unique perspective from which to tell a love story that hadn’t been overdone. And that is the way I feel. Nothing really novel is happening between Kyle and I. We’re two people who come together and find an intense amount of attraction and get to know each other and help each other and maybe heal each other. That is what happens when two people fall in love. What it’s interesting is the perspective from which we get to tell that story. That it is two men.”

One of Allen’s passions these days, not just as an actor, but as a producer, is telling those sorts of real stories about gay men. “I think as somebody who really cares about gay storytelling and really cares about the way we are represented in the media. [We’ve had] the progression of our own stories being told from the time when we were really dark, depressing characters to being the side kick funny guy who didn’t have much depth to the AIDS dramas of the 80s and early 90’s. Now we are really turning a page in terms on the kind of stories we can tell which are truly not so much anymore about the fact that we are gay but are telling really human dramas with characters who happen to be gay. And that is exciting for me.”

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Grimes echoes that sentiment. “I feel like in the past sometimes gay characters were presented as that being the driving force in everything they decide. And the gay men that are my friends in my life, it’s not like that. We sit down and talk about business and this and this and eventually relationships also come up in conversation.”

Grimes, who is straight (a fact not mentioned initially by him, but earlier by Allen) thinks that approach to playing the character as not stereotypically gay is one of the reasons he won the role. “I think one of the aspects of my audition that they liked the best is that I wasn’t playing that he was gay. That was how I approached it, that’s how I approach every scene. I play the scene and everything else falls in place.”

Even though Allen is only currently signed on for four episodes, might there be a future for Eric and Kyle – assuming Eric gets that liver transplant? Said Allen, “All indications are so far that these guys are on the right track and have a genuine affection and it is safe to say that if Eric makes it through this, I don’t see why there isn’t a real shot of their making it.”

Does that mean Allen would be interested in coming back on the show as Eric? “I would,” he said. “It depends on my schedule and some other things I have going on.”

As for the experience of working on a soap, Allen admits to having had some trepidation about it. “I did only because I lived with Heather Tom for years and I used to watch her get these scripts delivered every day and heard her complaints. As a theater actor that didn’t sound that appealing.” Then Allen added, “I love it here. I love the experience. I love making television this way.”

Allen is also reveling in playing a gay character, something he only first had the chance to do four years ago. Playing gay was actually part of the reason Allen joined GH:NS. “I actually was talked to about joining another soap at the same time, but it was playing a straight character, which was interesting. But this seemed the most interesting character and the most interesting project for me to work on. So I said I’ll give it a shot.”

Allen said people often have the mistaken impression he’s played more gay characters than he has. “People often ask me are you sick of playing gay characters? I’m like My God! I’m just starting. I have only had a handful of them. There is so much I want to do. Though that isn’t all that I want to do or all that I do. It is still the most exciting.”

General Hospital: Night Shift airs Tuesdays at 11 PM on SoapNet