A Gay Masseur's Guide to Happy Endings: Austin Jennings Boykin

“A Gay Masseur’s Guide to Happy Endings” is a candid solo show about sex, intimacy, and what happens when we stop performing.

By turns funny, explicit, terrifying, and unexpectedly tender, the show examines queer male sexuality not as spectacle or scandal, but as labor, language, and survival strategy.

As gay masseur AJ reflects on work, desire, and the stories we tell ourselves to feel less alone, the piece asks a simple question with complicated answers: if your sense of self is built around being wanted, what happens when the wanting stops?

The first public reading of “A Gay Masseur’s Guide…” was in 2025 at Bill Arning Exhibitions in Hudson Valley, NY. After that, it played to sold-out workshops at Red Room in Provincetown, MA, and Off-Off Broadway at the Chain Theatre.

In summer of 2026, “A Gay Masseur’s Guide to Happy Endings” will have its world premiere at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

Austin Jennings Boykin is a New York-based actor + writer + comedian + director. Television credits include FBI: Most Wanted (CBS), Fleishman Is in Trouble (FX), The Gilded Age (HBO), and Hunters (Amazon). A theatre kid at heart, he's performed on stages regionally and in New York at The Signature Theatre, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Shakespeare & Co, + Provincetown Theater to name a few. When he's not acting or writing, you can catch him doing stand-up comedy or debating whether or not to get a hair transplant.