Pride Films and Play to Present MEN ON THE VERGE OF A HIS-PANIC BREAKDOWN

Pride Films and Plays celebrates Pride with a 20th Anniversary Production of Guillermo Reyes' classic one-man show, Men On The Verge Of A His-Panic Breakdown. This hilarious collection of monologues features PFP Artistic Associate Nelson Rodriguez directed by Sandra Marquez. Performances are at the Apollo Studio Theater, 2540 N. Lincoln. Tickets will be on sale starting April 15 at 773 935 6100 or www.ticketmaster.com.

This series of comedic monologues is as timely today as it was when it premiered in 1994 as it chronicles the lives of various Latino immigrants dealing with transcultural shock of race and gender identity known as the "Hispanic breakdown." The play is bracketed by the misadventures of the naive Frederico or "The Gay Little Immigrant That Could" who arrives in Los Angeles during the first day of the 1992 riots and believes he's witnessing the filming of another 'Lethal Weapon' sequel. Other characters include Vinnie, a kept boy; Edward, a Latino actor passing for Anglo; the Demon Roommate; and a Cuban restauranteur who was imprisoned by the Communists in Cuba for being gay and has now been exiled by his right-wing Miami family for the same reason.

Men On The Verge Of A His-panic Breakdown previews Tuesday and Wednesday June 23 and 24 at 7:30 pm. ($15). The official opening is Thursday, June 25 at 7:30. Press tickets are also available for Saturday June 27 at 9 pm or Sunday June 28 at 6 pm. The regular performance schedule is Thursday 7:30, Saturday 9 pm, Sunday 6 pm and Monday 7:30. Tickets are $20 Mondays and Thursdays, and $25 on Saturday and Sunday. Please note there is no performance on Saturday, July 4. Closing is Sunday, July 26.

Nelson Rodriguez is an Artistic Associate of Pride Films and Plays were he previously appeared in Some Men and The Children's Hour. Additional Chicago credits include Graveyard of Empires with 16th Street Theatre, Devil's Day Off with Signal Ensemble Theatre, Lydia and References to Salvador Dalí Make Me Hot with National Pastime Theatre, El Incas with Colectivo El Pozo, Tea With Edie and Fitz with Dead Writers Theatre Collective, Puto (staged reading) with Urban Theatre Company, Six Degrees of Separation with Eclectic Full Contact Theatre, and The Rover with 20% Theatre Company. On camera, he has appeared as a guest star on Dudes and The Dreamers. As a writer, he is a member of The Alliance of Latino Theatre Artists' playwrights circle, El Semillero; his first full-length play will have a public reading this spring at Victory Gardens Theatre. Nelson holds an MFA in Acting and is an Associate Artist of Adventure Stage Chicago. Mr. Rodriguez is represented by Gray Talent Group.

Sandra Marquez is an actor, director and educator, as well as a longtime ensemble member of Teatro Vista where she served as the company's Associate Artistic Director from 1998 - 2006. Some of her directing credits include the Teatro Vista production of Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner by Luis Alfaro, and the critically acclaimed world premiere of Our Lady of the Underpass by Tanya Saracho, which received a Jeff nomination for best production. Last fall she received a Jeff Award for Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal of Beatrice in the Teatro Vista production of A View from the Bridge by Arthur Miller. Other acting credits include, Mala Hierba at Second Stage Uptown in New York, The Motherfu**er with the Hat at Steppenwolf Theater and Iphigenia at Aulis at Court Theater where she played Clytemnestra. She has worked in numerous industrial films and national commercials and some of her film/TV credits include Prison Break, Boss, Big Bang Theory and Timer. She has been on the theater faculty at Northwestern University since 1995 where she very much enjoys teaching and mentoring young people. Next fall she will return to the Court Theater to play Clytemnestra in Agamemnon.

Guillermo Reyes' plays include Chilean Holiday, Men on the Verge of a His-Panic Breakdown, Deporting the Divas, Miss Consuelo, Allende by Pinochet, The West Hollywood Affair, The Seductions of Johnny Diego and others. Chilean Holiday was produced at Actors Theatre of Louisville and published in Humana Festival '96: The Complete Plays (Smith and Kraus). Men on the Verge won the Theater L.A. Ovation Award for Best World Premier Play and Best Production 1994 and has since played in San Francisco's Theater Rhinoceros, San Jose's City Lights, the Seattle Fringe Festival '98, and Playwrights Preview Productions of New York City, where it also won the 1996 Emerging Playwright Award and received an off-Broadway production at the 47th Street Playhouse. Deporting the Divas played at Celebration Theater of L.A., Borderlands Theater of Tucson and Theater Rhinoceros in San Francisco, where it won the 1996 Bay Area Drama-Logue for Playwriting and was nominated for Best Original Script by the Bay Area Critics Circle. Reyes recently won the 1997 National Hispanic Playwrights Contest with his new play, A Southern Christmas, and the Nosotros Theater of Los Angeles' Playwriting Award with The Hispanick Zone, which was originally read at ASU's Theater Department and at Actors Theatre of Phoenix. The Chilean-born author received his master's degree in playwriting from the University of California, San Diego. He is currently assistant professor of theater at Arizona State University in Tempe and head of the playwriting program. Reyes is a member of The Dramatists Guild.

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