New Company National Queer Theater Launches With Reading Series

National Queer Theater (NQT) is delighted to announce its first presentation of new queer plays in New York City! Launched in 2018 by Adam Odsess-Rubin, National Queer Theater fosters and supports LGBTQ communities through social justice in the performing arts.

In May NQT held its inaugural event, Speechless, a play created from the stories of New Yorkers living with HIV and AIDS, which was performed at New York City's TheatreLab.

In September and October NQT will kick off its first ever Queer Village Reading Series, a series of staged readings of four new queer-themed plays. The plays include:

- All The Sex I Want by Ben M. Jones, directed by Nicky Maggio, Sept. 29 at 8pm

- Cercle Hermaphroditos by Shualee Cook, directed by Mari Moriarty, Oct. 6 at 8pm

- American Spies and Other Homegrown Fables by Sam Hamashima, directed by Ben Randle, Oct. 14 at 8pm

- Drowning in Cairo by Adam A. Elsayigh, directed by Celine Rosenthal, Oct. 27 at 8pm

All four readings are open to the public and will be held at Arts on Site (12 St. Marks Place, New York, N.Y. 10004). They will be followed by inclusive talkbacks and mingling. Tickets are available by donation and can be found on nationalqueertheater.org.

The Queer Village Reading Series is one of several projects being planned by the new company. NQT will be performing Speechless again at Dixon Place,161A Chrystie Street, on November 9, 2018 at 7:30pm. As apart of their new educational programming, NQT will be organizing a community-based storytelling workshop with HIV-positive people in New York City in the coming months. In 2019, NQT will host the Criminal Queerness Festival, celebrating work made by queer artists in places where their gender/sexuality is criminalized. The Criminal Queerness Festival will be at The PIT Loft in June 2019 for World Pride / Stonewall 50.

"I started National Queer Theater so that we as a queer community could tell our own stories," says Adam Odsess-Rubin, Founder and Artistic Director of NQT. "There are still so many issues affecting our community, including violence against trans women, youth suicide, and employment discrimination. The arts, and theater in particular, give us a space to amplify traditionally marginalized voices and fight for our human rights while simultaneously creating and celebrating our culture and history."

NQT currently partners with several nonprofit organizations, including Project and Connect and Arts on Site. The theater has performed with Make The Road New York at Bushwick Pride, as well as at the Carlton Arms Hotel in Tribeca.

Further information is available on the theater's website at nationalqueertheater.org.