Greetings from Pride Films and Plays!
If you want to shape the future of great LGBT films, please join us this weekend for the Great Gay Screenplay Finale weekend at the Hoover-Leppen Theater at Center on Halsted.
In addition to hearing five new screenplays read by our great team of actors, you can meet the screenwriters and participate in talkbacks about what you have seen. It is an interesting process as you build from the words of the screenwriters and fill in all that the director will later fill in when filiming.
The screenplays are a diverse lot starting with a great comedy about a struggling theater company on Friday. Saturday's double bill includes a great new comedy about life in LA and a new cop drama. On Sunday we have our first screenplay about an intersex teen, and our first sci-fi epic. I know you will enjoy all of them! Thanks for your interest in Pride Films and Plays. I look forward to seeing you at an event soon! David Zak Executive Director |
This is your last chance to sign up for New Scene Study Classes Using Great LGBT literature starting 10/23
This class is for working actors of all ages and types, regardless of their sexual orientation, who are interested in exploring great scenes from both classic and new LGBT theater. Work for honesty and authenticity through great scenes from The Children's Hour, Boys in the Band, Angels in America and great contemporary scripts. The cost is $300 for an 8-week session, meeting once a week on Sundays, from 10:30am to 1pm, starting Sunday, October 23rd and running through Sunday December 18th (no class on Sunday, November 27 due to the long Thanksgiving weekend). The class will culminate in a showcase on Thursday, December 22nd from 7-9pm in the Hoover-Leppen Theatre at Center on Halsted. The class will have a maximum of 12 students and is taught by Pride Films and Plays Executive Director David Zak. Click here to sign up. A $150 deposit is required to hold your spot in the class; the remaining amount is due on the first day of class. FOR MORE INFORMATION For additional information contact Maura Ross at mross@centeronhalsted.org or 773. 472.6469, ext. 452. |
Final Days to Enter the Great Gay Play and Musical Contest
Entries will be accepted in the Great Gay Play and Musical Contest through October 31. Please spread the word to interested writers. Prizes include $400 cash and a staged reading of the work in 2012 in Chicago. Information and application can be found here.
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| Save The Date!
Monday,
November 14
at Hoover-Leppen Theater of Center on Halsted will be
Simply Sensational!
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 * Denotes Pride Films & Plays artistic associate or ensemble member |
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Easy On The Eyes
by Kevin Michael West, Los Angeles, CA
directed by Andrew Souders*
Ethan (a neurotic playwright) and Jake (a hunky actor) are best friends who decide to become friends with benefits. Unfortunately, the arrangement triggers a lot of emotional consequences that neither one counted on. It's a "When Harry Met Sally..." for gay men.
Easy on the Eyes features Victoria Abram-Copenhaver, Tommy Aldis, Danny Bernardo, David Besky, Sean-Edward Hall*, Jessica Hoard, Andy Monson, Kyle Niemer, Dan Olson, Keith Stoneking, and Lee Wichman*.
Easy on the Eyes, Friday, October 21, 7:30 pm.
Tickets for this event are available here.
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Welcome to LA
by Howard Casner, Los Angeles, CA
directed by Derek Bertelsen
In this black comedy, Adam's first few days in Los Angeles are greeted by a continual discovery of dead bodies in his building; an amorous police officer who wants to have sex with him, then wants Adam to read his screenplay; and a mentor whose main advice is not to masturbate more than once a day.
Welcome to LA features Samuel Drew Brown, Ethan Dubin, Julie Johnson, Shane Kalminiski, Michelle McKenzie-Voigt*, Jack Sweeney, and John Wilson.
Welcome to LA, Saturday, October 22, 4:30 pm. Tickets for this event are available here.
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Wandering the Elysian Fields
by Richmond Weems, Clayton, NC
directed by Brian Rooney*
A hard-boiled, gay private detective must reflect on his own relationships and his misanthropic behavior as he tries to solve a murder case that no one wants solved.
Wandering the Elysian Fields features Steve Anderson, Chris Baker, Chad Bay, Michael Baylon, Steve Cosgrove, Jay Disney, Nicholas Harper, Joan McGrath*, Nelson Rodrigues, Tony Rossi, Jamie Smith, and Christine Vrem-Ydstie.
Wandering the Elysian Fields, Saturday, October 22, 7:30 pm. Tickets for this event are available here.
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The Way Shim Likes It
by James Palmer, Los Angeles, CA
directed by Rebecca Kling
When Jamie's private tutor dies unexpectedly, this intersex teenager defies father's wishes and enrolls in public school to achieve popularity "like the kids on TV." The Way Shim Likes It follows Jamie as she/him/shim poses alternatively as a boy and girl, fools the whole school, and breaks a few hearts.
The Way Shim Likes It features Anna Rose Epstine, Kaitlin Gilgenbach, Marc James, Juliane Johnson, Jennifer Kaesheimer, Annie Ratteree, Mark Smaglinski*, and Duncan Shuckerow.
The Way Shim Likes It, Sunday, October 23, 1:30pm Tickets for this event are available here.
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Bre'gan's Fist
by Tom Emerick, Chicago, IL
directed by David Zak*
Bre'gan's Fist is the story of two people, one a human, the other a Mage, who have both suffered personal loss. As they comfort each other, a crisis emerges that threatens the entire Earth itself. Can they repair the damage done to their shattered lives and save the planet in the process?
Bre'gan's Fist features Chad Bay, Tom Chiola*, Sean-Edward Hall*, Kristin Hairston, Joan McGrath*, Cyra K. Polizzi*, Beth Richards, Tony Rossi, Mark Smaglinski*, and Nicholas Stockwell.
Bre'gan's Fist, Sunday, October 23, 4:30 pm.
Tickets for this event are available here.
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Meet Our Newest Ensemble Member Kelli Walker
 Kelli Walker recently returned to her hometown of Chicago after adventures in Indianapolis and Washington State. A loyal Butler University alumna, Kelli has appeared in The Women and A Perfect Wedding (Circle Theatre), Frozen and
Love Song (Buffalo Theatre Ensemble), The Tempest (BoHo Theatre), Black Comedy (Piccolo Theatre), Stuff Happens, Miss Witherspoon, Callie's Tally, Boston Marriage, Proof, and The Vagina Monologues (Phoenix Theatre, Indianapolis), Touch (Phoenix transfer to Victory Gardens Theatre).
You may recognize Kelli from her appearances in The Basement and Raising Ricci in PFP's Women's Work Weekend.
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About
PRIDE FILMS AND PLAYS
Pride Films and Plays, based in Chicago, links an international network of writers with professionals working in film and theater.
PFP fosters excellent writing for the stage and screen that speaks not only to the LGBT community, but is essential viewing for our friends, family, and co-workers. Using stories with gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender characters or themes, Pride Films and Plays develops human stories that become a cultural bridge to understanding.
Through readings, contests, classes, screenings and full theater productions, PFP engages artists and audiences in the full developmental process needed to make great artistic experiences.
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PRIDE FILMS AND PLAYS
3023 N Clark 327,
Chicago, IL 60657
www.pridefilmsandplays.com
David Zak
Executive Director
John Nasca, Andrew Souders
Artistic Associates
Allison Fradkin
Literary Coordinator,
Women's Work
Artistic Ensemble
Derek Van Barham, Charles A. Berglund, Tom Chiola,
Patrick Gannon, Brian Grey, Sean-Edward Hall,
Jude Hansen, Valerie Heckman, John Highberger, Kris Hyland, Kelley Keough, Michael Lasswell, Joan McGrath,
Michelle McKenzie-Voigt, Tiffany Nasca, Cyra K. Polizzi,
Brian Rooney, Chad Ryan, Patrick Rybarczyk,
Mark Smaglinski, Jake Szczepaniak, Kelli Walker,
Kevin Webb, Honey West, Lee Wichman
Pride Films and Plays is a member of the
League of Chicago Theaters,
Central Lakeview Merchants Association and the
Chicago Area Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce |
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