The upcoming Pride Plays at Rattlestick Playwrights Theater will kick off June 20 with a staged reading of Thornton Wilder's Our Town, directed by Jenna Worsham and featuring a company of transgender, non-binary, gender nonconforming, and gender fluid actors. Among the cast of the opening night reading will be Eve C. Lindley, Cece Suazo, Pooya Mohseni, and JP Moraga.
"With this gender-diverse ensemble, we explore Wilder's ardency for the sacredness of all humanity; and in doing, we remember the strength and sacredness of the Stonewall Community," says director Worsham. "And as an entirely LGBTQ team, we seek to celebrate this great text, while simultaneously inserting ourselves into the very American literary canon that has long excluded us."
The previously announced festival of play readings, running June 20–24 and spearheaded by Torch Song's Michael Urie and Doug Nevin, will amplify LGBTQIA voices in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall uprising.
The lineup include works in the queer theatre canon, such as plays by Paula Vogel and Terrence McNally, alongside newer works by artists such as MJ Kaufman and Daaimah Mubashshir.
In further casting news, joining the previously announced Michael Urie, Beth Malone, Taylor Trensch, Jason Tam, Maybe Burke, and others will be Pascale Armand, Liza Bennet, Brooke Bloom, EJ Bonilla, Kiet Tai Cao, Xandra Clark, Dawn Clements, Jessica Lindsey Cohen, Hennessy, Esco Jouléy, Blaine Krauss, Angel Lin, Jared Loftin, Laura Mercedes Martinez, Rob Morean, Jon Rua, Preston Sadleir, Sushma Saha, Theo T. Stockman, Rachel Towne, Kristina Valada-Viars, André Ward, Andreas Wyder, Noah Zachary, Michael David Baldwin, JorJa Brown, Cosmo Castaldi, Joslyn DeFreece, Sydney Mae Diaz, Parker Gard, Nicholas Gorham, Em Grosland, Jax Jackson, Summer Minerva, Sophie Sagan-Gutherz, and Marquise Vilson.
The program of original works from Trans Lab by playwrights Ty Defoe, Ashley Lauren Rogers, Noemi Charlotte Thieves, Mariam Bazeed, Corrine Donly, and Eamon Boylan will be directed by Boylan and feature Sylas Barrett, Mariam Bazeed, Jorja Brown, Cosmo Castaldi, Asia Kate Dillon, Michelle Finston, Hennessy, Jordan Ho, Esco Jouley, Drita Kabashi, Omer Koran, Milo Longenecker, Chris Okawa, Danielle Purdy, Ashley Lauren Rogers, Sushma Saha, Aneesh Sheth, TL Thompson, and Rachel Weekley.
