Summer Pride In Vermont with Chandler and Pride Films and Plays

Two organizations that embrace change and innovation have announced a partnership to produce Summer Pride at Chandler, a festival looking at GLBT Theater slated for July 8 to 17, at Chandler's beautifully restored, 103-year-old facility.

The mission of Chandler Center for the Arts in Randolph, Vermont is to inspire and cultivate artistic expression and education in the performing and visual arts for people of all ages, deepen the cultural and artistic growth of youth, and strengthen and energize our community by offering opportunities for people to come together in pursuit and celebration of the arts. Chandler has a long tradition of developing collaborative and innovative community arts programming serving a diverse population.

In this tradition of innovation, it is with great enthusiasm that Chandler now joins with Pride Films and Plays in announcing the first annual Summer Pride at Chandler July 8-10th and 15-17th. This first season of Summer Pride at Chandler begins with a look back at the classic gay play The Boys in the Band. Then it looks forward to fresh writing: prize-winning selections from Pride Films and Plays' 2011 Great Gay Play Contest.

Pride Films and Plays (PFP), a Chicago-based non-profit which links an international network of writers with film and theater producers , fosters excellent new work for the stage and screen that not only speaks to the gay and lesbian community, but also is essential viewing for our friends, family, and co-workers. Using gay and lesbian characters or themes, Pride Films and Plays develops human stories of parenting, marriage, faith, and love that become a cultural bridge to understanding.

PFP's Executive Director David Zak, who will direct all the Summer Pride at Chandler offerings, has won many Jeff Awards for directing and writing. (For Chicago's active non-equity theater sector, the Jeff award is the equivalent of the Tony award for New York theater) He is an adjunct faculty member at both Roosevelt University in Chicago and Korea National University of Arts in Seoul. He has directed in Chicago, London, Dublin, Seoul and New York, and he is very excited to link artists and audiences from Vermont with PFP's international group of writers working on new gay and lesbian material.

Over the past 30 years, Chandler has brought its beautifully renovated and expanded 103-year-old Music Hall & Gallery to prominence as a regional center for arts presentation and education. Located in a cluster of small rural towns in the heart of Vermont, Chandler provides youth with their first arts experiences; adults with a chance to participate in and enjoy a wide variety of music, dance, and theater presentations; and visual artists of all ages with a place to show and sell their work. Chandler now presents a year-round calendar of self-produced and contracted performances, gallery exhibits, arts education activities, and civic events attracting to Randolph's historic downtown nearly 20,000 people from across the northeastern United States and eastern Canada.

Chandler anticipates that this collaboration with Pride Films and Plays will enhance its other offerings and strengthen connections with the regional gay and lesbian community.

The full schedule of performances will be announced on May 1, 2011. For more information, or to order tickets for Summer Pride at Chandler, call 802-728-6464 or order on line at www.chandler-arts.org.

For more information on Pride Films and Plays and their ongoing contests for GLBT plays and screenplays visit www.pridefilmsandplays.com

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