Torch Song star Michael Urie and producer Doug Nevin (Buyer & Cellar), as well as festival director Nick Mayo, have teamed up to bring Pride Plays to Rattlestick Playwrights Theater June 20–24. The festival of play readings will amplify LGBTQIA+ voices in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall uprising.
The festival will 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.
The lineup is as follows:Thursday, June 20
• Noon: Room Enough (For Us All) by Daaimah Mubashshir, directed by Kareem Fahmy
Cast: Chinai J Hardy, Anton Floyd, Melissa Mickens, Gabrielle Beans, and Xandra Clark
• 4 PM: The Baltimore Waltz by Paula Vogel, directed by Ethan Heard
Cast: Nick Westrate, Christopher J Hanke, and Marissa Neitling
• 8 PM: Our Town by THornton Wilder, directed by Jenna Worsham
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
• Noon: As Is by William Hoffman, directed by Sheryl Kaller
Cast: Mario Cantone, Jerry Dixon, Kelly McAndrew, Hennessy, Kate Rigg, Lou Liberatore, Allan K Washington, and Arturo Soria
• 4 PM: Le Switch by Philip Dawkins, directed by Stephen Brackett
Cast: Michael Urie, Ray Santiago, John Glover, Michael Rosen, and Ashlie Atkinson
• 8 PM: Blueprints to Freedom: An Ode to Bayard Rustin by Michael Benjamin Washington, directed by Moises Kaufman
Cast: Michael Benjamin Washington, Dawn Clements, Brian McManamon, Ro Boddie, and Ron Canada
Saturday, June 22
• 10 AM: Mariquitas by Eduardo Machado
Cast: Robert Jimenez, Matthew Montelongo, Nilaja Sun, Tony Plana, Liam Torres, EJ Bonilla, Sean Carvajal, Emma Ramos, and Sebastian Chacon
• Noon: 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
• 2 PM: On This Morning by Caroline Prugh, directed by Kevin Newbury
Cast: Dale Soules, Paige Gilbert, and Penny Fuller
• 4:30 PM: The Haunted Host by Robert Patrick, directed by Satya Bhabha
Cast: André Ward and Rob Morean
• 7:30 PM: Last Summer At Bluefish Cove by Jane Chambers, directed by Miranda Haymon
Cast: Nancy Lemenager, Judy Gold, Lori Prince, Lori Laing, Jessica Lindsey Cohen, Laura Mercedes Martinez, Kristina Valada-Viars, and Nike Kadri
• 8 PM: One Leg by Eri Nox, directed by Seanjae Kim
Cast: Maybe Burke, Ryan Ortega, and Esco Jouley
Sunday, June 23
• 10 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 PM: The Last Sunday in June by Jonathan Tolins, directed by Nic Cory
Cast: Preston Sadleir, Adam Chanler Berat, Daniel K Isaac, Patrick Breen, Taylor Trensch, Zachary Booth, Pascale Armand, and Brock Yurich
• 5 PM: A Language of Their Own by Chay Yew, directed by Mei Ann Teo.
Cast: Vichet Chum, Alton Alburo, Jon Norman Schneider, and Will Seefried
• 8:30 PM: An evening of LGBTQ musicals, including:
Eighty-Sixed
Music and lyrics by Sam Salmond Book by Jeremy J. King
Directed By: Kevin Newbury
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
Directed By: Kevin Newbury
Cast: Michelle Noh, Kiet Tai Cao, Esco Jouléy, Andreas Wyder, and Angel Lin, Allison Linker, and Sushma Saha
Monday, June 24
• Noon: A program of original works by TRANS LAB
By: Ty Defoe, Ashley Lauren Rogers, Noemi Charlotte Thieves, Mariam Bazeeed, Corrine Donly, and Eamon Boylan. Director: 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 PM: Nora Highland by Ryan Spahn, directed by Danya Tamor
Cast: Rebecca Henderson and Michael Hsu Rosen
• 8 PM: Some Men by Terrence McNally, directed by Logan Reed
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, Will Blum, Tom Deckman, Nick Mayo, David Turner, Everett Quinton, Thomas Jay Ryan, Peter Bartlett, Andre DeShields, Lance Roberts, Murray Hill, TR Knight, Ryan Haddad, Ricardo Davila, Dominic Colôn, Sam Gonzalez, Randy Harrison, Vishal Vaidya, Michael Cyril Creighton, Jose Llana, Michael Mastro, David Ryan Smith
The Pride Plays advisory committee is Chay Yew, Moises Kaufman, Lucy Thurber, Sam Hunter, Lisa Scheps, Michael Sheppard, Miranda Haymon, and Ted Snowdon.
In 1969, New York City's Stonewall Inn was the site of the uprising that ignited the modern Gay Rights movement. Check out Playbill's portraits from 2016—when the Stonewall Inn received National Historic Landmark Status from President Obama—below.
