Ryan Conarro Performs SAINTS OF FAILURE, 10/13

Interdisciplinary theatre maker Ryan Conarro, who came to Gainesville from New York to direct the first show on GTA's Discovery Series last month, is completing his residency at GTA with a performance of a one-man show he has been developing: SAINTS OF FAILURE which will perform without charge for audiences Oct. 13-15 at UNG-Gainesville's Ed Cabell Theatre, 3820 Mundy Mill Rd., Oakwood.

SAINTS OF FAILURE is a solo performance created and performed by Conarro that explores deep questions about LGBT identity and the American Christian experience, and the strangeness, discomfort, and hilarity that ensue when these two identities collide. Conarro embodies a series of actual historical saints whose stories resonate with LGBT history and contemporary culture. GTA has rated the piece PG-13 because of subject matter.

The heart of the piece is a series of personal stories shared by Conarro from his own experience coming of age as a gay Catholic man. He accompanies these stories with a series of complex, live makeup changes, performed onstage.

"The changes in makeup are a metaphor for the different masks we wear in our day-to-day lives and roles," Conarro said. "As I created the project I started to think about how we tend to hide or shy away from aspects of ourselves; sometimes we don't want to acknowledge traits or values if they aren't embraced by the world around us, or if they scare us. The psychologist Carl Jung calls these 'shadow selves.' By putting on elaborate makeup to manifest some of these identities overtly, this show asks what can happen if we celebrate or sanctify those aspects of ourselves that make us whole humans."

Conarro says SAINTS OF FAILURE is an opportunity for audience members to reflect on their own experiences of constructing or creating identity. "A key moment of the piece is a coming-out story, about how particularly tough that can be for someone who's both gay and Christian."

It's also, he says, an opportunity to laugh.

"The piece begins with a definition of religion as a series of symbols and rituals. We have so many other symbols and rituals in our moment-to-moment lives, too, from sports teams to fast food. I hope that SAINTS OF FAILURE will give us all a chance to step back and laugh at how all these rituals structure our days and our behavior, without our even thinking about it."

Conarro, who lives in Brooklyn, New York, is in a two-month residency this fall at Gainesville Theatre Alliance, where he directed Annie Baker's "The Flick" as part of GTA's Discovery Series and is co-teaching the course Solo Performance along with Jim Hammond, GTA Artistic Director.

Conarro is originally from north Georgia and is a graduate of North Hall High School. He performed and trained with GTA before transferring to NYU's Tisch School of the Arts. He earned a master's degree in Interdisciplinary Arts at Goddard College. At Goddard, he met Risha Rox, a visual artist who collaborated with Conarro on the makeup in SAINTS OF FAILURE. Additional collaborators are Brooke Salyer; stage manager; David Liccardi, Sound Designer; and James Thomas, lighting designer.

SAINTS OF FAILURE, a 90 minute show, performs at 7:30pm, October 13-15, at University of North Georgia's Ed Cabell Theater in Oakwood (3820 Mundy Mill Rd., Oakwood). The show is free, general admission seating on a first-come-first-seated basis, with doors opening at approximately 7:10pm. For more information, contact the GTA Box Office. For more on Ryan Conarro's work, please visit www.ryanconarro.com

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