National Queer Theater Presents Workshop Of New Solo Show By Ayla Sullivan In NYC

Today. National Queer Theater has announced that it will produce a workshop of a new play created and performed by Ayla Xuan Chi Sullivan (they/them), a Black and Vietnamese, queer, nonbinary, interdisciplinary arts practitioner, and directed by Roger Q. Mason (they/them). Gaven Trinidad (they/them) will serve as dramaturg.

The solo show will include a collection of small plays that rely on audience participation has two titles, "For Colored N*****" or "Who Gon Beat My Ass? (You Won't I'm Too Scary)" and is inspired by the lived experiences of the playwright and performer's life growing up in racist, sexist Colorado and moving to Harlem. Each play offers different perspectives on Black, Queer, Trans, and multiracial identity through song, spoken word, burlesque, and performance.

The workshop will take place on Thursday, October 27, and Friday, October 28, at 8:00 pm ET in Room 101 of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center, at 208 W 13th St, New York, NY 10011. This room is located on the first floor of the building and is accessible. The performance is free and available to all, but there is an encouraged $10 donation. Tickets can be secured through Eventbrite. This workshop is part of National Queer Theater's New Play Development program, presented in partnership with The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center.

Sullivan is a trans musical theatre actor turned poet laureate turned playwright turned screenwriter and director from the lands of the Cheyenne, Arapahoe, and Nuche, colonially known as Denver, Colorado. Sullivan's work is often referred to as "love poems addressed to people in our community we are conditioned to forget": Black, Indigenous, Asian, Queer and Trans People of Color, those experiencing homelessness, immigrants, and anyone who is (or has been) incarcerated. Outside of theatre, they are a 2021 Almanac Screenwriters Alum and have written librettos with composer Jack Frerer for the Arapahoe Philharmonic and the Albany Symphony.

Mason is an award-winning writer, performer and educator known for using history's lens to highlight the biases that separate rather than unite us. They are an honoree of the Kilroys List; the recipient of the Chuck Rowland Pioneer Award; the Fire This Time Festival Alumni Spotlight, and the Hollywood Fringe Festival Encore Producers Award; and a finalist for the Geffen Writers' Room, Lark Playwright's Week and the Screencraft Play Award. Mason holds degrees from Princeton University, Middlebury College, and Northwestern University. They are a member of Page 73's Interstate 73 Writers Group, the co-host of Sister Roger's Gayborhood podcast, and the co-founder/lead mentor of the New Visions Fellowship.

Trinidad has worked and interned in various positions at The Juilliard School, Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival, New York Theatre Workshop, the TEAM, Ma-Yi Theatre Company, Musical Theatre Factory, and Yangtze Repertory Theatre. Selected theatre credits as dramaturg: June is the First Fall (dir. Michael Leibenluft), The Lily's Revenge (dir. Jennifer Onopa), Snowflakes, or Rare White People (dir. Gabriel Harrell), benevolence (playwright and dir. Ifa Bayeza), Collidescope 2.0 (dir. Ping Chong and Talvin Wilks).

"This play is a celebration of my full Black and Vietnamese self-whatever you don't know about me yet is not my problem; you're simply late to the party, baby," said Sullivan. "But you're always invited! Ain't nothing wrong with being late."

For more information about "For Colored N*****" or "Who Gon Beat My Ass? (You Won't I'm Too Scary" and to secure tickets, visit the Eventbrite link at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/for-colored-niggaz-or-who-gon-beat-my-ass-you-wont-im-too-scary-tickets-435765324817.

For more information about National Queer Theater, visit www.nationalqueertheater.org.

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