The Rain May Pass: A Memoir

In 1940, the threat of World War II was just beginning to tighten its grip on the world and had already altered the lives of every American citizen. During this tumultuous time, it was easy for an adolescent to feel adrift on an ocean of confusing emotions. Growing up in a Jewish family living on the east coast, Alan felt misunderstood by his parents, ignored by his older brother, and overwhelmed by his evolving sexuality and his complete lack of knowledge of how to handle it.

In the summer of 1941, Alan worked at his grandmother's cluttered gift shop in Cape Cod. At the end of the summer, he meets an older man named Roger at the beach. They start to talk, and Roger discusses literature and plays with Alan, treating him like a grownup. Roger becomes the friend and lover Alan had always wanted, and Alan shares with him the dreams of being an actor, going to New York, and then living there...maybe with Roger. Alan returns home and auditions for regional theater, all the while writing Roger letters that go unanswered.

After giving up hope, Alan is informed that two servicemen showed up at a local play and came backstage asking for him. They seemed drunk and one of them kept saying how talented Alan was. Once informed that he was no longer in the cast, the belligerent man refused Alan's phone number and left. Was that Roger? Is he still alive? Will Alan see him again?

THE RAIN MAY PASS is a coming-of-age memoir from Alan Shayne-actor, casting director, producer, and former President of Warner Bros Television. Set in New England in the 1940s, a teenage boy falls in love with a man twice his age and soon learns more about himself than he ever imagined possible.