Closet Monster

In St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, Oscar Madly has just graduated from high school. He has solely applied for a special makeup effects program in New York City for the fall, and is planning on sharing an apartment with his friend, Gemma, an aspiring actress who allows Oscar to be his makeup canvass. Gemma secretly, or not so secretly, likes Oscar as boyfriend material, despite knowing that he is probably gay, something he hasn't admitted to anyone, let alone himself. Many things have shaped not only Oscar's life, but most specifically his sexual life, top of the list being his parents' split ten years ago, his mother, Brin, who left with Oscar being collateral damage, being primarily raised by his adolescently-minded father Peter, that adolescent mindset most specifically in how he deals with Brin, Peter being homophobic himself, and Oscar, without telling anyone, having witnessed a severe gay bashing when he was nine. Within this situation, Oscar has only one true confidante in his life, his pet hamster Buffy who was a gift from his parents to lessen the blow when they split. Oscar may be able to admit to himself that he is gay when he is immediately attracted to Wilder, a colleague at the big box hardware store Oscar is working at for the summer, but he may not be able to act upon his feelings either for Wilder or any other male in his internalized homophobia stemming primarily from the specifics of that gay bashing. The question then becomes how Oscar will emerge into adulthood with this baggage he is carrying, much which only Buffy knows.