VIDEO: Chuck Rowland Pioneer Award Ceremony Celebrating Roger Q. Mason is Now Available for Viewing for a Limited Time

Celebration Theatre's Chuck Rowland Pioneer Award Ceremony celebrating Black Queer Writer/Performer Roger Q. Mason is now available for viewing for a limited time only. The award ceremony will be available through Sunday, June 14, 2020.

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The ceremony opened with a powerful speech by Celebration Theatre's Executive Director Christopher Maikish highlighting the theatre's deepening commitment to diversity and inclusion. The evening was directed by Ann James with guest directors Lovell Holder and June Carryl. Previous Chuck Rowland recipient Michael Kearns presented Roger with this year's award with a heart-felt and deeply honest tribute speech.

The 75-minute program features performances by Travis Coles (OWN's "David Makes Man"), Garrett Clayton (King Cobra), Drew Droege (Paramount Network's "Heathers"), Gillian Williams (OWN's "David Makes Man"), Duane Boutte (Netflix's "Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt"), Philippe Bowgen (Fox's "The Mick"), Devere Rogers (My Spy), Adam Hyndman (Broadway's Hadestown), Nicky Endres (TV's "One Day at a Time), and Nathan Frizzell (Showtimes's "Twin Peaks"), reading samples of Roger's works Onion Creek, The White Dress, Lavender Men, and a new work The Pride of Lions. The premiere was followed by an in-depth interview between Roger and Celebration Theatre Artistic Director Michael A. Shepperd in which they discussed their longtime mentorship, Roger's writing process, and the status of queer theatre in our time of civic awakening. Donations are still being accepted by the theatre and will be forwarded to the 100 Black Men and the Minnesota Freedom Fund, reflecting award namesake Chuck Rowland's involvement in activism beginning as a student at the University of Minnesota.

Roger Q. Mason is a black, Filipinx, gender queer writer/performer of color known for using the lens of history to chip away at the biases that divide rather than unite us. His recent work, Lavender Men, which ponders the queerness of Abraham Lincoln, played to a sold-out Broadway house at Circle in the Square Theatre as part of their Circle Reading Series. The presentation featured Charlie Thurston as Abe Lincoln, Garrett Clayton as Lincoln's queer legal assistant Elmer Ellsworth, and Mason as Taffeta. A world premiere of Lavender Men was scheduled at Skylight Theatre Company this spring, but was suspended due to the coronavirus crisis.

During quarantine, Roger has taken advantage of virtual storytelling opportunities, including features in Theatre without Theatre (featured in Playbill's Weekly Video Roundup), Two Headed Rep's Contagious Closet Plays, Shrunken Shakespeare's Solos in Solidarity, and the 24 Hour Plays, where his monologue "Nadine" was premiered by legendary Wayne Brady subsequently performed by other actor/influencers, collectively earning over 20K views on social media. Recently, Roger partnered with Lucille Lortel-nominated actress L. Morgan Lee from the Pulitzer-winning A Strange Loop to develop "From Kaya," a monologue based upon conversations with Kaya Goings, a formerly incarcerated trans woman of color.

The Chuck Rowland Pioneer Award is presented annually by the historic Celebration Theatre and honors a groundbreaking LGBTQ playwright whose work has entertained, inspired, and empowered the community. This award celebrates an artist whose body of work has become a vital part of the evolving conversation around the social impact of arts activism. Past recipients have included Robert Patrick, Michael Kearns, Tom Jacobson, Patricia Loughrey, and Billy Porter. The award was named for gay rights pioneer, arts educator, and creator of Celebration Theatre, Charles "Chuck" Rowland, who also co-founded the seminal Mattachine Society in 1950, along with Harry Hay, Rudi Gernreich, Dale Jennings and partner Bob Hull.

This year's award ceremony is being presented as part of the theatre's virtual festival Celebrating Pride, supported in part by a grant from the City of West Hollywood.

More info about the program and festival can be found at www.celebrationtheatre.org/pride.

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