David Mills photo: David Windmill

Written by David Mills
Directed by Jon Wai-keung Lowe
Accompanist David Buuck
Produced by The Visible Theater

London-based solo artist Mills mixes cutting social commentary, hilarious pop re-inventions, interpretive dance, and gospel ecstasy into an acid-tongued, hysterical rant. A cabaret meltdown with a distinctly queer sensibility.

Blending apocalyptic visions with self-help diatribes and blistering one-liners, “The Bigger Picture” is a sharp rebuke to our dazed submission to underwear plays, Glee, Sondheim, coming out stories, and gay marriage weepies. Mills takes aim at everything from Hollywood-to-same-sex marriage leaving nothing unscathed.

Cabaret for the near future. Comedy for dark times.

Cast includes: David Mills, David Buuck.

“His talent for whip-cracking one-liners is audaciously thrilling.” - Time Out London

“Dark, sadistic and wicked ... Mills’ delivery is spot on, dripping with insincerity, and his comic timing is perfect, each pause and grimace held perfectly to wring the laughter out of each nasty line.” - Gaydar Nation

January 1, 2011
Stage Werx, San Francisco, California

Ian Verdun, Gerald McCullouch, Dan Via photo: Ed Krieger

Written by Dan Via
Directed by Rick Sparks
Produced by Racquel Lehrman

Colin has always been the “golden boy,” a hometown celebrity with a knack for bedding the bi-curious hotties in his soccer league. Tee, a bright, intense man half Colin’s age, sweeps Colin off his feet. Stew, Colin’s long time friend, thinks Colin has lost his mind. Convinced the increasingly erratic younger man might be dangerous, Stew forces a confrontation that will forever change all their lives.

Daddy offers a provocative, humorous, and sometimes dark look at love, loyalty, and the consequences of our actions in a culture without marriage equality.

Cast includes: Gerald McCulloch, Dan Via, Ian Verdun.

“Via has written a play that maps the human heart. McCullouch is a revelation!” - Show Business Weekly

“Genuinely involving … absorbing … McCullouch is wholly convincing.” – Variety

“An emotional powder keg … Via and McCullouch bring well-honed rapport to Rick Sparks’ adept staging.” - LA Times

January 5, 2011
Hudson Mainstage, Los Angeles, California

Written by Kevin Del Principe, Michael J. Drury
Directed by Michael J. Drury
Produced by Michael J. Drury, Pandora Productions

An evening highlighting issues and concerns faced by GLBTQ Youth. Staged readings that were created via meetings, conversations, and writing workshops with participating youth members of the Louisville Youth Group, and students from the University of Louisville Office for LGBT Services. Cast includes: Jacob Isaac, Jennifer Thompson, Robbie Lewis, Kevin Doyle, Lauren Hack, Jill Sullivan.

January 6, 2011
Walden Theatre, Payne St., Louisville, Kentucky

Tarneé Kendell Hudson, Lanaya Burnette, Andrew Hamm, Scott Melton, Jason Campbell, Christy Mullins photo: John MacLellan

Written by Steve Cosson and Jim Lewis
Music and lyrics by Michael Friedman
Directed by John Knapp
Musical direction by Kim Fox
Produced by Richmond Triangle Players

As the theater group The Civilians conducted interviews with Colorado Springs residents who were involved with or affected by the growth of the mega-church movement, and the battle raging over same-sex marriage, the scandal broke about New Life Church pastor Ted Haggard. This event shook the entire city.

The play’s creators were provided with an unprecedented opportunity to capture an important event as it was taking place, and provided the people of Colorado Springs the opportunity to express their opinions and concerns. This Beautiful City is a fascinating and timely look at faith and how it affects the American landscape.

Cast includes: Tarneé Kendell Hudson, Lanaya Burnette, Christy Mullins, Scott Melton, Jason Campbell, Andrew Hamm.

“An engaging, inquisitive and moving work of theater.” - New York Times

January 12, 2011
Richmond Triangle Players Theatre, Richmond, Virginia

Harry Hart-Browne photo: Dan McCleary

Written and directed by Tony Abatemarco
Produced by Katselas Theatre Company

In Long Island during the 60s, an adolescent boy suffers when he tries to avoid suspicion about his sexual orientation by arranging for the bashing of another boy with whom he’d been involved.

Cast: Harry Hart-Browne

“Harry Hart-Browne ... has brought this show once again wonderfully alive. Abatemarco's play is riveting, engrossing ... Hart-Browne is heart-breaking ... makes the most of the storyline, bringing all of us into his sphere. Bravos for this work, from director to actor to playwright.” - StageHappenings.com

“Abatemarco can be seen at the peak of his craft in ‘Cologne, or the Ways Evil Enters the World,’ a daring, savagely incisive one-man play about a gay youth’s sexual coming of age in the 1960s.” - F. Kathleen Foley, LA Times

“Strikingly sensuous.” - New York Times

“An affirmation of individualism and tolerance.” - LA Weekly

Also, see our article: Touring Performers

Friday performances include an informal, post-performance chat.

January 14, 2011
Skylight Theatre, Los Angeles, California

Mina Badie, Craig T. Young, Johnny Giacalone photo: Claudia Unger

Written by Tom Wells
Directed by John Pleshette
Produced by Lynn Pleshette

Stitch, a young man from a tiny village in East Yorkshire, leaves behind the comforts of his job in his mum’s knitting shop, in search of bright city lights and the gay scene of Hull. Mark, his pregnant sister Liz’s partner, introduces him to Mad Dave, whereupon Stitch encounters complications, an overdose of kelp, and the fate of one lonely penguin hangs in the balance.

Cast includes: Mina Badie, Brendan Hunt, James Donovan, Craig T. Young, Johnny Giacalone.

January 14, 2011
Lost Studio, Los Angeles, California

Written by Gertrude Stein
Music by Stephen Flaherty
Lyrics adapted by Frank Galati
Directed by Caryn Desai
Produced International City Theatre

An exploration of Gertrude Stein’s capricious love affair with language, self-expression, and her lifelong companion, Alice B. Toklas. A perplexing, exhilarating, hilarious, and emotionally giddy musical as unique as Stein herself.

Cast includes: Cheryl David, Shannon Warne, Melissa Lyons Caldretti.

January 18, 2011
International City Theatre, Long Beach, California

Amanda Sitton, Wendy Maples photo: Ken Jacques

Written by Sarah Gubbins
Directed by James Vasquez
Produced by Diversionary Theatre

Sy, a clever lesbian lawyer, and Chris, a dim male colleague, both fall for the same woman, Madi, another attorney who’s assisting them on a high-profile plagiarism case. Madi rejects Sy’s advances, Chris makes a move, and before you know it, Sy’s writing the love letters that Madi thinks are coming from Chris.

Cast includes: Amanda Sitton, Jacque Wilke, Wendy Maples, Wyatt Ellison, Stephen Schmitz.

“The play savors the pleasures of language, sensuality and rich debate over such elusive concepts as intellectual property.” - Creative Loafing/Atlanta, Top 10 Plays of 2009

February 24, 2011
Diversionary Theatre, San Diego, California

Robert Gonzales, Jr. Gusta Johnson, Anna Podolak photo: TNC

Written by Barbara Kahn
Music and lyrics by Allison Tartalia
Directed by Barbara Kahn
Musical direction by Robert Gonzales, Jr.
Produced by Theater for the New City

In 1911, a lesbian couple, childhood friends from Eastern Europe in America five years, have dreams of a better life beyond their work in the Triangle Factory in Greenwich Village, New York. They help a recent immigrant adjust to her new and difficult life in America. The young Italian seaman, who helped her on the dock, jumps ship to find this woman he loved “at first sight.”

The lives of these four converge as they share their hopes, dreams and love. The tragic fire at the Triangle, steals from them their future as well as their past.

Cast includes: Zoe Anastassiou, Robert Gonzales, Jr., Gusta Johnson, Tommy Kearney, Benjamin Pike, Anna Podolak, Sarah Shankman, Noelle Tate, Brian F. Waite, Amanda Yachechak.

March 17, 2011
Theater for the New City, New York, New York

Nick Cearley photo: Steven Lawler

Book by Eric H. Weinberger
Music by Daniel S. Acquisto
Lyrics by Sammy Buck
Directed by Igor Goldin Produced by: Diversionary Theatre

Set to the rhythm of the disco era and beyond, this earnest yet uproarious musical breaks new ground with its tour-de-force cast of one. The musical follow the adventures of a perspiring actor-singer-songwriter-dancer-secretary as he searches for love and fame in the early 1980s.

Cast: Nick Cearley.

March 25, 2011
Diversionary Theatre, San Diego, California

Kevin Cisek, Trey Harrison, Ryan Bechard, Tommy Callen, Bill Brock, Thomas Cunningham, Steve Moore, Timothy Goad photo: John MacLellan

Written by Buddy Thomas and Kenneth Elliott
Directed by James Alexander Bond
Produced by Richmond Triangle Players

Flying saucers! Back stabbing bitches! Muscle hunks and men in pumps! A deliriously campy Sci-fi spoof that is naughty, gleeful fun, recalling not only the paranoid world of the 1950s, but the legendary drag romps of Charles Ludlam and Charles Busch. Wake up and smell the alien invasion.

This outrageous comedy was nominated for 2010 GLAAD award, and was a recent off-Broadway success.

Cast includes: Steve Moore, Tim Goad, Tommy Callan, Thomas Cunningham, Bill Brock.

March 30, 2011
Richmond Triangle Players Theatre, Richmond, Virginia

graphic: ?

Written by Lauren Gunderson
Directed by Anne Justine D’Zmura
Produced by South Coast Repertory

She stared at the heavens, and what she saw there changed the course of astronomy. But when Henrietta Leavitt arrives at the Harvard Observatory in the early 1900s, she isn’t allowed to touch a telescope, or even express an idea. Instead, she joins a group of women “computers,” charting the stars for an astronomer who calculates projects in “girl hours” and has no time for Henrietta’s probing theories. But as she measures the light of distant stars, she must also take the measure of her life on earth, answer questions of love, family and the hope of heaven.

Silent Sky mingles science and history with a dose of feminism and romantic love. It’s the story of Henrietta Leavitt, a Massachusetts pastor’s daughter who leaves her home and beloved sister for a job at Harvard University’s Observatory. There she maps the night sky through photographic plates and meets the head astronomer’s apprentice, who makes her re-think her vow never to marry. Silent is an homage to the beauty of the earth and the glory of the skies.

Cast includes: Erin Cottrell, Colette Kilroy, Monette Magrath, Nick Toren, Amelia White.

April 1, 2011
South Coast Repertory, Costa Mesa, California

Vince Kelley photo: Colleen Scribner

Written by Philip Ridley
Directed by Joe Plambeck
Produced by Who Wants Cake? Theatre

In a lawless, ravaged city, Elliot, his transvestite girlfriend, Lola, and Elliot’s brother Darren plan a party. The team survive by realizing their clients’ darkest fantasies. But as the light fades, and the event spirals out of control, it becomes clear the success of this party will guarantee, not just their safety, but their salvation.

“Mercury Fur” is funny, bleak, unsettling, and utterly unforgettable.

“Mercury Fur,” Philip Ridley’s fifth play, premiered in 2005 at London’s Menier Chocolate Factory. Many audience members thought the play so shocking that they walked out. Ridley’s publishers for decades, Faber and Faber, refused to publish the text. It set critics at odds with one another, with some calling it “Degraded” while others called it “A play you need to see.”

Cast includes: Jon Ager, Nico Ager, Patrick O’Connor Cronin, Alex D. Hill, Vince Kelley, David Legato, Cassandra McCarthy, Scott Wilding.

April 2, 2011
The Ringwald Theatre, Ferndale, Michigan

Jacob Cribbs, Justin Liszanckie photo: Anna Kaminska

Written by Sarah Ruhl
Directed by Jon Wai-keung Lowe
Produced by Actors Ensemble of Berkeley

Three amateur acting troupes — across four centuries — struggle to reconcile their personal lives with their onstage roles as they present the Passion of Christ.

The first troupe, under the shadow of Queen Elizabeth’s war on the Catholic Church, deals with the unexpected pregnancy of the actress playing the Virgin Mary.

For the second troupe, a woodcarver’s son must choose between his growing love for a foot soldier of the Third Reich and fulfilling his father’s legacy in the titular role of the Passion.

In the third troupe, a Vietnam war veteran and native of South Dakota comes to a new understanding of responsibility and penance in his role as Pontius Pilate.

Two-time Pulitzer finalist Sarah Ruhl dazzles with satirical slapstick and Kushnerian outrage.

Cast includes: Scott Ayres, Jacob Cribbs, Justin Liszanckie, Meryn MacDougall, Norman Macleod, Gene Mocsy, Eric Reid, Elena Ruggiero, Addie Ulrey, Lisa Wang.

April 22, 2011
Live Oak Theater, Berkeley, California

Peri Gilpin (May 9 cast member) photo: Chuck Green

Writters: Jordan Harrison, Jeffrey Hatcher, Moisés Kaufman, Joe Keenan, Neil LaBute, Wendy McLeod, José Rivera, Paul Rudnick, Doug Wright
Conceived and directed by Brian Schnipper
Produced by Joan Stein, Stuart Ross

The Plays:

• The Revision by Jordan Harrison
  An amusing look at how two men might rewrite their vows to more accurately reflect the limited options available to a same-sex couple.
• White Marriage by Jeffery Hatcher
  A wife and husband discuss his “gay” sense of humor.
• London Mosquitoes by Moisés Kaufmann
  A widower tries to make sense of the loss of his long-time lover.
• This Marriage is Saved by Joe Keenan
  A satiric vignette in which a disgraced evangelist and his wife insist that his fling with a male prostitute has strengthened their marriage.
• Strange Fruit by Neil LaBute
  The story of two men in love whose plans to get married “the old-fashioned way” are stymied when reality rears its ugly head.
• This Flight Tonight by Wendy MacLeod
  Is there any hope for happiness when a lesbian marriage begins in Iowa?
• Pablo and Andrew at the Altar of Words by José Rivera
  Two men use their marriage vows to “say the things we never really say.”
• The Gay Agenda by Paul Rudnick
  A sadly hilarious plea for understanding by an Ohio homemaker and member of Focus on the Family.
• On Facebook by Doug Wright
  Adapted from a real Facebook thread that chronicles one long fight among friends on the issue of same-sex marriage.

Cast for April 25, includes: Rachael Harris, Harriet Harris, John Getz, Peter Paige, Cynthia Stevenson.

Cast for May 9, includes: Peri Gilpin, Julie Hagerty, Rachael Harris, John Rubinstein, Jon Tenney.

The audience is invited to a “wedding reception” following every performance.

A portion of all proceeds goes to support the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center’s Vote for Equality program.

“A most memorable evening enyoying a set of original plays performed by extrordinarily gifted actors.” - Carl Reiner

“When Diane and I saw SOC, we laughed and we cried and we cheered and gave it a standing ovation, as did the rest of the packed house. No one will be able to walk away from this play, and not support marriage equality between same-sex couples.” - Robin Tyler and Diane Olson, (original plaintiffs, California same-sex marriage suit)

April 25, 2011
L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center - Renberg Theatre, Los Angeles, California

Beth Robbins, Susan Sommer, Jane Hajduk photo: Lindsey Arnold

Written and directed by Laura Black
Produced by Playwrights 6 and Open Fist

Peggy, an ambitious woman, is involved in a near-fatal car accident. She attempts to piece together what actually occurred, and cope with the life-changing aftermath. She is assisted by Agnes and Estelle, her best friends, who are a lesbian couple.

See Agnes and Estelle (played by Susan Sommer and Beth Robbins) describe their likes and otherwise:
       YouTube

Part tragedy, comedy, and jarring dream, Drive examines — in a surreal, jarring fashion — the themes of deconstruction and reconstruction, denial and guilt, and, ultimately, forgiveness.

Cast includes: Jane Hajduk, Beth Robbins, Susan Sommer, Barry Saltzman, AlgeRita Wynn, Allison Mattox, Coronado Romero, Joseph Beck.

May 4, 2011
Open Fist Theatre, Los Angeles, California

Robert Borzych, Shaun Tuazon photo: Ken Jacques

Written by William di Canzio
Directed by Cynthia Stokes
Original score by Blair Robert Nelson
Produced by: Diversionary Theatre

In 1954, Doctor Tom Dooley, a young gay charismatic Navy officer, finds his life’s work in the stark reality of the Cold War and the refugee camps of South East Asia. Based on historic fact, this play tells the remarkable story of humanitarian Tom Dooley, whose career was derailed by the threat of exposing his sexuality long before “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell.” With rich theatrical magic this cross-cultural epic transports us to a world as complex and contradictory as the man himself; torn between fear and idealism, selfishness and self-denial, hypocrisy and valor, crassness and mysticism.

CAST: Robert Borzych, Noah Longton, Jesse MacKinnon, Terril Miller, Charlie Riendeau, Allison Riley, Shaun Tuazon, Reed Willard.

Financial support from The James Irvine Foundation and Carlos Malamud.

May 5, 2011
Diversionary Theatre, San Diego, California

Chris Hester, Lanaya Burnette, Georgia Rogers Farmer, Daniel Cimo photo: John MacLellan

Book by Hunter Bell
Music and lyrics by Jeff Bowen
Directed by Justin Amellio
Music direction by Timothy Brewster
Produced by: Richmond Triangle Players

Jeff and Hunter, two struggling, gay writers, hear about a new musical theatre festival. However, the deadline for submissions is a mere three weeks away. With nothing to lose, the pair decides to try to create something new with the help of their actress friends Susan and Heidi, and Larry, a musician. Jeff suggests they write about what to write about. They make a pact to write up until the festival deadline and dream about the show changing their lives. In the span of 90 minutes they write and perform their show at the festival and learn lessons about themselves as people, friends and artists. [title of show] is, above all, a love letter to the musical theatre — a uniquely American art form — and to the joy of collaboration.

Cast includes: Lanaya Burnette, Daniel Cimo, Georgia Rogers Farmer, Chris Hester.

May 11, 2011
Richmond Triangle Players Theatre, Richmond, Virginia

Anna Khaja photo: Carla Barnett; wall graphics: Olivia Weissblum

Written by Wendy Graf
Directed by Anita Khanzadian
Produced by Hatikvah Productions

Forced to choose between her identity, her family, and her precious faith, there’s no word to describe Hanna Jokhoe in her native Guyanese dialect. A lesbian Muslim immigrant, Hanna must reconcile her faith with her sexuality.

The play explores Hanna’s childhood in the small Caribbean nation of Guyana on the north coast of South America, and with her émigré family in Queens, New York. Experiencing her sexual awakening and a disastrous arranged marriage, Hanna is tested by faith and family.

Cast includes: Anna Khaja.

May 12, 2011
Sidewalk Studio Theatre, Burbank, California

Book, music and lyrics by Tim Acito
Additional book and lyrics by Alexander Dinelaris
Directed and produced by Michael J. Drury

At Heartsville High, boys fall in love with boys, girls with girls, and heterosexual affairs are disgusting. It’s a new school year and matchmaker Zanna and his magic wand are matching up couples to make sure that no one suffers from extra love, but things go tragically wrong when the school’s two closeted heterosexuals realize their feelings for each other. Knowing that their forbidden love will make them outcasts, they turn to Zanna for help, and Zanna is forced to put his own happiness on the line to make the world safe for those he loves.

Cast includes: Robbie Lewis, Lauren McCombs, Lamont O'Neal, Jill Sullivan, Zachary Burrell, Ben Gierhart, Sara Renauer, Patrick Brophy, Laura Ellis, Kate Holland, Gerry Robertson, J.C. Nixon.

May 19, 2011
Bingham Theatre @ Actors Theatre Louisville, Louisville, Kentucky

Colin O’Leary photo: Jeffrey Kagan-McCann

Written, directed, produced by Jeffrey Kagan-McCann

Eric Callahan, a young, ambitious, uptight, Jewish-Catholic, gay lawyer from New Haven, Connecticut, just broke up with his partner, Connor, after being together three years. Eric takes a self-evaluation vacation in Cape Cod where he meets an irreverent, young, house painter and artist, Jason Davis, who changes his life, and helps to open his heart and love again.

Now together for almost year, Jason asks Eric to marry him. Reluctantly, Eric agrees, and the two men are barraged with conflicting advice from family, friends and the ex-boyfriend. As the date grows closer, Eric feels overwhelmed by doubts about the wedding and his commitment, which endanger his and Jason’s relationship.

Cast includes: Colin O’Leary, Sean Senior, Denis Fontaine, Coleen Roy, Andrea Carr, Erin Curren, Michael Lynch, Jackie Oliveri.

The Blue Moon Chronicles is a humorous look at gay life, consisting of Kagan-McCann’s “Once In A Blue Moon,” which was first workshopped in Hartford, Connecticut, and the farcical companion piece, “My Gay Son’s Wedding,” which premiered in Seattle.

June 9, 2011
Lucid Stage, Portland, Maine

Written by Teresa Willis, Lindsay Halladay, Ingrid Graham, Gertrude Stein
Directed by and performed by Laura James, Ingrid Graham, Lindsay Halladay, Teresa Willis
Produced by the Los Angeles Women’s Theatre Festival

Matinee of four short pieces for Pride Month which depict lesbian and bisexual women.
In honor of the 25th Anniversary of West Hollywood.

“WASP” Lindsay Halladay Written and performed by Lindsay Halladay (AKA “The Lindz”) This poet contributes relationship-related, socially conscious, goofy, insightful, sardonic, and riotous performance poety.	“Ms. Furr and Ms. Skeene” Laura James Written by Gertrude Stein, performed by Laura James Stein’s portrait of two women, written about 1910, featured the sly repetition of the word GAY, used with sexual intent for one of the first times in linguistic history.
“Artemis” Ingrid Graham Choreographed and performed by Ingrid Graham This dance piece is named after the Greek goddess.	“Eenie Meenie” Teresa Willis Written and performed by Teresa Willis A young woman recounts her introduction to race differences that include the first time she meets an African America, while she invites the audience to look at their own experiences with racism.

Festival Mission: The Los Angeles Women’s Theatre Festival was organized to provide a vehicle for the development of women artists utilizing theatre to educate, enlighten and empower solo artists, audiences and volunteers. We celebrate and reflect the diversity of women’s voices while focusing on the oneness of women’s experiences.

June 25, 2011
Kings Road Park, 1000 N. Kings Road, West Hollywood, California

Micah McCain, Amanda Kaschak, Will Beinbrink photo: Michael Lamont

Written by David L. Ray
Directed by Nick DeGruccio
Produced by: Jason Loh

Kenneth and Troy, a committed gay couple in Los Angeles, receive an unexpected visit from Kenneth’s estranged, culturally-conservative sister, Darlene, and her daughter Krystal, a few days before their marriage day.

Caught is a contemporary play which examines the contentious debate about same-sex marriage through the life of one American family.

Cast includes: Will Beinbrink, Jason Dechert, Richard Jenik, Amanda Kaschak, Micah McCain, Deborah Puette.

“GO! … a scintillating domestic comedy” - LA Weekly

“This is the word-of-mouth show to see. It will feed your mind, make you laugh and break your heart all at once” - Frontiers Magazine

“Superb … an emotional roller-coaster” - The Advocate

“Gets its comic spark from the familiar spectacle of a culture clash. Directed with polish!” - The Los Angeles Times

July 8, 2011
Zephyr Theatre, Los Angeles, California

image: Scott Williams

Written by Lawson Caldwell
Directed by Lenny Leibowitz
Produced by: Richard Manichello and Lawson Caldwell

Daphane March has just married up-and-coming businessman Thomas Darrow when she learns her first husband, Harrison Anderson, has been found alive on a deserted island where he and his butler, Gerald, have been marooned for five years. During that time, Harrison and Gerald have fallen in love. Harrison is pressured to return to his wife, who never bothered to divorce him, and Gerald to resume his servant position.

Daphane’s best friend, Gwendolyn Langsford, was involved with both Harrison and Thomas before they married Daphane, and seems to know more about Harrison’s sudden reappearance than she cares to tell. Can “the love that dare not speak its name” survive in a world where rules and convention are all that matter?

Cast includes: Colleen Kennedy*, Katie Yamulla*, Markus Potter*, Marc Geller*, Rachel Claire*, Colin Pritchard*, Alison Phillips, Patrick James Lynch. (*Actors Equity)

July 27, 2011
MainStage Theater, New York, New York
Information: lawsoncald@gmail.com