Roger Q. Mason's THE PINK to Receive Reading with Primary Stages This Spring

Acclaimed Black Filipinx playwright and Kilroys List honoree Roger Q. Mason will receive a developmental reading of their new play THE PINK with Primary Stages as part of their Creative Access Grant Reading Series. The reading (rescheduled from a previous engagement postponed this past fall) 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.

"Stories about queer love and intimacy are necessary narratives to see in the American Theatre. They render us human, complex and whole," Mason reflects. "As queer people we have invented love languages despite attempts to render us silent and invisible. Queer sex is the epitome of imagination, aspiration and manifestation. And it always makes for one hell of a story."

Playwright Roger Q. Mason was recently acclaimed "a daring theatrical talent" by Charles McNulty of the Los Angeles Times and "a major voice in the theatrical vanguard" by TheaterMania. The Brooklyn Rail said Mason is "quickly becoming one of the most significant playwrights of the decade."

THE PINK is a commission from the inaugural Primary Stages 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. The reading will be directed by é boylan with dramaturgy by Gaven Trinidad.

Roger Q. Mason (Playwright - 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 and Ma-Yi's Writing Lab, as well as an alum of Page 73's Interstate 73 Writers Group and Primary Stages Writing Cohort. Mason has co-hosted the podcast Sister Roger's Gayborhood and hosted This Way Out Radio's Queerly Yours: Portraits in Courage. They are a lead mentor of The Marsha P. Johnson Institute's Starship Fellowship, the New Visions Fellowship and the Shay Foundation Fellowship. Instagram: @rogerq.mason

é boylan (Director - they/them) is a NYC based director, creator, and composer developing new work towards trans liberation. Past selected honors include: 2019 Trans Lab Fellow, 2019-20 MTC Directing Fellow, 2020 NAMT Musical Challenge Award, 2021 JMF Songwriter, 2021 Prospect MT Lab Commission, 2022 MTFxR Garage Artist. Currently, é serves as a member of Roundabout Theatre Company's Directors Group and Musical Theatre Factory's Makers Cohort II, as well as a Resident Playwright at Lincoln Center Theater. www.eboylan.com

Gaven Trinidad (Dramaturg - they/he/siya) is a Filipinx American director-dramaturg-playwright. Their artistic work examines the intersections of social justice, race, immigration, queerness, mental health, and community. They have worked as an artist and/or as an arts administrator at 2nd Stage, The Juilliard Drama Division, Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival, IAMA Theatre, and National Queer Theater. Their first play Learning How to Read by Moonlight was recognized as 2021 Bay Area Playwrights Festival Finalist. TCG 2021 Rising Leaders of Color; Orchard Project Greenhouse Lab Cohort Member 22-23; New York Theatre Workshop's Community Engagement Associate and Leviathan Lab's dramaturg-in-residence. They live with Bipolar Disorder 1, and they advocate for more empathetic representations and practices in regard to mental health and care on and off-stage. 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 their 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.

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 their founding in 1984, they 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). Their 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 their 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 their artists, helping them make important-and often transformative- connections within the theater community. For more information, visit www.primarystages.org.

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