Post-Show Discussion Activity

Use these questions to reflect, discuss, or journal about your experience and reactions to Out Here! Explore any of the questions that interest you.

If engaging in this activity independently, consider taking notes or writing your reflections down. If engaging in this activity with a class or group, decide if you would like to answer every question in order, skip around, or select certain questions to spend time on. 

Discussion Questions 

1. How does Out Here explore the notion of the American family within the context of an American musical? 
2. How does the set design interact and play with the characters and story? 
3. Out Here leans heavily into metatheatricality, with characters hyper-aware of the band, the audience, and the fact that they are singing their big emotions. What does their ability to comment on their circumstances add to the story? What does it add to our understanding of the characters?  
4. Dawn’s journey out of the closet is certainly not a straight line. It is a tentative, decades-long process for her. How does her path to self-acceptance reflect or shatter narratives about queerness today? 
5. Dawn attempts to reenter her marriage, but it is impossible. How does her desire for what is known and comfortable butt up against her desire to live authentically? How does this kind of internal conflict show up in your life? 
6. How does Dawn’s impressions of what makes a lesbian reveal her own discomfort with queerness? 
7. Two characters enter from the audience: Robin, Dawn’s ex, and Gina, who Brian dates. Why do these two characters emerge from the outside the house? What impact do they have on the family? 
8. Robin tells Dawn that she “skipped the hard,” including their friends’ funerals and marches during the AIDS crisis. Dawn suggests that pretending to be straight was hard, too. What are the implications of opting out of one struggle, when choosing to do so means another struggle is required? What about when the struggle one evades is something utterly devastating, like the AIDS crisis? 

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• This activity aligns with the following standards:
  • Illinois Arts Learning Standards 
    • Anchor Standard 7: Perceive and analyze artistic work.
    • Anchor Standard 8: Construct meaningful interpretations of artistic work.
    • Anchor Standard 11: Relate artistic ideas and works with societal, cultural, and historical context to deepen understanding.
  • Common Core State Standards 
    • CCSS.ELA.SL.1 Prepare for and participate effectively in a range of conversations and collaborations with diverse partners, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.
    • CCSS.ELA.RL.3  Analyze how and why individuals, events, and ideas develop and interact over the course of a text.

Posted on April 9, 2026 in Learning Guides, Productions