Whore Works Presents The ABSOLUT GAY THEATRE FESTIVAL DUBLIN

WHORING IS HARD WORK. And now the competition is about to get stiffer with the influx of the newly jobless. Whore Works takes a sharp, witty, balls-out look at a black male hooker's day-to-night struggle with hating and sometimes loving men who are paying him to, well.........you know.

After acclaimed runs in New York, Sugar Valley Theatricals joins with Creative Concept Productions to present WHORE WORKS Monday-Saturday May 3-8, 2010 as part of The Absolut Gay Theatre Festival Dublin

WHORE WORKS features a male prostitute (played by Juan Michael Porter II, near left) servicing several clients, (all played by Bryan Webster, far left) over the course of several vignettes that are by turns pulse-quickening, thought-provoking, hilarious and surreal. Whore Works presents a new benchmark in theater, an unflinching, stereotype-exploding exploration of black male sexuality.

RAVES

Director and screenwriter Stephen Winter (New York, Je t'aime, 2009, starring Kevin Bacon and Julie Christie): "What really took my breath away was the bold force and brilliance of the performances. This is some of the most shockingly fresh and lacerating theater I've seen. These characters are delightfully demented and you'll find yourself rooting for every one of them."

Darian Aaron, top-ranked gay black blogger (Living Out Loud with Darian): "These two fine actors are so committed, they allow themselves to be completely exposed. And I mean that literally. It might not be a good idea to attend this show with your mother. There's something powerful about black gay love onstage, or, in the case of Whore Works, lust. I couldn't help but revel in the fact that for once there was a relationship presented in the theater that reflected the lives of two black gay men in all its complexity."

Bios

Juan Michael Porter II (playwright) JMPII studied writing under the tutelage of his sister, the genius Lauren Kinsey. In response to a commission from Bryan Webster to craft a series of theatrical vignettes exploring relationships between men who love and hate one another, JMPII wrote Whore Works. A year later, after having completed his series of one-act plays, New Ways to Die, for SVT's New Works Series, JMPII was invited by Bryan Webster to become resident playwright for the company. Currently JMPII is constructing a play which dives headfirst into the controversial world of barebacking. In addition to his writing duties, JMPII is the head of The Moving Beauty Series, an independent collaborative collective intent on producing provocative new works.

Bryan Webster* (the Johns) most recently appeared as Bruce Nugent in the SVT production of Passing Ceremonies directed by Sue Lawless and as Cornwall in the Take Wing and Soar production of King Lear directed by Timothy D. Stickney. He has performed with The Public Theater in Everybody's Ruby, directed by Kenny Leon; Theater For a New Audience in As You Like It, directed by Mark Rylance; and The Ridiculous Theatrical Company in Big Hotel, directed by Everett Quinton. In addition, he's worked at several Shakespeare festivals including those in Boston, North Carolina and Camden, Maine. His voiceover work has been heard on national commercials for Prilosec. He is the recipient of the 2008 Earl Hyman Award.

Patricia R. Floyd (director) is a proud native of the "Motor City," Detroit, Michigan. A recipient of two AUDELCO awards and three Audiophile Golden Earphones awards, she has also appeared in films such as Thirty Years to Life and Indelible and has television credits which include Law & Order and two of its franchise dramas, as well as Rescue Me, The Chris Rock Show, and Reading Rainbow. Cutting her directing teeth in Detroit on such projects as for colored girls..., the one-man show Brother Malcom X: Reminiscences of a Black Revolutionary and The Mighty Gents, she slid into the director's chair at STW in Stamford, Connecticut on A Lesson Before Dying (which won two Connecticut Critics Circle Awards). She has also helmed Crumbs from the Table of Joy, Medal of Honor Rag, Blood Knot, A Walk in the Woods and Intimate Apparel. Some of her favorite New York directing credits include We Are Your Sisters for the Blue Heron Theatre, We Beat Whitey Ford for PSNBC, and The Second Coming and Nobody Was Supposed to Survive: The MOVE Massacre for The Open Eye: Eye on Directors Festival. A guest director at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and a part-time scene study instructor at the New York Film Academy, she has also written, produced and directed a short film and is currently negotiating production of stage and film projects.

*appearing courtesy of Actors Equity Association

For more information, and to read the whore's blog, visit www.whoreworks.com

SUGAR VALLEY THEATRICALS is committed to the exploration of issues involving sex and sexuality in the lives of gay men of color. We seek to develop new, challenging work that confronts preconceived stereotypes of men of color in the gay community.
CREATIVE CONCEPT PRODUCTIONS AND Adam Weinstock have produced Off Broadway Theater ranging from the 1996 revival of Mart Crowley's The Boys in the Band, to the critically acclaimed 21 Dog Years Doing Time at Amazon.com at the Cherry Lane Theater. Other productions Off-Broadway include Disappearing Act and The Director starring John Shea, The It Girl which premiered at the York Theater starring Jean Louise Kelly from CBS TV's Yes Dear and Big Al. Adam has worked closely with Bruce Vilanch, Lea DeLaria, Judy Tenuta, Charles Busch, Michael Feinstein and Linda Eder. During the summer Creative Concept Productions presents theater in Provincetown Massachusetts. Shows have included James Lescesne's Word of Mouth, PS69 and the groundbreaking 2001 production of Naked Boys Singing! in Provincetown, which caused Massachusetts to change its art and obscenity laws. Dubbed Mr. Entertainment by the New York Times in a feature article in 2002, Mr. Weinstock has produced on both coasts of the USA as well as in London's West End. This summer alone, he produced Paula Poundstone, Margaret Cho and Sandra Bernhard in concert. Recently in Los Angeles, his show Place Setting was read by Jon Cryer and Steven Weber at the Coronet Theater.

ABSOLUT GAY THEATER FESTIVAL DUBLIN aims to develop all concepts of gay theater by promoting, commisioning and showcasing new writing on gay-related theatre and music which in turn will promote the value of arts in our society. www.absolutgaytheatre.ie

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