Dominic Colón & Roger Q. Mason to Star in THE PINK Developmental Reading at 59E59 Theaters

Casting has been announced for the developmental reading of THE PINK by acclaimed Black Filipinx playwright and Kilroys List honoree Roger Q. Mason, presented by Breaking the Binary Theatre in association with Primary Stages as part of the Creative Access Grant Reading Series with Primary Stages. The reading will take place on Monday, April 3 at 7pm at 59E59 Theaters (59 E 59th St, New York, NY 10022). The event is FREE and open to the public. For more information and to reserve your seat please visit https://primarystages.org/explore/creative-access-grants/readings.

THE PINK: An Intimacy Ritual is a hook up performed in real time between two queer people of color seeking true intimacy in the age of dating apps and digital sex. As these two humans, Mel and Herman, grasp for "the real" in the bedroom, their conversations, silences, and moments of touch blur the lines between affection, sex, and euphoric romance.

The cast will feature Dominic Colón (The War I Know) as Herman and Roger Q. Mason (Lavender Men) as Mel. The reading will be directed by é boylan with dramaturgy by Gaven Trinidad.

"Dominic is a dynamite performer and writer who champions the joy of queerness on and off the page like no other," said playwright Roger Q. Mason. "I'm excited to share our collaboration with New York. It is going to be hot hot hot!"

THE PINK is a commission from the inaugural Primary Stages Creative Access Grant, dedicated to amplifying the work of underrepresented communities and artists. Playwright Roger Q. Mason was nominated by one of their long-time advocates, National Queer Theater.

Roger Q. Mason

(Playwright/Mel) (they/them) is a writer and performer who uses the lens of history to disrupt the biases that divide rather than unite us. Their playwriting has been seen on Broadway (Circle in the Square Reading Series); Off and Off-Off-Broadway; and regionally. Mason's world premiere of Lavender Men was lauded by the Los Angeles Times as "evoking the mingled visions of Suzan-Lori Parks, Jeremy O. Harris and Michael R. Jackson." As a filmmaker, Mason has been recognized by the British Film Institute, Lonely Wolf International Film Festival, SCAD Film Festival, AT&T Film Award, and Atlanta International Film Festival. Their films have screened in the US, UK, Poland, Brazil, and Asia. Mason holds degrees from Princeton University, Middlebury College, and Northwestern University. They are a member of the Dramatists Guild of America, Page 73's Interstate 73 Writers Group, and Primary Stages Writing Cohort; the co-host of Sister Roger's Gayborhood podcast; the host of This Way Out Radio's Queerly Yours: Portraits in Courage; and lead mentor of the Shay Foundation Fellowship and the New Visions Fellowship. Instagram: @rogerq.mason

é boylan

(Director) (they/them) is a NYC-based director, creator, and composer developing new work towards trans liberation. é has collaborated in spaces like LCT3/Lincoln Center, Roundabout Theater Company, Manhattan Theatre Club, BAM, the O'Neill, Joe's Pub, Birdland, Studio Theatre, and elsewhere. In 2022, é received an honorable mention for the Relentless Award and was a finalist for the Jonathan Larson Grant. A graduate of The University of Chicago and NTI, they have served as 2019 Trans Lab Fellow, 2019-20 MTC Directing Fellow, 2021 JMF Songwriter, Member of 2020-22 Roundabout Theatre Company Directors Group, New Writer in Residence at Lincoln Center Theater, and currently serves as a member of Musical Theatre Factory's Makers Cohort II. www.eboylan.com

Dominic Colón

(Herman) (they/them) is a Puerto Rican actor, writer, and director from the Bronx. For over 20 years, Dominic taught acting and playwriting at various NYC high schools, hospitals, juvenile detention facilities, and Rikers Island. As an actor, Dominic has appeared in over 60 television shows and movies, including POWER, BULL, MR. ROBOT, LAW & ORDER: SVU, and ESCAPE AT DANNEMORA. As a writer, Dominic's play THE WAR I KNOW has been workshopped at The Atlantic Theater Company and has been developed by The Sol Project and The Latinx Playwrights Circle. THE WAR I KNOW is the first in a trilogy of plays exploring the impact of HIV on the Latinx community in the Bronx from the late 80s through the Covid-19 pandemic, and was the inaugural recipient of the WRITE-IT-OUT Prize, a prize given to a playwright living with HIV, created by playwright Donja R. Love. Dominic's short play PROSPECT AVENUE or THE MISEDUCATION OF JUNI RODRIGUEZ was staged at the 38th Annual Marathon of One-Act plays at Ensemble Studio Theater after originally premiering as part of the MTA Radio Plays at Rattlestick Theater. Most recently, Dominic wrote the episode OUR LADY OF THE SIX TRAIN for the new Queer Latinx scripted podcast anthology, LOVE IN GRAVITY. His television pilot PAPI made THE BLACKLIST's inaugural LATINX TV LIST, a curated list of the ten most promising pilots created by Latinx Writers. As one of the top three finalists, Dominic received a blind pilot deal at HULU. Dominic is a writer on the upcoming Netflix series PINK MARINE, produced by television icon, Norman Lear.

Gaven D. Trinidad

(Dramaturg) (they/he/siya) is a first generation Filipinx American theatremaker and educator from NYC. Their artistic work examines the intersections of race, language, immigration, queerness, ritual, community, and futurity. They taught undergraduate courses on the work of contemporary BIPOC playwrights at the University of Massachusetts Amherst under the mentorship of Dr. Priscilla Page. They've had the privilege to collaborate with folx in various artistic and administrative positions at places such as The Juilliard Drama Division, Musical Theatre Factory, Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival, Roundabout Theatre Company, 2nd Stage, and National Queer Theater. Selected dramaturgy credits: Waiting for a Wake (Page 73), The Pink (Primary Stages), PreP Play, or Blue Parachute (National Queer Theater, NCTC), June is the First Fall (Yantze Repertory Theater), Collidescope 2.0 (Ping Chong + Company), Patience (2nd Stage). Selected directing credits: Joker (National Queer Theater), Are You There Truman? (Pride Plays, Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, The Parsnip Ship, Leviathan Lab), Sa Aming Puso (Global Forms Theatre Festival, Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, New York Theatre Salon). Playwriting Groups/Fellowships: Orchard Project Greenhouse Lab, The Shelter NYC, Playground NYC, Ma-Yi Labbie, The Parsnip Ship Play Club. BA American Studies, Dickinson College; MFA Dramaturgy, UMass Amherst. Proud former public-school teacher in Memphis, TN with Teach for America. Theatre Communications Group named them a 2021 Rising Leader of Color. As someone living with bipolar disorder, they are an advocate for Mental Health Awareness and Suicide Prevention. www.gaventrinidadtheatre.com

Primary Stages and Einhorn School of Performing Arts Creative Access Grants

are a new initiative providing financial, educational, artistic, and community support to playwrights nominated by four culturally specific NYC-based theater companies, providing support to historically underrepresented communities and amplifying the artists and work of these vital arts organizations. The four 2021/22 Creative Access Grantees each received a stipend and two free classes at Primary Stages ESPA during our Fall and Spring semesters, giving these playwrights resources for their creative and professional development, and expanding their network of connections through support from the Primary Stages ESPA community of fellow artists. As a member of the Primary Stages family, playwrights have access to free tickets for all Primary Stages productions, talkbacks, and artistic events. Playwrights are also invited to participate in roundtable discussions about their creative process and their experience in the theater industry. The Creative Access Grant program culminates in public presentations of the artists' works in collaboration with the nominating theater company, celebrating this artistry through our joined communities. Primary Stages hopes for this Grant program to further expand their community of artists and collaborating theaters, developing long-lasting partnerships to ensure that playwrights' voices are supported and amplified.

Primary Stages is collaborating with Latinx Playwrights Circle, National Black Theatre, National Queer Theater, and Pan Asian Repertory Theatre on the Creative Access Grants. The inaugural Creative Access Grant recipients are Tyler Dobies, Roger Q. Mason, Derek Lee McPhatter, and Justin Santory.

The Creative Access Grants program is made possible, in part, through the generous support of The Ellen M. Violett and Mary P.R. Thomas Foundation.

Primary Stages

is an Off-Broadway not-for-profit theater company dedicated to inspiring, supporting, producing and sharing the art of playwriting. We operate on the strongly held belief that the future of American theater relies on nurturing playwrights and giving them the artistic support needed to create new work. Since our founding in 1984, we have produced more than 135 new plays, including Theresa Rebeck's Poor Behavior and Downstairs, Kate Hamill's Pride and Prejudice and Little Women, Billy Porter's While I Yet Live; Charles Busch's The Tribute Artist and Olive and the Bitter Herbs; Sharon Washington's Feeding the Dragon, Leah Nanako Winkler's God Said This, In Transit by James-Allen-Ford, Kristen Anderson-Lopez, Russ Kaplan, and Sara Wordsworth (on Broadway in 2017); Horton Foote's The Roads to Home, The Day Emily Married, Harrison, TX, and Dividing the Estate (two Tony nominations); Donald Margulies' The Model Apartment (1995 premiere and 2013 revival); David Ives' Lives of the Saints and All in the Timing (original 1993 production and 2013 revival); Deborah Zoe Laufer's Informed Consent; Ike Holter's Exit Strategy; Tanya Saracho's Fade; Michael McKeever's Daniel's Husband, A.R. Gurney's Black Tie; Terrence McNally's Dedication or the Stuff of Dreams and The Stendhal Syndrome; Danai Gurira and Nikkole Salter's In the Continuum (which went on to tour the U.S., Africa, and Scotland); and Conor McPherson's St. Nicholas (which marked the playwright's U.S. debut). Our productions and artists have received critical acclaim, including Tony, Obie, Lortel, AUDELCO, Outer Critics' Circle, Drama League, and Drama Desk awards and nominations. Primary Stages supports playwrights and develops new works through commissions, workshops, readings, and our education and training programs: The Dorothy Strelsin New American Writers Group, the Marvin and Anne Einhorn School of Performing Arts (ESPA), the Fordham/Primary Stages MFA in Playwriting, and the Primary Stages Off-Broadway Oral History Project. Through these programs, Primary Stages advocates for our artists, helping them make important-and often transformative- connections within the theater community. For more information, visit www.primarystages.org.

Breaking the Binary Theatre

is a new work development and community building hub wherein transgender, non-binary, and Two-Spirit+ (TNB2S+) artists come together to reclaim our artistic license and liberty on our own terms in spaces built by and for us. Breaking the Binary Theatre hosts a number of programs and initiatives, including our flagship artistic event each October: the all-TNB2S+ Breaking the Binary Theatre Festival. @BreakingTheBinaryTheatre on Instagram. www.btb-nyc.com

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