The Drama League Will Celebrate Pride Month With New Plays THE ARCHIVISTS and DADDY

The Drama League will celebrate Pride Month in June with first glimpses of two exciting new LGBTQIA+ plays. Partnering with The American LGBTQ+ Museum, they will present a staged reading of The Archivists, written and directed by The Drama League's Beatrice Terry Residency recipient Ann Kreitman, and an open rehearsal of Daddy, written and directed by Next Stage Residency recipient Lyam B. Gabel.

Exploring the history of the queer archive movement and the need for communities to protect their own histories, the new play The Archivists will kick off Pride Month with a staged reading on Thursday, June 6, 2024 at 4:30pm, held at Theatre Row (410 W. 42nd Street, between 8th and 9th Avenues). The cast includes Samora La Perdida (My Broken Language, Signature Theatre), Kyr Siegel (Bliss, Breaking The Binary/Public Theater), and Rudy Galvan (“Chicago, P.D.”, NBC), and will be stage managed by Emily Howe. The reading will be followed by a reception and conversation between writer-director Ann Kreitman, recipient of The Drama League's Beatrice Terry Residency, Alexandra Volgyesi from the Lesbian Herstory Archives, and archivist Stephanie Alvarado. Presented in partnership with the American LGBTQ+ Museum, seats are free but limited; to reserve seats, please visit http://dramaleague.org/events or email residency@dramaleague.org. 

On Thursday, June 13, 2024 at 3:00pm, The Drama League will host an Open Rehearsal of Daddy, delving into the joys and complexities of transmasculine pregnancy. The rehearsal will be immediately followed by a roundtable discussion led by writer-director Lyam B. Gabel, recipient of The Drama League's Next Stage Residency. For more information or to attend, please contact residency@dramaleague.org. 

“For theater makers, Pride is found in the telling of stories, often those not told before,” said Artistic Director Gabriel Stelian-Shanks. “Ann and Lyam have unearthed remarkable stories from our community that reveal new insights, powerful characters, and vibrant jubilation in queer identity. As these major new works wend their way towards their eventual premiere productions, we're honored to share them with our community, and to uplift the voices of these spectacular creators.”

Both presentations are produced by Drama League Artistic Associate Andrew Coopman, who also curates the post-reading events for The Archivists with S. C. Lucier, Senior Associate of Public Programs & Partnerships at The American LGBTQ+ Museum. “The Residency Programs at The Drama League center the director as a generative artist, finding innovative ways to best support them and their projects,” said Mr. Coopman. “We're happy to join forces with the American LGBTQ+ Museum to celebrate Pride and New Plays for the American theater.”

"At the American LGBTQ+ Museum, we're committed to preserving and uncovering our intersectional queer histories, lifting up unsung heroes of our past,” said S.C. Lucier. “We take pride in queering the museum space and are thrilled to partner with the Drama League, who are crucially reshaping spaces for emerging theater artists to thrive."”

The Beatrice Terry Residency is for early- and mid-career women and nonbinary stage directors who also write the work they direct. The Terry Residency seeks to make space and resources for these communities, who often encounter sexism, gender bias, misogyny, and other barriers when they choose to both write and direct simultaneously. This residency is named for Drama League alumna Beatrice Terry, who pioneered her own approach to theatrical creation during her lifetime, as a writer and director of her own work in a male-dominated field. The Next Stage Directing Residency supports directors developing a work they are attached to for possible future production. Previous recipients of Drama League Residencies include Tony Award Winner Rachel Chavkin (Hadestown), 2024 Tony Award nominees Whitney White (Jaja's African Hair Braiding) and Danya Taymor (The Outsiders), and Ashley Brooke Monroe, who developed All of Me, currently running at The New Group in New York City, during the residency.

As the nation's only full-time career development home for directors, The Drama League Directors Project is now entering its 43rd season. Drama League alumni direct over 1,000 productions each season on Broadway, Off-Broadway and worldwide; on networks (CBS, ABC, NBC, FX) and on streaming (Netflix, Amazon, Paramount+, Hulu, Apple+, Peacock, and more). Drama League Alumni have received Tony, Emmy, Golden Globe, SAG, Drama Desk, Obie, Peabody, Evening Standard, and Princess Grace Awards, among others.

DRAMA LEAGUE DIRECTORS-IN-RESIDENCE

ANN KREITMAN (she/her) is a director and playwright utilizing theatre to share lesbian history and inspire queer mythmaking. Ann has presented original work in Chicago, Philadelphia, New York City, and Iowa City. She is an associate member of the Stage Directors and Choreographer's Society and formerly served as the Co-Artistic Director of (re)discover theatre in Chicago. She holds a BA in Directing from the Sargent Conservatory of Theatre Arts at Webster University and will complete an MFA in Directing from University of Iowa in May 2023. While in Iowa, Ann helped to found the LGBTQ Iowa Archives & Library with a mission to collect, preserve, and share Iowa's queer history. annkreitman.com

LYAM B. GABEL (they/he) is a trans* performance-maker, scholar, and community archivist who creates containers for collective remembering and radical celebration. They are a founder of trans-media oral history and performance collective LAST CALL, and a director of the NEFA NTP ‘18/ MAP ‘16 performance Alleged Lesbian Activities. Their previous work the dance floor, the hospital room, and the kitchen table, exploring queer care from the early years of the HIV/AIDS crisis through COVID-19, received a NPN Creation Fund commission and was performed at the 2022 TCG conference. He regularly collaborates on work by playwrights and solo performers and has developed work at The Brick, Judson Church, Pipeline, Ashland New Plays Festival, The Theater Offensive, and The New Orleans CAC among others.  2021 Drama League Next Stage Resident, Drama League Fellow 2017. Lyam is an Assistant Professor of Acting and Directing at Lehigh University. lyambgabel.com

Programs of The Drama League are made possible thanks to the generosity of our supporters including the Howard Gilman Foundation, The Hyde and Watson Foundation, the Sylvia W. & Randle M. Kauders Foundation, the Jolene McCaw Family Foundation, The Shubert Foundation, the Leo Shull Charitable Fund for the Arts, and the Trust for Mutual Understanding. Drama League programs are supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, the National Endowment for the Arts, the U.S. Embassy in Tbilisi, and the New York State Council on the Arts, with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature. A special thanks goes out to Drama League Members, who provide important underwriting support for The Directors Project, as well as Drama League Directors Project Alumni, who collectively direct over 1,000 plays worldwide each season.

Programs at The American LGBTQ+ Museum are made possible thanks to the generosity of our individual supporters as well as institutional partners, including Ford Foundation, Wellspring Philanthropies, Broadway Cares Equity Fights AIDS, Zegar Family Foundation, Jonathan Logan Family Foundation, Embrey Family Foundation, Bloomberg Philanthropies, The Calamus Foundation, Clark R. Green Foundation, Fund for the City of New York, Johnson Family Foundation, The New York Community Trust, Funders for LGBTQ Issues, The New York Women's Foundation, Ms. Foundation For Women, New York City Councilmembers, New York City Department of Youth and Community Development, and New York State Council on the Arts.

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