Community Conversation To Host LGBT Dystopian Play In July

Community Conversation presented by Change the Perception has covered numerous issues each month. Gay Pride may have been in June, but at the July 23 meeting LGBT will be the topic with a reading of Gregory G. Allen's "Hiding in Daylight": a dystopian play about life after a gay purge. Dallas actors will read the one act play and then open up the floor for a discussion. Please be advised the work is for mature audiences.

Allen wrote the piece this past year as a response to the current climate geared towards the LGBT community. While marriage equality became the law of the land in June of 2015, there have been constant setbacks for LGBT rights. Allen has created a future where two couple come together to remember life before the gay purge and they must decide if they can continue the risk of a weekly dinner together.

"Sometime art can take on activism," Allen says. "I felt I needed to do something to point out what is happening now by showing where it all could lead. I've been with my husband for 18 years and worry about our marriage with changes in SCOTUS and discrimination being allowed across the country. We need people to stand up now and not allow something like this story to occur."

Allen believes it is more of a movement than simply a play as he has a four person one act play version, a solo piece in the works for this fall, and a short film in pre-production all around this same story. The play has had readings in New Jersey and Florida and groups from California to Massachusetts have copies of the script to use for their own reading series. The playwright loves that groups are reading the play and then opening it up to a discussion.

"Community Conversation is very excited to facilitate the reading of Mr. Allen's play", says Denise Lee who runs Change the Perception. "Our mission is to foster discussions that will help us to better understand one another. What better way to open the door to understanding than through the arts."

Gregory G. Allen is an award-winning author who has been in the entertainment industry for 30 years as a writer, actor, and director. His plays and musicals include: "Well With My Soul" (Seeing Place Theater Reading Series, NYC), "Invisible Fences" written with Stephen Kitsakos (4th Wall Theatre M.I.D. Stage Series), "Ashokan: The Story of a Reservoir" written with Stephen Kitsakos and Perdita Finn (commissioned by the Catskill Watershed Corporation), "Destiny & Dreams' (Don't Tell Mama, NYC) and several children's musicals produced in Garland back in the 80s where he lived before moving north. He is a member of the Dramatist Guild and the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators. He has been featured and interviewed in The Advocate, Huffington Post, PBS One-on-One with Steve Adubato, Sirius Radio The Morning Jolt, and Next Magazine.

"Having grown up in Garland, I am so honored and thankful to Denise Lee and everyone at Change the Perception for including my piece in their series. I hope it sparks a conversation on July 23rd that keeps people talking long after they leave the theater."

Change the Perception is an inclusive group of diverse people with a desire to eliminate false perceptions of our neighbors from different cultures, aces, orientations and/or social-economic statuses through civil and respectable conversation, fellowship, and activities.. This event will take place at 6:30 pmat the Dallas Children's Theater 5938 Skillman Street in Dallas and is Free to the public.

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