Producer Iris Sowlat, in association with Chicago's Pride Arts Center, Missing Bolts Productions Inc. ( Blair Baker & Zac Kline artistic directors ) and NoPassport Theatre Alliance and Press ( Caridad Svich, founder ) are pleased to present After Orlando, an evening of staged readings of 16 short plays in response to the shooting at Pulse Nightclub in Orlando, Florida.
The reading will be: Nov. 15, at 7 p.m. at the Pride Arts Center's Broadway Theatre, located at 4139 N. Broadway Ave., Chicago.
The reading will be directed by Iris Sowlat, Denise Yvette Serna, JD Caudill, and Aaron Arbiter, with sound by Jim Alrutz.
The reading will feature plays by Cecilia Copeland, Migdalia Cruz, Zac Kline, Neil LaBute, Jessica Litwak, Anders Lustgarten, Jennifer Maisel, Rohina Malik, Tyler McCray, Winter Miller, Viet Nguyen, Ryan Oliveira, Katie Pearl, Darryl Pickett, Lisa Schlesinger, and Ken Urban.
Casts will include Ruben Adorno, Christabel Donkor, Lauren Fisher, Lane Anthony Flores, Avi Kritzman, Krystal Ortiz, Brandon Rivera, Rolo Rodriguez, James Romney, Avi Roque, Erik Strebig, June Thiele, and Gabrielle Wilson, and additional actors, to be announced.
Performances of Chicago's After Orlando will be free of charge to the general public, with a donation collection. Proceeds from the evening will be split three ways between Equality Florida, CALOR, and the Pride Arts Center.
After Orlando is an international playwright driven theatre action including over-seventy playwrights from the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Africa and Australia. Plays have been specifically written and curated in response to this tragic event and will be read at over 40 venues across the country and in the UK throughout the fall.
Partners venues include: The Finborough Theatre ( London ); Rattlestick Playwrights Theatre and the LGTB Center ( NYC ); Round House Theatre and Olney Theatre Center ( DC ); The Inge Center ( Independence, KS ); Theatre@Boston Court and the University of Southern California ( Los Angeles ); Miami New Drama ( Miami ), Philadelphia Theatre Company and The University of the Arts ( Philadelphia ) and many more.
Kline and Baker of Missing Bolts note: "As theatremakers, we have the ability to bring together many singular unique voices toward a common goal. We have invited some of the most admired theatre artists worldwide to participate; to share our grief, our anger, our hope and our desire to combat the violence we are now living with on a daily basis." Svich of NoPassport adds: "Making some healing art, some fiery art, some work that just says we can rise up from and through collective mourning."
About Pride Arts Center and Chicago's AFTER ORLANDO:
The Pride Arts Center is occupied by Pride Films & Plays ( PFP ), and houses PFP's season productions, as well as co-productions with other theatre companies that share PFP's mission, and works produced by renting theatre companies. Located at 4139 N Broadway, the PAC features The Broadway with 85 seats and The Buena with 50 seats.
Pride Films & Plays was founded in 2010 to improve the quality of LGBT theater and film for this generation and those to come. PFP produces a full four-play mainstage season, as well as multiple staged readings, film festivals, and playwriting contests.
In September 2016, Iris Sowlat was contacted by NoPassport founder and Obie Awardwinning playwright Caridad Svich about producing a Chicago installment of After Orlando. Sowlat previously worked with NoPassport in 2015 as the producer and director of CLIMATE CHANGE THEATRE ACTION, a similar series of nationwide staged readings.
For After Orlando, Sowlat immediately thought to partner with the Pride Arts Center, after having recently assistant-directed Pride Films & Plays' production of Raggedy And. Executive Director David Zak and Artistic Director Nelson Rodriguez thought this partnership would be very beneficial for the Chicago theatre community, and for Chicago's diverse LGBT community at large, and thus Chicago's AFTER ORLANDO was conceived.
Links to more information:
NoPassport Theatre Alliance: www.nopassport.org .
Missing Bolts Productionsw.missingbolts.com .
Pride Films & Plays: pridefilmsandplays.com/ .
