Review: Powerful Gay Drama ‘The Inheritance’ at Zoetic Stage Is Everybody’s Story

The cast of Zoetic Stage’s production of Matthew López’s “The Inheritance, Part 1,” playing at the Adrienne Arsht Center in the Carnival Studio Theatre, Miami, through Sunday, Jan. 25. (Photo by Morgan Sophia Photography, courtesy of the Adrienne Arsht Center)

Pay attention to “The Inheritance” and don’t judge a book by its cover. While at the center of this sprawling play is about the lives of 12 gay men, it doesn’t harp on identity or representation.

Under Stuart Meltzer’s smart direction, Zoetic Stage’s production conveys the deeper meaning of Matthew López’s title, revealing its full weight. “The Inheritance” is less literal than it may appear on the surface — there is an emphasis on acquisitions like money, houses, rent-controlled New York apartments—but the layers underneath are a message of insecurity, mortality, grief, and history in peril of being forgotten. Also, what comes through clearly in López’s text and Meltzer’s choices is that inheritance is not only what we are born into, but also the family we create for ourselves.

“The Inheritance, Part 1” at Zoetic Stage with Anthony Michael Martinez, Alex Weisman and the ensemble. (Photo by Morgan Sophia Photography, courtesy of the Adrienne Arsht Center)

Zoetic Stage at the Carnival Studio Theatre in the Adrienne Arsht Center is staging the first part of the two-part epic, “The Inheritance, Part 1,” through Sunday, Jan. 25.

López openly borrows its DNA from E.M. Forster’s “Howards End,” even building Forster into the play as a guiding presence, both for the characters and the audience.

There are shades of Armistead Maupin’s “Tales of the City”—the communal characters, the entwined relationships—here trading San Francisco for New York. It’s the mid-2010s and decades after the height of the AIDS epidemic.

At its center is Eric Glass, played by Alex Weisman, who fully engulfs the character with a mix of emotion and quiet intensity. He’s social but awkward and lives in a rent-controlled apartment surrounded by friends who he frequently invites over for dinners and parties. His grandfather was a veteran, helping to liberate Dachau; his grandmother a refugee from Germany. The three-bedroom apartment, bought in 1947, “was the first place Eric’s grandmother felt safe in the world.”

Now, he lives there, protecting it as part of his identity.

Eric’s boyfriend is Toby Darling, played by Anthony Michael Martinez. He’s immediately compelling—good-looking, charismatic, and brooding. Martinez imbues Toby with energetic charm and ambition, making him magnetic and complex. But underneath, he’s wounded from a difficult childhood.

Alex Weisman as Eric Glass in Zoetic Stage’s production of “The Inheritance, Part 1.” (Photo by Morgan Sophia Photography, courtesy of the Adrienne Arsht Center)

Their lives intersect with an older couple Walter Poole (McKeever, who doubles as Forster) and the astute businessman Henry Wilcox (played with just the right amount of confidence by Tom Wahl). Poole describes their relationship as a “succession of dinners.” Eric befriends Walter while Toby is in Chicago preparing his book-turned-play for Broadway. Toby begins pursuing the younger Adam, played brilliantly by Aidan Paul, whose cast as the star of his play. Young Adam comes from a wealthy family and lives in his parents’ palatial New York apartment. Later in the play, Paul appears as Leo, a male escort, showing a very different side of life in New York. In both roles, Paul captures the contrast between privilege and vulnerability, making each character fully realized and multi-faceted.

In one of the play’s most gripping moments, McKeever, with the utmost care and emotion, delivers a long, revealing monologue as Walter – it is truly captivating. He lets out a deeply held story about a longstanding rift with Henry over the years he took in friends dying of AIDS and cared for them in their final hours in the couple’s upstate New York house. Meltzer stages the moment so that the rest of the cast is in low light, watching silently along with the audience as the story unfolds. Weisman as Eric is tuned in to every word, his quiet reactions carrying the weight of the stories he had only heard about but didn’t live through.

Michael McKeever as Walter Poole talks about his past while Eric Glass (Alex Weisman) listens. (Photo by Morgan Sophia Photography, courtesy of the Adrienne Arsht Center)

The strong ensemble in “The Inheritance” brings López’s intricate text to life with precision and energy, each fully engaged in both intimate and tense moments. Angel Dominguez and Imran Hylton are the Jasons, Sam Lantz is Young Man 5/Charles Wilcox, Randall Swinton is Tristan, Larry Toyter is Jasper/Paul Wilcox, Alberto Blanco is Young Man 3, and Caio Fereira Santos is Young Man 4.

The staging is sparse giving way to the characters and their dynamics. Michael McLain’s set is a single block with three levels, used dynamically to convey perspective and power, with a chandelier looming overhead throughout and acting as a visual anchor. Props—champagne bottles, jackets, cheese plates—are not simply sitting on the stage; actors enter from offstage carrying them, handing them to the character who needs them in the moment. This small, deliberate choreography keeps the action fluid, making each gesture feel purposeful.

Lighting designer Becky Montero enhances the storytelling with subtle cues: a rich blue wash evokes the energy of a club scene, while delicate shifts mark the change in geography to three hours north of New York. Dario Almiron’s costume design and Bailey Hacker’s sound design round out a production in which every element serves the narrative, deepening both character and environment.

Aidan Paul and the cast of Zoetic Stage’s “The Inheritance.” (Photo by Morgan Sophia Photography, courtesy of the Adrienne Arsht Center)

Everyone in the ensemble is barefoot except Forster, Walter, and Henry, a staging device that underscores the older characters’ grounded presence and authority, contrasting with the naivete of the younger men as the narrative unfolds.

The three-hour running time (with two 10-minute intermissions) moves briskly—a pace López insists on in his script. He writes that “The Inheritance, Part 1, is written for speed and has got to go faster than you think it should,” explaining that the play’s momentum is essential to how the story unfolds: “It’s how the machine works.” Meltzer heeds the playwright’s direction, and the cast sustains that energy, keeping scenes moving seamlessly from intimate exchanges to larger ensemble moments.

By the time “The Inheritance” reaches its conclusion, the question is no longer who deserves what, but what anyone truly owns. Houses can be gained and lost, stories can be retold, and love is fleeting. Zoetic Stage’s production leaves a lasting impression especially in today’s atmosphere — that true inheritance lies in preserving the struggles of those who came before and guarding their memories to ensure that the past doesn’t suffer erasure.

WHAT: Zoetic Stage’s “The Inheritance, Part 1”

WHERE: Carnival Studio Theater at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, 1300 Biscayne Blvd., Miami

WHEN: Performances 7:30 p.m., Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday, 2:30 p.m. Sunday. Through Sunday, Jan. 25.

COST: $72.54, $66.69 (includes fees). Ages 18+. Patrons under 18 will not be admitted.

INFORMATION: (305) 949-6722 or arshtcenter.org

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