LAVENDER MEN To Tour Multiple Film Festival This Fall

Lavender Men, a new film directed by Lovell Holder and written by Holder and Roger Q. Mason, based on Mason’s critically acclaimed stage play, will screen at multiple film festivals this fall, including Cinema Diverse in Palm Springs, CA (September 21), Charlotte Film Festival in Charlotte, NC (September 24-29) Hell's Half Mile Film & Music Festival in Bay City, MI (September 26-29), Out on Film in Atlanta, GA (September 26-October 6), Ashland Independent Film Festival in Ashland, OR (October 3-6), Seattle Queer Film Festival (October 10-20), Micheaux Film Festival in Los Angeles, CA (October 21-27), and We Make Movies International Film Festival in Los Angeles, CA (November 7-10). Private screeners are available upon request for members of the press who are unable to attend the in-person screenings.

While working on a poorly-attended play about Abraham Lincoln, the long-suffering stage manager Taffeta interfaces with DIFFICULT PEOPLE both onstage and off.  After a particularly miserable evening, Taffeta plunges into their daydreams, crafting their own retelling of the Lincoln myth by inserting themself into the likely true love story between Abe – then just a young lawyer in Springfield, Illinois – and Elmer Ellsworth, a dashing army sergeant.  As Taffeta churns through every possible identity to bring themselves as close to connection and intimacy as they can, they must question why they have chosen to tell a tale that may never have been for them in the first place – and how to finally live a life of their very own.  Part chamber drama and part exorcism, Lavender Men presents a fundamentally queer story where theater, cinema, history, and memoir collide into one singular, breathtaking fantasia.
 
The cast features Roger Q. Mason (Outstanding: A Comedy REVOLUTION on Netflix) as Taffeta, Pete Ploszek (Michael Bay’s TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES franchise; the upcoming final season of You on Netflix) as Abe, and Alex Esola (Bart Freundlich’s After the Wedding at Sundance; The Young Pope on HBO) as Elmer. The supporting cast includes Philippe Bowgen, Chad Callaghan, Linnea Liu Dakin, Natasha Dewhurst, Mia Ellis, Cherie Corinne Rice, Ted Rooney, Charlie Thurston, Tyler Woehl, and Gillian Williams. Lavender Men was produced by Mia Chang, Mia Ellis, Lovell Holder, and Roger Q. Mason with Executive Producers Rob Massar, Christopher Donaldson, Paul Hart-Wilden, Gary Grossman, Jon Lawrence Rivera, and Cece Suazo, Co-Executive Producers Gillian Williams and Matt Plaxco, Co-Producer Shirley Luong, and Associate Producers Letitia Chang and Seth Dorcey. The production team included Director of Photography Matt Plaxco, Editor Morgan Halsey, Production Designer Stephen Gifford, Composer David Gonzalez, Original Song “I Am a Chandelier!” by Kevin JZ Prodigy, Choreographer Jobel Medina, Vogue Choreographer Cece Suazo, Intimacy Coordinator Talya Klein, Original Theatrical Intimacy Coordinator Ann C. James, Theatrical Lighting Consultant Dan Weingarten, Theatrical Costume Consultant Wendell Carmichael, Theatrical Sound Consultant Erin Bednarz, and Headdress and Jewelry Design by ONCH.
 
In 2019, Roger Q. Mason’s original play Lavender Men received a public workshop on Broadway at Circle in the Square, directed by Lovell Holder and starring Mason, Charlie Thurston, and Garrett Clayton. The play’s world premiere was subsequently scheduled for April 2020 at Skylight Theater in Los Angeles, following its development as part of the theater’s SkyLab. After the premiere’s cancellation due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the play was named to the 2020 Kilroy’s List. Holder and Mason subsequently adapted a section of the play into the short film Taffeta, starring Mason and directed by Holder. The short film screened at Outfest, BFI Flare, Bentonville, Hollyshorts, and the SCAD Savannah Film Festival, where it received a jury prize. In 2022, the play premiered at last in Los Angeles, produced by Skylight Theater and Playwrights Arena, where it was named by TheaterMania as one of the six “Best Regional Productions in America of 2022.” Charles McNulty of the Los Angeles Times called Mason “A daring theatrical talent…evoking the mingled visions of Suzan-Lori Parks, Jeremy O. Harris and Michael R. Jackson.” Following the play’s critically acclaimed debut, Mason and Holder began the process of adapting the piece for film.  All current screening information is available at the film’s Instagram: @lavendermenfilm.

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