Leslie Jordan, Michael Taylor Gray, Tommy Woelfel and More to Take Part in SOUTHERN BAPTIST SISSIES Reunion Event

The Del Shores Foundation will present a one-night-only celebration of the 20th anniversary of Del Shores' GLAAD Award-winning play SOUTHERN BAPTIST SISSIES for a #SissiesLivestream. The reunion will be live streamed as a benefit fundraiser on YouTube and Facebook on Sunday, August 22 at 5pm Pacific/8pm Eastern, hosted and produced by Emerson Collins and Del Shores. The reunion will feature cast members from the original 2000 play, the 2002 revival, the 2006 national tour and the 2013 feature film adaptation. The proceeds will be split with fifty percent to support the launch of the inaugural Del Shores FOUNDATION WRITERS SEARCH and fifty percent to 25 theatre companies who are associated partners of the Del Shores Foundation. Donations to the benefit can be made at www.delshoresfoundation.org.

"When I wrote this play twenty years ago, I always imagined it becoming a period piece. But, I still get letters every week from a young person who has just been moved by the film because there are still pastors, churches and religious organizations spewing hate at our community," explains Shores. "Sissies is about the impact those words still have on the impressionable LGBTQ+ youth locked in those pews and hearing that they are less than or unworthy." Del Shores Foundation Executive Director Allison Bergman adds, "That leads us to the Foundation's mission. The Writers Search is our first program and opportunity to provide exposure to writers who, like Del, are LGBTQ+ and Southern and have unique stories to tell. We want to help them get their stories told."

SOUTHERN BAPTIST SISSIES is the story of four gay boys growing up in the Southern Baptist church. It explores the conflict between the caustic rhetoric of dogmatic religion and the fragile development of adolescent homosexuality while challenging hypocrisy, exposing damage and offering hope. It reveals the complicated emotions from all sides - the confused child, the struggling adolescent and the angry and damaged adult.

The anniversary celebration of SOUTHERN BAPTIST SISSIES will feature the film cast (in alphabetical order): Newell Alexander ("August: Osage County"), Rosemary Alexander ("Sordid Lives"), WILLAM BELLI ("RuPaul's Drag Race"), Emerson Collins ("RENT" on FOX, "The People's Couch"), Dale Dickey ("Winter's Bone", "Them"), Bobbie Eakes ("The Bold and The Beautiful"), Leslie Jordan ("Will & Grace," "Call Me Kat"), LUKE STRATTE-McCLURE ("Castle"), Matthew Scott Montgomery ("So Random"), JOE Patrick Ward and Ann Walker ("Sordid Lives.")

There will also be appearances by cast of the original GLAAD Award-winning play Robert Lewis STEPHENSON ("The Thomas Crown Affair"), Michael Taylor GRAY ("Pretty the Series"), Ted Detwiler ("Sordid Lives: The Series"), SCOTT PRESLEY ("Sordid Lives: The Series"), TOMMY WOELFEL ("Will & Grace"), Del Shores Foundation Executive Director Allison Bergman and performances from the film soundtrack by Debby Holiday ("Blues For Willadean") and Tony winner Levi Kreis ("Million Dollar Quartet."

SOUTHERN BAPTIST SISSIES HISTORY

In 2000, Del Shores premiered his play SOUTHERN BAPTIST SISSIES to a ten-month, sold-out run in Los Angeles. In 2002, it had another six-month, sold-out run. Shores received the

LA Weekly, Robby and Maddy Awards for Best Direction and the Backstage West Garland, Robby and Maddy Awards for Best Writing. The play was also won the GLAAD Award for Outstanding Production of the Year. In 2006, a National Tour was headlined by Leslie Jordan and Delta Burke. In 2013, Beard Collins Shores Productions successfully crowdfunded the budget of the feature film adaptation as a hybrid of film and the live theatre experience. The film had its world premiere at Outfest and sold-out screenings at 24 film festivals, winning thirteen awards including eight Best Feature Audience Awards, before opening in limited release in ten cities. It is distributed by Breaking Glass Pictures, available on DVD and iTunes and streaming on BroadwayHD, Peacock and Amazon Prime.

ABOUT THE SCHEDULE

SOUTHERN BAPTIST SISSIES 20th ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION will live stream Sunday, August 22 at 5pm Pacific/8pm Eastern.

The livestream is free and reminders can be set for the livestream on

YouTube here: https://youtu.be/oje23ZIzAHc

Facebook here: This link will be available Monday, August 15.

For more information on the benefit and the Del Shores Foundation Writers Search, please visit www.delshoresfoundation.org

Enter the Del Shores Foundation Writers Search here: www.filmfreeway.com/DelShoresFoundationWritersSearch

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