[News/Theater] [GA, USA] Upcoming fest features trans, gay plays
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The GA Voice, GA, USA
Upcoming fest features trans, gay plays
by Jim Farmer
May 24, 2013 00:00
Luck of the draw determines the participants in the Atlanta Fringe
Festival. As fate would have it, two of the shows in the upcoming
event have LGBT themes.
The mission of the Fringe Festival is to provide a platform for indie,
underground playwrights doing edgy work. In all, the second annual
Atlanta Fringe festival, opening June 5, spotlights 24 shows, but the
offerings are not chosen in traditional manners.
Applicants are placed into a hat and drawn, says Diana Brown, the
company’s artistic director, although the company does reserve the
option of saving a few spots at the end to make sure the event is
balanced.
“We don’t want to have 20 solo shows or shows just about white
people,” she says.
---
MORE INFORMATION:
2nd Annual Atlanta Fringe Festival
June 5 – 9
www.atlantafringe.org <http://www.atlantafringe.org/>
On Stage
“Brer Rabbit & Friends”
Through May 26 at the Center for Puppetry Arts
www.puppet.org <http://www.puppet.org%20/>
Gay director Spencer G. Stephens helms a version of this popular family fare.
“Lark Eden”
Through May 26 at Aurora Theatre
www.auroratheatre.com <http://www.auroratheatre.com/>
Lesbian director Melissa Foulger directs this epistolary play about
the friendship between three Southern women.
“Seminar”
Through June 16 at Actor’s Express
www.actorsexpress.com <http://www.actorsexpress.com/>
Gay director Freddie Ashley helms this tale of four writers getting
more than they bargained for during a writing class lead by a
world-class author.
“The Book Club Play”
Through June 23 at Horizon Theatre
www.horizontheatre.com <http://www.horizontheatre.com/>
A closeted gay man is part of the ensemble in this comedy about six
friends/colleagues whose book club proceedings become part of a
documentary.
Upcoming
“The Boy and the Pink Bear”
June 20-23 at Southwest Arts Center
Search ‘The Boy and the Pink Bear” on
www.brownpapertickets.com <http://www.brownpapertickets.com/>
Ted Johnson’s play looks at the relationship between a father and his
young son, who devotion to his pet stuffed bear seems to imply his
sexual orientation.
---
But this season’s drawn/selected pieces were so diverse that no
intervention was needed.
“We have everything from comedy and drama to solo works, even a circus
piece,” Brown says.
While at GSU, Brown helped form Twinhead Theatre, a student-run group
that has some queer members. She and members of the troupe visited the
Minnesota Fringe Festival in 2006 and hoped to see one in the ATL
soon. As it turns out, in 2010 the Little 5 Points Business
Association shared plans to do some sort of festival in the spring, to
complement the popular Halloween event in the fall, and use area
theaters. Thus, last year’s Fringe Festival —which also featured queer
themes— was born.
One of this year’s LGBT productions is “It’s My Penis and I’ll Cry if
I Want To,” by Chicago playwright Jamie Black, who is coming to
Atlanta for the first time. Featuring four men and four women, “It’s
My Penis” features monologues from the performers about gender and
gender stereotypes.
“The show is about the difference between men and women,” Black says.
“Society doesn’t allow the integration of masculine and feminine
characteristics; this looks at how that affects our lives.”
This is Black’s second fringe festival appearance for the play,
following the New Orleans Fringe Festival earlier. The playwright
identifies as transgender and says he began his process back in 1994.
His first play dealt exclusively with his own coming out experience.
While gay themes are prominent in today’s theater, lesbian issues are
less so and trans issues are almost extinct.
“I am not sure why that is,” he says. “Maybe it’s more controversial.
It’s not talked about much.”
Yet Black feels the show’s themes are relevant for all audiences.
“We are all human beings,” he says. “Men are supposed to behave a
certain way and women are too, but we don’t. Not all gay men are
effeminate and not all lesbians are butch.”
On the Fringe Festival Tumblr site, organizers ask playwrights a list
of serious and silly questions, including what would happen if “Random
Atlanta Couple Who Doesn’t Ordinarily Go To These Sorts of Things”
happened to “wander into your show blind.”
“What happens to them? Are their minds blown? Are they freaked out?
Are they seduced by your gentle artistry?”
Black, who is also a comedian, turned the question into a chance for humor.
“Well, if they come in blind, they might trip over the carpet runner.
Then they’ll sit and listen to what I’m saying without any judgment
because they’ll have to use their other senses and be totally in tune
with me,” he wrote.
“And yes, their minds will be blown. And they will be touched in a
deep way and go home and seduce each other in a whole new way.”
Online ‘loverslane’
The second LGBT-themed production, “Loverslane,” deals with two
sisters and their quest to find love via online dating. The sisters
are young and have a gay brother who is 17, closeted and dealing with
his homophobic family. Eventually, he helps screw up his sister’s
dating process.
Hillary Heath of the Atlanta-based Doing Stuff Badly Productions
directs the world premiere of Weatherly Richardson’s play. She calls
the piece extremely timely.
“The generation upcoming is dedicated and dependent on technology;
everyone is always on their laptop or phone,” Heath says. “Online
dating is hard. It’s hard to be yourself and sometimes we put on a
front, but we should be tolerant of each other.”
The young characters are all Oglethorpe University graduates (as is
Heath) but the place’s locale is intentionally ambiguous.
“Casual bigotry can happen anywhere,” Heath says. “It is not unique to
one culture.”
And what would the “Random Atlanta Couple Who Doesn’t Ordinarily Go To
These Sorts of Things” think of “Loverslane”?
“The real magic of our show comes in Act Two when we ask all of the
blind members of the audience to stand and be given the gift of
sight,” Heath responded. “So I imagine, they will walk out of our show
with a new perspective on the world. Ideally, this RACWDOGTTST also
has a few million dollars to give away and awe-struck by our kind
hearts and healing powers throws us a donation of a million each.”
In addition to the theater — a total of 120 performances of 24 plays
over five days — the Atlanta Fringe Festival features opening and
closing night parties, plus other activities.
The GA Voice | LGBT News © 2013 All rights reserved.
http://www.thegavoice.com/aae/theater/6301-upcoming-fest-features-trans-gay-plays
Upcoming fest features trans, gay plays
by Jim Farmer
May 24, 2013 00:00
Luck of the draw determines the participants in the Atlanta Fringe
Festival. As fate would have it, two of the shows in the upcoming
event have LGBT themes.
The mission of the Fringe Festival is to provide a platform for indie,
underground playwrights doing edgy work. In all, the second annual
Atlanta Fringe festival, opening June 5, spotlights 24 shows, but the
offerings are not chosen in traditional manners.
Applicants are placed into a hat and drawn, says Diana Brown, the
company’s artistic director, although the company does reserve the
option of saving a few spots at the end to make sure the event is
balanced.
“We don’t want to have 20 solo shows or shows just about white
people,” she says.
---
MORE INFORMATION:
2nd Annual Atlanta Fringe Festival
June 5 – 9
www.atlantafringe.org <http://www.atlantafringe.org/>
On Stage
“Brer Rabbit & Friends”
Through May 26 at the Center for Puppetry Arts
www.puppet.org <http://www.puppet.org%20/>
Gay director Spencer G. Stephens helms a version of this popular family fare.
“Lark Eden”
Through May 26 at Aurora Theatre
www.auroratheatre.com <http://www.auroratheatre.com/>
Lesbian director Melissa Foulger directs this epistolary play about
the friendship between three Southern women.
“Seminar”
Through June 16 at Actor’s Express
www.actorsexpress.com <http://www.actorsexpress.com/>
Gay director Freddie Ashley helms this tale of four writers getting
more than they bargained for during a writing class lead by a
world-class author.
“The Book Club Play”
Through June 23 at Horizon Theatre
www.horizontheatre.com <http://www.horizontheatre.com/>
A closeted gay man is part of the ensemble in this comedy about six
friends/colleagues whose book club proceedings become part of a
documentary.
Upcoming
“The Boy and the Pink Bear”
June 20-23 at Southwest Arts Center
Search ‘The Boy and the Pink Bear” on
www.brownpapertickets.com <http://www.brownpapertickets.com/>
Ted Johnson’s play looks at the relationship between a father and his
young son, who devotion to his pet stuffed bear seems to imply his
sexual orientation.
---
But this season’s drawn/selected pieces were so diverse that no
intervention was needed.
“We have everything from comedy and drama to solo works, even a circus
piece,” Brown says.
While at GSU, Brown helped form Twinhead Theatre, a student-run group
that has some queer members. She and members of the troupe visited the
Minnesota Fringe Festival in 2006 and hoped to see one in the ATL
soon. As it turns out, in 2010 the Little 5 Points Business
Association shared plans to do some sort of festival in the spring, to
complement the popular Halloween event in the fall, and use area
theaters. Thus, last year’s Fringe Festival —which also featured queer
themes— was born.
One of this year’s LGBT productions is “It’s My Penis and I’ll Cry if
I Want To,” by Chicago playwright Jamie Black, who is coming to
Atlanta for the first time. Featuring four men and four women, “It’s
My Penis” features monologues from the performers about gender and
gender stereotypes.
“The show is about the difference between men and women,” Black says.
“Society doesn’t allow the integration of masculine and feminine
characteristics; this looks at how that affects our lives.”
This is Black’s second fringe festival appearance for the play,
following the New Orleans Fringe Festival earlier. The playwright
identifies as transgender and says he began his process back in 1994.
His first play dealt exclusively with his own coming out experience.
While gay themes are prominent in today’s theater, lesbian issues are
less so and trans issues are almost extinct.
“I am not sure why that is,” he says. “Maybe it’s more controversial.
It’s not talked about much.”
Yet Black feels the show’s themes are relevant for all audiences.
“We are all human beings,” he says. “Men are supposed to behave a
certain way and women are too, but we don’t. Not all gay men are
effeminate and not all lesbians are butch.”
On the Fringe Festival Tumblr site, organizers ask playwrights a list
of serious and silly questions, including what would happen if “Random
Atlanta Couple Who Doesn’t Ordinarily Go To These Sorts of Things”
happened to “wander into your show blind.”
“What happens to them? Are their minds blown? Are they freaked out?
Are they seduced by your gentle artistry?”
Black, who is also a comedian, turned the question into a chance for humor.
“Well, if they come in blind, they might trip over the carpet runner.
Then they’ll sit and listen to what I’m saying without any judgment
because they’ll have to use their other senses and be totally in tune
with me,” he wrote.
“And yes, their minds will be blown. And they will be touched in a
deep way and go home and seduce each other in a whole new way.”
Online ‘loverslane’
The second LGBT-themed production, “Loverslane,” deals with two
sisters and their quest to find love via online dating. The sisters
are young and have a gay brother who is 17, closeted and dealing with
his homophobic family. Eventually, he helps screw up his sister’s
dating process.
Hillary Heath of the Atlanta-based Doing Stuff Badly Productions
directs the world premiere of Weatherly Richardson’s play. She calls
the piece extremely timely.
“The generation upcoming is dedicated and dependent on technology;
everyone is always on their laptop or phone,” Heath says. “Online
dating is hard. It’s hard to be yourself and sometimes we put on a
front, but we should be tolerant of each other.”
The young characters are all Oglethorpe University graduates (as is
Heath) but the place’s locale is intentionally ambiguous.
“Casual bigotry can happen anywhere,” Heath says. “It is not unique to
one culture.”
And what would the “Random Atlanta Couple Who Doesn’t Ordinarily Go To
These Sorts of Things” think of “Loverslane”?
“The real magic of our show comes in Act Two when we ask all of the
blind members of the audience to stand and be given the gift of
sight,” Heath responded. “So I imagine, they will walk out of our show
with a new perspective on the world. Ideally, this RACWDOGTTST also
has a few million dollars to give away and awe-struck by our kind
hearts and healing powers throws us a donation of a million each.”
In addition to the theater — a total of 120 performances of 24 plays
over five days — the Atlanta Fringe Festival features opening and
closing night parties, plus other activities.
The GA Voice | LGBT News © 2013 All rights reserved.
http://www.thegavoice.com/aae/theater/6301-upcoming-fest-features-trans-gay-plays
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