“Pride Plays,” a Showcase of Diversity on Stage
Playwrights have always been the most public storytellers of society, reflecting the issues of the times in which they lived for all to see. As our Community gathers to celebrate Stonewall50, more than a dozen plays and musicals reflecting our diverse voices, stories, and struggles have been curated into Pride Plays — a festival of play readings commemorating the 50th Anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising, June 20 – 24, 2019 at Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, New York City.
The festival is produced by Doug Nevin and Michael Urie, in partnership with Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, and Festival Director, Nick Mayo. From the NYTimes,
“For so long queer stories were about how if you come out, something bad happens to you. Or if you’re gay, you’ll be beaten or institutionalized or you’ll end up killing yourself,” Mr. Urie said. “While that is all absolutely a part of the history, we want to look forward to the hopeful times ahead of us, where queer characters will be embraced and celebrated for who they are.”

Set against the backdrop of World Pride, Pride Plays hopes to reflect the queer experience the community has braved in the years since its heroes took their stand. Capturing the prideful spirit of the LGBTQIA community and celebrating 50 years of theatrical voices are a vibrantly diverse line-up of playwrights and extraordinary roster of talented and award-winning performers for each reading.
Pride Play Schedule
THURSDAY, JUNE 20
12:00 pm
Room Enough (For Us All)
By: Daaimah Mubashshir
Cast: Chinai J Hardy, Anton Floyd, Melissa Mickens, Gabrielle Beans, and Xandra Clark
4:00 pm
The Baltimore Waltz
By Paula Vogel
Cast: Nick Westrate, Christopher J Hanke, and Marissa Neitling
8:00 pm
Our Town
By: Thornton Wilder
Cast: JP Moraga, Izzy Castaldi, Marquise Vilson, Joslyn DeFreece, JorJa Brown, Pooya Mohseni, Cece Suazo, Nicholas Gorham, Sophie Sagan-Gutherz, Sydney Mae Diaz, Eve C. Lindley, Jax Jackson, Summer Minerva, Michael David Baldwin, Em Grosland, and Parker Gard
FRIDAY, JUNE 21
12:00 pm
As Is
By: William Hoffman
Cast: Mario Cantone, Jerry Dixon, Kelly McAndrew, Hennessy, Kate Rigg, Lou Liberatore, Allan K Washington, and Arturo Soria
4:00 pm
Le Switch
By: Philip Dawkins
Cast: Michael Urie, Ray Santiago, John Glover, Michael Rosen, and Ashlie Atkinson
8:00 pm
Blueprints to Freedom: An Ode to Bayard Ruston
By: Michael Benjamin Washington
Cast: Michael Benjamin Washington, Dawn Clements, Brian McManamon, Ro Boddie, and Ron Canada
SATURDAY, JUNE 22 (In Upstairs Rattlestick Theater)
10:00 am
Mariquitas
By: Eduardo Machado
Director: Dominic Colon
Cast: Robert Jimenez, Matthew Montelongo, Nilaja Sun, Tony Plana, Liam Torres, EJ Bonilla, Sean Carvajal, Emma Ramos, and Sebastian Chacon
2:00 pm
On this Morning
By: Caroline Prugh
Cast: Dale Soules, Paige Gilbert, and Penny Fuller
7:30 pm
Last Summer at Bluefish Cove
By: Jane Chambers
Cast: Nancy Lemenager, Judy Gold, Lori Prince, Lori Laing, Jessica Lindsey Cohen, Laura Mercedes Martinez, Kristina Valada-Viars, and Nike Kadri
SATURDAY, JUNE 22 (In Downstairs Parish Hall Space)
12:00 pm
Brave Smiles… Another Lesbian Tragedy
By: The Five Lesbian Brothers Maureen Angelos, Babs Davy, Dominique Dibbell, Peg Healey and Lisa Kron
Cast: Liza Bennet, Rachel Towne, Beth Malone, Kelly McAndrew, and Judy Gold
4:30 pm
The Haunted Host
By: Robert Patrick
Cast: André Ward, and Rob Morean
8:00pm
One Leg
By: Eri Nox
Cast: Maybe Burke, Ryan Ortega, and Esco Jouley
SUNDAY, JUNE 23
10:00 am
Eat and You Belong to Us
By: MJ Kaufman
Cast: Jess Barbagallo, Zo Sakamoto, Erin Anderson, David Greenspan, McKinley Belcher III, and Brooke Bloom
1:00 pm
The Last Sunday in June
By: Jonathan Tolins
Cast: Preston Sadleir, Adam Chanler Berat, Daniel K Isaac, Patrick Breen, Taylor Trensch, Zachary Booth, Pascale Armand, and Brock Yurich
5:00 pm
A Language of Their Own
By: Chay Yew
Cast: Vichet Chum, Alton Alburo, Jon Norman Schneider, and Will Seefried
8:30 pm
An evening of LGBTQ musicals, including Interstate and Eighty-Sixed
Eighty-Sixed
Music and lyrics by Sam Salmond Book by Jeremy J. King
Cast: Preston Sadleir, Theo T. Stockman, Jason Tam, Jon Rua, Noah Zachary, Jared Loftin, Blaine Krauss
Interstate
Music by Melissa Li
Lyrics and Book by Melissa Li & Kit Yan
Cast: Michelle Noh, Kiet Tai Cao, Esco Jouléy, Andreas Wyder, and Angel Lin, Allison Linker, and Sushma Saha
MONDAY, JUNE 24
12:00 pm
A Program of original works by TRANS LAB
By: Ty Defoe, Ashley Lauren Rogers, Noemi Charlotte Thieves, Mariam Bazeeed, Corrine Donly, and Eamon Boylan
Cast: Asia Kate Dillon, Hennessy, Esco Jouley, Jordan Ho, Danielle Purdy, Sushma Saha, Mariam Bazeed, Omer Koran, Chris Okawa, Michelle Finston, Drita Kabashi, Milo Longenecker, Ashley Rogers, Rachel Weekley, Sylas Barrett, TL Thompson, Cosmo Castaldi, Aneesh Sheth, and Jorja Brown
4:00 pm
Nora Highland
By: Ryan Spahn
Cast: Rebecca Henderson, and Michael Hsu Rosen
8:00 pm
Some Men
By: Terrence McNally
Cast: John Benjamin Hickey, Stephen Spinella, Stephen Derosa, Jordan E. Cooper, Bobby Steggart, Larry Powell, Noah Galvin, Calvin Leon Smith, Kevin Chamberlin, James Cusati Moyer, Dan Butler, Marc Vietor, Billy Carter, Ken Barnett, Frank DiLella, Arnie Burton, Alton Alboro, Tom Deckman, Nick Mayo, David Turner, Everett Quinton, Thomas Jay Ryan, Andre DeShields, Lance Roberts, Murray Hill, TR Knight, Ryan Haddad, Ricardo Davila. Dominic Colôn, Sam Gonzalez, Randy Harrison, Vishal Vaidya, Micahel Cyril Creighton, Jose Llana, Michael Mastro, George Salazar
For Tickets and theater information click HERE
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A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Equality
Olivia Newton-John, our “hopelessly devoted” Aussie Ally
Witness the Courage of Frank Kameny during “The Lavender Scare” on PBS: TRAILER
Broadway Celebrates Its Best At The 73rd Tony Awards
Generations of Pride: One thing Led to Another… part II
Celebrating STONEWALL 50 with Generations of Pride
Be part of STONEWALL 50 wherever you are by telling your story of Pride on social media using
#GenerationsOfPride