Firehouse Theater Company Presents GROSS INDECENCY: THE THREE TRIALS OF OSCAR WILDE

Firehouse Theater Company is excited to present Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde, running February 17 through March 17 at the John Hand Theater/Colorado Free University located at 7653 E. 1st Place in Denver. Performances are Friday and Saturday at 7:30 PM and Sunday at 2 PM. Tickets range from $20 to $23 and are available at the box office at (303) 562-3232 or www.FirehouseTheaterCompany.com.

Gross Indecency traces the real-life trials of Oscar Wilde who, in 1895, was charged with "committing acts of gross indecency with other male persons." This fascinating play uses real court transcripts and quotes of his three trials to help tell this powerful and poignant story.

About the show: In early 1895, the Marquess of Queensberry, the father of Wilde's young lover, Lord Alfred Douglas, left a card at Wilde's club bearing the phrase "posing somdomite." Wilde sued the Marquess for criminal libel. In the end Queensberry was acquitted, and evidence that had been gathered against Wilde compelled the Crown to prosecute him for "gross indecency with male persons."

With Wilde's arrest, his hit plays running in London's West End were forced to close, and Wilde was reduced to penury. A second trial ended in a hung jury with Wilde's impassioned defense of "the love that dare not speak its name," prompting a third trial. In the third and decisive trial, Wilde was convicted and sentenced to two years imprisonment at hard labor. He was separated forever from his wife and children, and wrote very little for the rest of his life. In addition to Wilde, Douglas and Queensberry, characters ranging from Queen Victoria to London's rent boys, to a present-day academic are assembled to explore how history is made and how it can be so timely revisited in the theatre.

"Moises Kaufmann has woven an amazing piece with his telling of the Wilde trials and the great man's eventual conviction for the 'Love that dare not speak its name,'" offers Director Owen Niland. "Kaufman combines histories, memoirs, biographies, and Wilde's own writings with newspaper and tabloid articles of the day to give an audience an immediate sense of what it was like to experience the world's first 'Trial of the Century' (the 19th Century, that is). This script is a singular opportunity for our extraordinary ensemble of actors to recount an important and timely tale of the conflict between art and morality, privacy and celebrity, all told with Wilde's wry wit."

Niland continues, "Our Wilde, Andrew Uhlenhopp, brings a charm, honesty and vulnerability to a personality often rendered in caricature, and our eight-actor ensemble rounds out the production's 40+ additional characters - judges, lawyers, rent-boys, journalists, George Bernard Shaw, and the Queen of England to name a few - associated with the trial. We're pulling together a truly unique theatrical experience for our audiences at Firehouse Theater Company, this one is without a doubt not to be missed!"

Featuring the talents of: Andrew Uhlenhopp as Oscar Wilde and Philip Waller, John Peacock, Zachary Vaughn, Christian Munck, Betsey Cassell, Darlene Grandy, Bradley Gibbons and Wes Munsil as the Narrators and other historic characters featured throughout the show.

Firehouse Theater Company Presents:
Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde
The true story of the three trials of England's most celebrated playwright.
February 17 through March 17
Friday and Saturday at 7:30 PM/Sunday at 2:00 PM
$23 for Adults/$20 for Students, Seniors or Military
Group discounts available for groups of 10+
The John Hand Theatre

7653 E. 1st Place
Denver, CO 80230
(303) 562-3232

www.FirehouseTheaterCompany.com

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