Emerging Artists Theatre Celebrates Their 28th Season With Three Virtual Benefit Performances

In celebration of their 28th season, Emerging Artists Theatre will present three diverse virtual benefit performances in November. Productions include the 20th anniversary of Boys Don't Wear Lipstick, by Brian Belovitch, Doris Day: A Sentimental Journey, by Paul Adams, and Pooling to Paradise by Caytha Jentis. Numerous artists are lending their talent to the benefit including, Margaret Cho, Lena Hall, Everett Quinton, Daphne Rubin Vega, RuPaul's Drag Queen Stars, among others.

Tickets can be purchased on a sliding scale of $10, $15, and $20 at www.emergingartiststheatre.org. Streaming and additional information will be emailed after tickets are purchased. Once the virtual performance premieres, each performance will be available to be viewed for four days. Proceeds will benefit Emerging Artists Theatre (EAT), Callen-Lorde Community Health Center, and The Doris Day Animal Foundation.

Boys Don't Wear Lipstick

Monday, November 9 at 8 pm

Written by Brian Belovitch, directed by Everett Quinton

Featuring Jonny Beauchamp, Margaret Cho, Yuhua Hamasaki, Lena Hall, Peppermint, Jacob Tobia, Mason Alexander Park, and Daphne Rubin Vega

Boys Don't Wear Lipstick was originally presented in 2000 at The Players Theater in New York City, and was a 2000 GLAAD Media Awards nominee for Outstanding Broadway/Off- Broadway Production. The play is based on playwright Brian Belovitch's journey from boyhood to manhood - by way of a 15-year detour through womanhood.

At the age of 15, Brian concluded that HE was meant to be a SHE. With a little help from hormones and breast implants, Brian became "Tish". Tish passed happy years as an army bride, enjoying the role of dutiful wife. When her storybook marriage crumbled, the resourceful Tish found success as a working model and cabaret singer in New York City, before hard times hit and she ultimately found herself walking 42nd street. Fed up with living on the fence between the sexes, Tish made a shocking decision. www.boysdontwearlipstick.com

Co-presented by EAT and Red Spear Productions. Boys Don't Wear Lipstick proceeds will benefit EAT and the Callen-Lorde Community Health Center.

Doris Day: A Sentimental Journey

November 16 at 8 pm

Written by Paul Adams, directed by Melissa Attebery

Performed by Tiffan Borelli, accompanied by Matt Casarino

A rare theatrical look inside the life of an iconic American sweetheart. Her voice and her lyrical stylings made her a unique and ever-present comfort to an America needing that winning smile and wholesomeness that were her trademarks. Featuring 20 of her most famous songs.

Proceeds with benefit EAT and The Doris Day Animal Foundation.

Pooling to Paradise

Monday, November 23 at 8 pm

Written by Caytha Jentis, directed by Alice Jankell

Featuring Veronica Dang, Eulone Gooding, Stephen Reich, and Jersten Seraile.

Four Los Angeles strangers, each at a personal crossroad, turn their pooled ride-share into a road trip to Paradise, Nevada. On mythic Route 66, these thirty-something millennials grapple with the gig economy, love, sex, fourth-wave feminism, self-expectations, and letting go of dreams.

A feature film version starring Lynn Chen, Jonathan Lipnicki, Dreama Walker, Jordan Carlos and Taryn Manning will be released in the Spring of 2021.

Emerging Artists Theatre, now in its 28th season, produces a bi-annual three-week developmental series that provides artists of different disciplines (theatre, music, dance) the opportunity to present one night of a "work-in-progress" with audience feedback. Since the New Work Series inception in 2006, successful FringeNYC, NYMF, Edinburgh Fringe, and Off-Broadway shows have been born out of this series. Artistic Director Paul Adams and company members Andrea Alton, Elizabeth Bell, Scott Klavan and Vanessa Shealy serve as curators for the series. Due to COVID-19, the 2020 New Work Series had to be put on hold. EAT's New Work Series will resume as soon as it's safe to open New York theaters again.

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