Josiah Blount's FLAYED to be Presented at Los Angeles LGBT Center

Flayed, a 2023 Hollywood Fringe Festival favorite and multiple award-winner, written and performed by Josiah Blount, directed by David Bridel, has been set for two performances in the Los Angeles LGBT Center’s Lily Tomlin/Jane Wagner Cultural Arts Center Artist Residency on Friday, August 9, and Saturday, September 7, both at 8pm. Performances will be in The Center’s Davidson/Valentini Theatre.

Ticket prices range from $19–$49 and may be purchased here. Mature themes and brief partial nudity. Running time is 75 minutes.
 
In the 2023 HFF, Flayed won the Soaring Solo Social Impact Award and a Best of Broadwater Award. It was nominated for The Fringe First Award (Best World Premiere), the 2Cents Immersive Worlds Award, and the San Diego International Fringe Festival Exchange Award. Its entire run was sold out. Flayed also won the Solofest 2024 Best of Fest Award. Earlier this summer, the show premiered at the 2024 Queerly Festival with Frigid New York. 
 
Flayed is the story of a man on the verge of a breakdown, or maybe, spiritual enlightenment. Joshua is fresh out of pastor’s college and delivering his first sermon to a conservative church in Southwest Virginia. This trial run sermon will determine if he joins the church staff as an Associate Pastor, something he’s longed for his whole life. However, Joshua is queer, deeply closeted, and on the precipice of a mental breakdown. As his sermon progresses, his pristine public self begins to falter and his messy, complex, internal world is revealed. His mind is a fantasy landscape full of eclectic characters who express all his sinful rage, lust, and violence. Will he be able to hide the hell fire within? Or will his whole identity go up in flames? Featuring Lake Bell as the Voice of God.
 
Taubert Nadalini is associate director and sound designer, and Taylor Sieve is choreographer.
 
Josiah Blount is an LA-based actor and writer. Film credits include Ted 2 (Universal) and The Gambler (Paramount). TV credits include Modern Family (ABC), The Mentalist (CBS), Suburgatory (ABC), and Happyland (MTV). As a writer, his pilot script Abomination was a quarterfinalist in the 2023 Screencraft TV Pilot Script Competition. He was recently invited to the Sunday Company at The Groundlings and will begin performing there in the coming months. He is a graduate of The Clown School and performs throughout Los Angeles.
 
David Bridel is the Founding Artistic Director of The Clown School, an artist, scholar, author, and educator. His work has been seen in theatres and opera houses and he has taught in conservatories, programs, and at festivals all over the world. His plays I Gelosi, Lunatics & Actors, and Sublimity are all published by Original Works Press. His book Clowns: In Conversation, featuring interviews with many of the world’s greatest clowns, is available at Amazon.com.   

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