Roger Q. Mason's THE PRIDE OF LIONS To Receive Reading At The Tank

Acclaimed Black Filipinx playwright and Kilroys List honoree Roger Q. Mason will receive a staged reading of their play THE PRIDE OF LIONS, directed by legendary intimacy coordinator Ann James with dramaturgy by Gaven Trinidad, at The Tank on Monday, February 24 at 7pm.

It is 1928, and five fabulous drag queens were about to become dolls of Broadway in a Mae West play, until the New York vice police took them in. Now, stuck in the pen with a curious yet cringy warden, the girls conjure the magic of queer storytelling to save themselves (and us) from the clutches of invisibility.

The cast will feature Doug Plaut (Terry on Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt), Charlie Thurston (Roland on HBO Max's Julia), Sis (Dunaway on American Horror Story; National Tour of Oklahoma), Garnet Williams (Cats: The Jellicle Ball at Perelman Performing Arts Center), Mrs. Kasha Davis (RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars Season 8; RuPaul's Drag Race Season 7; Drag Me to Dinner on Hulu), Wesley Han (Mike in Emily The Criminal), and Adam Fontana (Civil War at Lucille Lortel) The reading will be directed by Ann James (Sunset Boulevard on Broadway) with Dramaturgy by Gaven Trinidad (The Duat with Philadelphia Theatre Company).

"The events which inspired this play took place almost 100 years ago, yet the homophobic and transphobic attitudes it explores have not changed," said playwright Roger Q. Mason. "The Pride of Lions is a testament to the everlasting resilience that queer folks have had to muster to survive in America. But more importantly it is a celebration of the love which surpasses hate - then, now and forever."

Roger Q. Mason

(Playwright) (they/them) is an award-winning writer, performer and educator who satirizes and revises history to disrupt the biases that separate rather than unite us. Their playwriting has appeared on Broadway; Off/Off-Off-Broadway; and regionally. Their recent productions have garnered five Barrymore Award nominations in Philadelphia, a Jeff Award Recommendation in Chicago and the San Francisco Chronicle's prestigious Datebook Pick. Mason's World Premiere of Lavender Men was lauded by the Los Angeles Times as "evoking the mingled visions of Suzan-Lori Parks, Jeremy O. Harris and Michael R. Jackson." They received 2024's Playwrights' Center McKnight National Playwright Commission, the inaugural Dramatists Guild Foundation Catalyst Grant Award, a Hermitage Residency, a Lucille Lortel commission, a Kilroys List nod, and the Chuck Rowland Pioneer Award. Mason is a member of the Dramatists Guild of America, and an alum of the Ma-Yi's Writing Lab, Page 73's Interstate 73 Writers Group, the Fire This Time Festival, and Primary Stages Writing Cohort. They currently produce a memoir/cooking segment on Instagram called Cooking with Q: A Playwright's Guide to Telling My Truth. Previously, they co-hosted the podcast Sister Roger's Gayborhood and hosted This Way Out Radio's Queerly Yours: Portraits in Courage. As an educator, Mason has served as a mentor for Lambda Literary, Workshop Theatre, the Marsha P. Johnson Institute's Starship Fellowship, the New Visions Fellowship and the Shay Foundation Fellowship. They are currently on faculty at CalArts. Mason holds degrees from Princeton University, Middlebury College, and Northwestern University. Instagram: @rogerq.mason

Ann James

(Director) made her debut as the first Black Intimacy Coordinator on Broadway for PASS OVER. Broadway credits include: SUNSET BOULEVARD, A WONDERFUL WORLD, EUREKA DAY, SH*T. MEET. FAN., John Proctor IS THE VILLAIN, THE OUTSIDERS, LEMPICKA, ILLINOISE, HAMILTON, PARADE (and National Tour), SWEENEY TODD, HEART OF ROCK AND ROLL, JELLY'S LAST JAM. Off-Broadway: ANTIQUITIES, THREE SUMMERS OF LINCOLN, THE GREAT PRIVATION, VELOUR! A DRAG SPECTACULAR!, CATS THE JELLICLE BALL, THE HIPPEST TRIP, SUNSET BABY, ORLANDO, JONAH, WHITE GIRL IN DANGER, HOW TO DEFEND YOURSELF, THE COMEUPPANCE, EVANSTON SALT COSTS CLIMBING, MY BROKEN LANGUAGE, THE HALF-GOD OF RAINFALL, HERE THERE ARE BLUEBERRIES (and National Tour), LIFE AND TRUST, THE LONELY FEW. Tours: HAMILTON UK, Australia and Asia. James' company, Intimacy Coordinators of Color was awarded a 2024 Special Citation from the OBIE Awards and The American Theatre Wing.

Photo of playwright Roger Q. Mason by Bronwen Sharp