Performance Schedule Set For The First Summer Pride Festival at Chandler

Chandler and Pride Films and Plays announce the performance schedule of the first Summer Pride Festival at Chandler July 8-17. Three staged readings and one special cabaret performance will be featured. Mart Crowley's classic The Boys in the Band will be performed on July 8, and The Times, a new play by Mark S. Watson, will be performed on July 9 and 10. The following weekend, a new screenplay by Nancy Beverly, Shelby's Vacation, will be performed on July 15 and 16, and the festival will conclude with a Summer Pride Finale on July 17.

All performances are at 7:30. Tickets to all Summer Pride staged readings are $16 for adults and $11 for students, and can be ordered online at www.chandler-arts.org or by calling the Chandler Box Office at 802-728-6464. Tickets for the Summer Pride Finale are $8, or $5 for students.

The festival begins in Chandler Music Hall in Randolph with Mart Crowley's ground-breaking drama, The Boys in the Band, featuring Jason Lorber of Burlington, Richard Waterhouse of Newbury, Jeff Tolbert of Randolph, and Kyle Darling of Burlington in the cast of nine.

Crowley's play, which premiered in 1968, was the first frank on-stage expression of gay life - and remains controversial to this date for its depiction of a birthday gathering of gay friends. As they dance and drink, sass and squabble, we see the many complex layers of acceptance and self-hate that can still be found in the gay community today.

"The Boys in the Band was daring in its time, and then for several decades considered too controversial for performance," says festival director David Zak. "Yet in the past 10 years, it has enjoyed revivals across the country as people recognize that men like these are still a part of our community. The comedy both sizzles and stings."

The Boys in the Band will be performed in a staged reading for one night only, Friday, July 8 at 7:30 PM. Audience members are invited to a post-performance reception to meet and share their thoughts with the actors and director.

Closing the weekend is Mark S. Watson's The Times, one of five finalists from Pride Films and Plays' Great Gay Play Contest. As The Times begins, Noah and his roommate Dagmar are anxiously awaiting the arrival of Christian, Noah's partner from his college days. While Noah hopes their romance will be rekindled, Dagmar worries his heart will be broken. Christian's arrival brings comedy, drama, and a series of unexpected twists of fate. Jason Lorber and Jeff Tolbert are featured as Noah and Christian, with Andra Kisler of Northfield as Dagmar.

"Today we understand that for some, gender identity is fluid," Zak says, "and The Times is a delightful way to begin a conversation about the labels that both define and constrict us."

The Times will be performed in staged readings on Saturday and Sunday, July 9 and 10 at 7:30 PM. Each evening, audience members will have the chance to participate in a post-performance discussion.

The second weekend of Summer Pride at Chandler begins with Nancy Beverly's hilarious screenplay Shelby's Vacation, a semi-finalist from Pride Films and Plays' Women's Work, a contest for women writing - for stage and screen - around lesbian stories or themes.

In Shelby's Vacation, we meet a harried businesswoman who, having fantasized about her boss for too long, sets out on a much-needed break for an "adventure vacation." But she loses her way and ends up at Towering Pines Cabins, where she meets Carol the manager and the local lesbian population - and the real adventure begins. Northfield's Andra Kisler and Dawn Kearon of Montpelier are featured as Shelby and Carol. The staged reading incorporates 30 cast members, including many people from the Randolph area.

"Listening to a screenplay read by a talented group is a delightful experience," director David Zak says, "as you get to imagine the adventures of our heroine from the city as she arrives in the small town in which she finds her heart and home. It is like no movie that has yet been made, but it is the type of forward-looking entertainment I feel the country is ready for today."

Shelby's Vacation will be performed in staged readings on Friday and Saturday, July 15 and 16 at 7:30 PM. Each evening, audience members will have the chance to participate in a post-performance discussion with the cast and director.

Tickets are $16 for adults and $11 for students. Tickets to all Summer Pride staged readings can be ordered online at www.chandler-arts.org or by calling the Chandler Box Office at 802-728-6464.

The staged readings at Summer Pride at Chandler aspire to ignite conversations between the members and friends and families of the gay and lesbian community. For this purpose, there will be an opportunity after each performance for audience members to engage in discussion with the cast and director.

The series concludes with Summer Pride Finale, an evening of celebration and performances featuring actors from the series as well as other members of the community sharing their favorite material relevant to gay and lesbian concerns and issues. Performers interested in participating should contact Chandler's Events Manager Claire Garner at 802-522-6877 or upperevents@chandler-arts.org.

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