New Queer Opera SEXTET To Be Given A Concert Reading 10/14

Diversionary Theatre's Queer Theatre program will present a concert reading of four scenes of the new queer opera Sextet by Nicolas Reveles. This first public workshop of this intimate chamber opera explores the many facets of gay desire - for community, for power, for acceptance, for family, for sex and for love. From Walt Whitman to The Rapture, a storybook tale to a look at love in the 21st Century, San Diego composer and librettist Nicolas Reveles seeks to find a common thread in the poetry, lore, myth and experience of gay men coming to terms with extraordinary circumstances.

This one night event will be held at Diversionary on Wednesday, October 14 at 7:30pm, and will feature singers Enrique Toral, John Craig Johnson, Joe Pechota, Will Earl Spanheimer and Nick Munson.

Nicolas Reveles is currently The Geisel Director of Education and Outreach for the San Diego Opera and the host of OperaTalk on UCSD-TV. He composed, in collaboration with librettist J. Sherwood Montgomery, an operatic setting of The Sleeping Beauty which toured schools and theatre venues in a production by the San Diego Opera Ensemble in the fall of 2005. His latest opera, Rumpelstiltskin was toured by the Ensemble from 2007-2009 and produced by Lyric Opera San Diego in February 2009. J. Sherwood Montgomery is artistic director of Lyric Opera San Diego.

Started in 1986, the mission of Diversionary Theatre is to produce plays with gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender themes that portray characters in their complexity and diversity both historically and contemporarily. Sextet is part of Diversionary's Queer Theatre - Taking Center Stage play development program. The program honors the ideas, the energy and commitment people have made to tell LGBT stories.

Tickets are now on sale through the Diversionary Theatre Box Office. General Admission tickets are $24 ($19 advance tickets for Diversionary subscribers). There are also Patron Tickets for $50 and includes a post-show reception with the artists - Patron Tickets support the development of this specific work ($40 advance tickets for Diversionary subscribers). Call the Box Office at 619.220.0097 or visit the website at www.diversionary.org.