PRIDE OPEN Ends Eastenders Rep 2009-09 Season 4/2-4/11

Eastenders Repertory Company closes Season 2008-2009 with PRIDE OPEN, an ensemble-created story-telling project exploring our contemporary conceptions of sexual identity. Conceived of and directed by Eastenders Founding Artistic Director and Playwright in Residence Charles E. Polly, the production features an ensemble of Eastenders company members and local performers, including Reg Clay, John Hutchinson, Rachel L. Jacobs, Suzan Kendall, AaRon Martinsen, Adeola Role and Vidya Sundaram.

PRIDE OPEN previews on April 2, 2009, opens on Friday, April 3 and runs through April 11 at the Exit Stage Left, 156 Eddy Street in San Francisco. In advance of the April performances, during the month of March Eastenders presents, free to the public, excerpts from PRIDE OPEN at select locations around the Bay Area. For information about dates, times and locations of the free public performances and/or about the production, please call 510.568.4118.

PRIDE OPEN or PRIED OPEN? The tantalizing thing about tackling the topic of sexual identity is that there are or should be No Boundaries. It's scary for most everyone to question sexuality, much less identity. The more you pry open the lid, the more you're forced to look, question and discover ... and discovery may lead to change. The PRIDE OPEN project is not traditional theatre. It's a concoction of interwoven stories, personal experiences, and dramatic moments -- probing who we are as sexual human beings and what it means to us today to define as gay, straight, queer, bi-, transgendered, intersex , or "other"?

PRIDE OPEN features digital pieces from the Y.O.U.T.H. (Youth Offering Unique Tangible Help) Training Project, part of the Bay Area Academy, a social work training academy for the 12 Bay area counties.

Thursday, April 2 Preview @ 8pm
Friday April 3: OPENING GALA THROUGH April 11
SHOWTIMES: Plays Thurs-Sat evenings @ 8pm
and Sunday, April 5 @ 3pm
CLOSES: April 11

Exit Stage Left (156 Eddy Street, San Francisco, CA)
TICKETS: $20 general admission; $15 preview; $25 Opening Night Gala; $15 tickets available for students/seniors and members of KQED, KTEH, and TBA. Group rates available
BOX OFFICE: (510) 568-4118 and ticketweb.com

TOUR DATES & VENUES: FREE TO THE PUBLIC
Sat. March 7, 2009 Golden Gate Valley Branch Library, 1801 Green St., SF; 2:00 p.m.

Sun. March 8, 2009 SF Main Library, presented by the James C. Hormel Gay & Lesbian Center, Lower Level, Latino/Hispanic Community Meeting Room, 100 Larkin St., SF ;

3:00 p.m.
Thurs. March 12, 2009 SFSU, as a part of Women's History Month, Humanities 133,1600 Holloway, SF; 8:30 p.m.
Sat. March 14, 2009 Excelsior Branch Library, 4400 Mission St., SF ; 1:00 p.m.

Sun. March 15, 2009 The Residences at Lake Merritt Hotel, an LGBT-Friendly Senior Community, 1800 Madison St., Oakland; 4:30 pm 

Thurs. March 19, 2009 "Evolution of Families" - Special Event of the Friends of the San Francisco Public Library; LGBT Community Center, Fourth Floor, Rainbow Room, 1800 Market St., SF; 7:00 p.m.
Sat. March 21, 2009 Mission Bay Branch Library, 940 Fourth St., SF; 2:00 p.m.
Sun. March 22, 2009 Noe Valley Branch Library, 451 Jersey St., SF; 2:00 p.m.

FOR MORE INFORMATION ON TOUR, THE PUBLIC SHOULD CALL: 510/568-4118

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