Pandora Productions to Present THE BOYS IN THE BAND

Pandora Productions continues the 2015-2016 season with an oldie but a goodie. Mart Crowley's The Boys in the Band is the quintessential 'gay' play, breaking down boundaries and exploring new topics in its Off-Broadway run of over 1000 performances in the Spring of 1968. Before Boys, gay men were 'fops' and 'dandies' but this play changed it all. Since it was on stage a full year prior to Stonewall, Boys proved to be quite prescient in retrospect. Some historians have said that the play's production in advance of Stonewall set the stage for the events that unfolded there, gays would no longer be kept in the closet. The dark comic play explores issues of self-loathing, internalized homophobia, racial biases and more.

Michael is throwing a birthday party for his friend Harold. As he readies the well appointed apartment for the party, Donald, his weekend boyfriend arrives a day early having been turned away by his psychoanalyst. Michael describes the party guests as "six tired, screaming fairy queens" but as they begin to arrive we discover that they are so much more. Emory, the nellie queen with a heart, arrives first with Hank and Larry in tow. Hank, newly divorced, is longing for the kind of a stable relationship with Larry, a self-described 'player', that he had with his wife. Emory's friend Bernard arrives with the wine just in time to inject a more diverse look into these partygoers. The arrival of Michael's college friend, the 'straight' Alan, throws things into an unexpected tailspin. Emory's gift for Harold arrives in the form of a hustler named Cowboy, a hunky blond with not much brain power. And finally the birthday boy arrives and the full extent of trouble relationships emerge as many cocktails help to reveal. As truth games are played, no one emerges unscathed.

The Boys in the Band is directed by the company's Artistic Director and features: Andrew Newton as Michael, Eric Sharp as Donald, Gerald Robertson as Emory, David Galloway as Larry, Harrison Coffman as Hank, Brian West as Bernard, Michael Lee Stein as Alan, Cory Stephens as Cowboy and Shane Whitehead as Harold.

The production will run January 7, 8, 9, 11, 14, 15, 16, at 7:30 p and January 10 and 17 at 5:30 p with the only matinee set for January 16 at 2:00 p. The play will be performed at Pandora's home theatre in the Henry Clay building located at 604 South Third Street, 3rd Floor, Downtown Louisville.

Single tickets are available for $20 in advance and $22 day of show for this production and are available online at http://www.PandoraProds.org, or via phone at 502.216.5502.

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