SAY GAY PLAYS Will Have a Benefit Reading at NYU Skirball Next Month

Voyage Theater Company will present SAY GAY PLAYS, an evening of queer theater to benefit New Alternatives For Homeless LGBT Youth on Monday, May 13 at NYU Skirball. The night will be hosted by Peppermint (Head Over Heels, The Traitors) with special guest appearances by Yuhua Hamasaki (RuPaul's Drag Race), Murray Hill (Somebody Somewhere), and Jeff Hiller (American Horror Story: NYC).

SAY GAY PLAYS will feature staged readings of 10 LGBTQ+ themed short plays by: Fernanda Coppel, Mashuq Mushtaq Deen, Ty Defoe, Marquis D. Gibson, Nina Ki, Derick Edgren Otero, Harrison David Rivers, J. Harvey Stone, Lucy Thurber, and Doug Wright. Following the benefit reading, the plays will be made available royalty-free to not-for-profit theaters, colleges and universities, and community organizations across the nation for use to present their own fundraising events on behalf of LGBTQ+ organizations in their communities. The evening will also feature the presentation of the Say Gay Plays New Voices Awards to two finalists from the Kennedy Center's Michael Kanin Playwriting Awards program.

SAY GAY PLAYS will be presented on Monday, May 13 at 7pm at NYU Skirball (566 LaGuardia Pl, New York, NY 10012). Tickets are $56 - $156, available at tickets.nyu.edu/saygayplays

SAY GAY PLAYS was conceived by Voyage Theater Company in association with Tectonic Theater Project, Miami New Drama, and Provincetown Theater in response to the 2022 passage of the Parental Rights in Education bill in Florida, commonly known as the "Don't Say Gay" bill. In 2023, more than 520 state bills attacking LGBTQ+ rights were introduced, with more than 75 becoming law. The Human Rights Campaign officially declared a state of emergency for LGBTQ+ people in the United States for the first time in history. And it's getting worse. According to the ACLU, in 2024 alone, more than 300 anti-LGBTQ+ bills have been introduced in 35 state legislatures around the country. SAY GAY PLAYS is about sharing queer stories of courage, triumph, and joy to counter the harmful narratives used as justification for the passage of these discriminatory bills.

The goal of SAY GAY PLAYS is two-fold: to raise awareness for LGBTQ+ equality during this election year and offer financial support to potentially hundreds of not-for-profit organizations across the country. The project's website, SayGayPlays.org, will serve as a hub for applicants and participants, while tracking the project's impact nationwide.

The SAY GAY PLAYS are:

The Greenhouse
By J. Harvey Stone / Directed by Joseph Megel
In 1972, a group of gay undergraduate men meet clandestinely each week at a campus greenhouse. A missing book and a changing world force them to come to terms with what they mean to each other and how much they need the safe space.

Principal's Office
By Fernanda Coppel / Directed by Lisa Rothe
Lesbian Latinx mother Lourdes confronts another parent's bigotry at her child's school, where discussion of LGBTQ+ families has recently become illegal.

Swann Song
By Marquis D. Gibson / Directed by Raz Golden
Undergrad student Earl challenges academic norms, performing his senior thesis in homage to William Dorsey Swann, history's first self-proclaimed drag queen.

Happy Endings For People Like Us
By Nina Ki / Directed by Dennis Yueh-Yeh Li
As Jordan is preparing to leave home for her freshman year at college, her queer non-binary sibling Nani panics, feeling abandoned and vulnerable without their older sister's protection.

Two-Spirit F(l)ag
By Ty Defoe / Directed by Jayna Shoda Meyer
Moon - a two-spirit, Indigiqueer/trans student - seeks counsel and connection from their elder, Duncle Jay, as they create a special flag in preparation for the Chicago State University Liberation Pow Wow.

i love the shit out of you
By Harrison David Rivers / Directed by Tyrone Mitchell Henderson
A young gay man is triggered when his lover dumps him via Post-it.

Diet Pride
By Derick Edgren Otero / Directed by Matthew Pezzulich
A marketing executive at a soft drink company will reveal her true colors this Pride month.

question (ˈkwɛs.tʃən) vb., the imperative form
By Mashuq Mushtaq Deen / Directed by Lisa Rothe
A choral meditation on gender, language, and our shared humanity.

Late Night Drink
By Lucy Thurber / Directed by Jenna Worsham
Dolores has ridden her rebuilt Triumph Bonneville 1959 T120 motorcycle from New Hampshire to seek solace and safety in an NYC lesbian bar. What she finds there is an unexpected connection to young bartender Julissa.

An Address to the Florida Legislature
By Doug Wright / Directed by Raz Golden
Outspoken conservative John Q. Public offers some pragmatic suggestions for strengthening Florida's "Don't Say Gay" bills.

SAY GAY PLAYS will star Inga Ballard, Nic Billey, Evangeline Billups, Jack Cherry, Jonathan Chisolm, Erica Cruz Hernández, Lawrence Davis Jr., Rina Dutta, Emmanuel Elpenord, Jamie Feidner, Kevin R. Free, Claire Gardner, Danny Johnson, Jess Kadish Hernandez, Bianca Leigh, Joey Morof, Benjamin Paulk, Dale Soules, Robert Stanton, Zo Tipp, Eric R. Williams, and Alex Wyse.

The Advisory Committee for SAY GAY PLAYS is Rev. Micah Bucey (Senior Minister at Judson Memorial Church), Gary Garrison (Managing Director of Provincetown Theater), Dean Gray (Board Member of Merryall Center), Tyrone Mitchell Henderson (Artistic Director of Quick Silver Theater Company), Moisés Kaufman (Artistic Director of Tectonic Theater Project), Jamil Khoury & Malik Gilani (Co-Artistic Directors of Silk Road Rising), Stephanie Klapper (Stephanie Klapper Casting), Joseph Megel (Professor at UNC-Chapel Hill), Michael Ngo (President of Voyage Theater Company), Lisa Rothe (Senior Lecturer at Binghamton University and Adjunct Faculty at Columbia University), and Kathleen Salazar (Artistic Associate at Voyage Theater Company).

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