In celebration of Pride, 半岛体育 and Pride Plays will present four live streamed readings of plays by and about the LGBTQIA+ community at 7 PM every Friday in June in support of .
Produced by Doug Nevin and Michael Urie with festival direction by Nick Mayo, Pride Plays is also presented in partnership with Rattlestick Playwrights Theater.
Pride Plays will stream readings directly on 半岛体育.com beginning June 5 with Brave Smiles...Another Lesbian Tragedy by The Five Lesbian Brothers (Maureen Angelos, Babs Davy, Dominique Dibbell, Peg Healey, and Lisa Kron) directed by Leigh Silverman. Presented at last year鈥檚 festival, the joyous and raucus Brave Smiles is considered one of The Brothers鈥� most essential works.
On June 12, we present Donja R. Love鈥檚 one in two, 鈥渁 portrait of what it means to be black and queer in America today. The play was rapturously received at the New Group earlier this season and we are honored to bring this work to our audiences in June,鈥� says Mayo.
June 19 will see Masculinity Max by MJ Kaufman take the 鈥渟tage.鈥� Directed by Will Davis, the play stands as a mesmerizing and life-affirming new work from a powerful playwright. Kaufman鈥檚 Eat and You Belong With Us played the 2019 festival 鈥渁nd audiences were wowed by the wit and heart of their writing,鈥� says Nevin. 鈥淢J Kaufman is one of the most exciting playwrights working today.鈥�
The final play honors groundbreaking playwright Mart Crowley, who passed away in March of this year, after winning a Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play for his The Boys in the Band. Pride Plays is honored to present his Men From the Boys June 26. Produced with Aaron Glick, the drama will be directed by Zachary Quinto, who played Harold in the Tony-winning revival. 鈥淲ith The Boys in the Band, the late, great Mart Crowley wrote the original Pride Play. Those boys changed the lives of so many and we always wondered what happened to them as they became men,鈥� says Urie. "Men From the Boys is the answer to that question as we revisit those characters here."
Casting for each of the four plays has not yet been announced. Each presentation will be hosted by a pillar of the community, who will introduce the play and share their own stories before the curtain rises.
The festival will cap off with 半岛体育鈥檚 Pride Spectacular, a musical celebration of Pride, hosted by Urie on June 28.
In addition to the four readings and a concert, throughout the entire month of June, Pride Plays will continue to develop new works through virtual readings鈥攖hough not presented to the public. 鈥淭he goal since we first got together to produce Pride Plays last year was to expand representation of the entire LGBTQIA+ community in the theatre,鈥� says Mayo. 鈥淭hat means creating more opportunities for emerging writers, as well as directors and performers.鈥�
鈥淲e want to offer emerging writers the opportunity to work with top-flight directors to fine-tune new stories about the LGBTQIA+ experience,鈥� Nevin explains. 鈥淲hile we are sorry that we can鈥檛 all get in the same room, Zoom is a wonderful means of community-gathering. We look forward to the ideas and sparks of humanity that we know will emerge in the coming weeks.鈥�
While 鈥渢he four 鈥楳ainStage鈥� plays represent writers who helped lay the groundwork for queer theatre and writers who鈥檒l be leaders of the next generation,鈥� as Urie says, the Festival as a whole is committed to the continued nurturing of more stories by a breadth of artists in the community. 鈥淲hen it comes LGBTQIA+ theatremakers, we have an embarrassment of riches, and with Pride Plays 2020 we are once again scratching the surface. The 11 plays that make up the festival of developing works come from playwrights from all across the rainbow, no two plays or playwrights alike.鈥�
The following plays will be part of the full Pride Plays Festival 2020 June 1鈥�30:
Everything Beautiful Happens at Night
By: Ted Malawer
Directed By: David Cromer
Just Press Save
By: Rodney Hicks
Directed By: Michael Greif
Good Time Charlie
By: Ryan J. Haddad
Directed By: Danny Sharron
Crooked Parts
By: Azure D. Osborne-Lee
Directed By: Kirya Traber
Roof
By: Omar Hantash
Directed By: Kareem Fahmy
Are You There Truman?
By: Garrett David Kim
Directed By: Gaven Trinidad
Marked Green At Birth, Marked Female at Birth
By: Sophie Sagan-Gutherz
Directed By: Caitlin Ryan O'Connell
You Have to Promise
By: Audrey Lang
Directed By: Jenna Worsham
Modern Gentleman
By: Preston Max Allen
Directed By: Blayze Teicher
Will You...Hold My Hair Back
By: Carmen LoBue
For Leonora, or, Companions
By: Hayley St. James
