Fri. May 16, 2014
By Danny Bernardo
About Face Theatre commemorates Pride Month with THE PRIDE PERFORMANCE SERIES, a spectacular line-up of readings, performances and special events throughout June celebrating the LGBTQIA experience. The series kicks off with a reading of Jonathan Tolins' comedy Last Sunday in June, starring real life couple Michael Urie (of TV's Ugly Betty) and his partner Ryan Spahn. Urie is currently starring in Tolins' comedy Buyer & Cellar at Chicago's Broadway Playhouse.
(Related: ChicagoPride.com interview with Michael Urie)
Last Sunday in June by Jonathan Tolins; Directed by AFT Artistic Director Andrew Volkoff; Starring Michael Urie with Ryan Spahn and others
Monday, June 2 at 7:30 p.m.; The Greenhouse Theater Center, 2257 N. Lincoln Ave., Chicago - $20
Last Sunday In June is a fascinating look back at how much has changed in the LGBTQ landscape over the past ten years. It's the last Sunday in June 2003, the day of the annual Gay Pride Parade through New York's Greenwich Village. Tom and Michael, his partner of seven years, intend to spend the day planning their impending move from the Big Apple to the upstate town of Nyack, but their plans are rerouted as one friend after another drops by to view the parade from the window of their Christopher Street apartment. An afternoon originally designated for things domestic instead turns into a series of conversations about relationships, self-acceptance and the very meaning of what it is to be gay, eventually calling into question Tom and Michael's relationship itself.
Lesbians & Literature Hosted by AFT Artistic Associate Paul Oakley Stovall; Part of the PivotArts Festival
Tuesday, June 10 at 7 p.m.; Uncommon Ground, 1401 W. Devon Ave., Chicago - $10
Lesbians have had a lasting, but often unsung, impact on English literature. AFT Artistic Associate Paul Oakley Stovall hosts a panel discussion and performance exploring gay women in literature including Sappho, the couple behind James Joyce's Ulysses and more. The event features playwright Marilyn Campbell, AFT Artistic Associate Elizabeth Ledo, playwright and actress Pat Kane, and others.
Abraham Lincoln was a F*gg*t by Bixby Elliot; Directed by AFT Artistic Director Andrew Volkoff
Friday, June 13 and Saturday June 14 at 7:30 p.m.; Chicago Dramatists, 1105 W. Chicago Ave., Chicago - $10
Was our country's most beloved president gay? That's what 17-year-old Cal thinks and he's going to prove it to the world! Structured around an oral report that Cal presents at Ford's Theatre where Lincoln met his untimely end, Abraham Lincoln was a F*gg*t weaves together Cal's story and his quest to prove the secret (based in fact) sexual history of Gaybraham Lincoln. Along the way there is damning evidence, time travel, a road trip to the nation's capital, budding high-school romance, a crazy Mary Todd and sex in a stove-pipe hat. Watch and learn!
Methtacular! Written by and starring Steven Strafford; Directed by Adam Fitzgerald
Tuesday, June 17 at 7:30 p.m.; American Theater Company, 1909 W. Byron St., Chicago - $15
Methtacular! is Steven Strafford's hilarious and harrowing account of his three year run as a crystal meth addict in Chicago. As Steven weaves together stories, songs and Facts of Life references, audiences will laugh their way down into the depths of a drug addled, sex crazed life.
Tickets for THE PRIDE PERFORMANCE SERIES are available online. A Series Pass is available at a 20% discount ($44) for access to all four events.
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