The Beebo Brinker Chronicles Festival Kicks Off 8/25

ACT Theatre joins The Beebo Brinker Chronicles Festival, a 1950's lesbian pulp festival spanning seven months, involving the work of over 50 of Seattle's most talented actors, musicians, designers and neo-burlesque performers, produced by Cherry Manhattan Presents.

First seen at packed houses at Re-bar this past April - July, ACT Theatre will be bringing the very best of the monthly Pulp Cabaret Series to the Bullitt Cabaret for three nights only (Aug. 25-27, 2011), produced as part of the Central Heating Lab at ACT. The festival continues with the Seattle Premiere of the award winning theatrical adaptation of Ann Bannon's groundbreaking books The Beebo Brinker Chronicles (adapted by Linda S. Chapman and Kate Moira Ryan) for a four-week run at Re-bar Sept. 15 - Oct.9, 2011, directed by Katjana Vadeboncoeur.

Called "The Queen of Lesbian Pulp Fiction," Ann Bannon is best known for her landmark series of five original paperback novels known collectively as The Beebo Brinker Chronicles. Written from 1957 to 1962, they tell the stories of young lesbians in love and lust in the gay mecca of Greenwich Village New York. The novels contributed to a consciousness that was evolving into a full-fledged gay rights movement, and paved the way for a generation to come. Inspired by these stories, producer Cherry Manhattan, has brought together a seriously sexy tribute to the work of Bannon and the enduring significance of the closeted characters she brought to vivid life.

UPCOMING BEEBO BRINKER CHRONICLES FESTIVAL EVENTS:

THE BEEBO BRINKER PULP CABARET @ ACT

produced by Cherry Manhattan Presents and The Central Heating Lab at ACT Theatre

Aug. 25 - 27, 2011

Thurs - Fri at 7:30 p.m. and Sat. 7:30 & 10:00 p.m.

Bullitt Cabaret at ACT, 700 Union St.

Tickets:

$20 in advance / $25 at the door

Show & Reception with author Ann Bannon: $50 (Saturday August 27, reception: 5:00 p.m.; show: 7:30 p.m.)

ACT Ticket Office: (206) 292-7676 or www.acttheatre.org

The very best of the Pulp Cabaret Series @ Re-Bar comes to ACT Theatre for one weekend only! This seriously sexy cabaret will immerse audiences in an erotic 1950s Greenwich Village underground gay-bar rife with pin-ups, intelligent burlesque, live music and an interactive cast. With a retro fashion show, live band, classic film clips from the '50s, and a titillating medley of song, burlesque, theatre and music, this cabaret offers devilishly dirty entertainment for gay and straight audiences alike ...and everything in between! Starring burlesque superstars Lily Verlaine and Fuchsia Foxx, with Polly Wood, Cherry Manhattan, EmpeROAR Fabulous, Lyla La Coeur, Jesse Belle Jones, Lady TaTas, Daddy-O, Rhonda J. Soikowski as Beebo Brinker, and hosted by Diva le Déviant.

THE BEEBO BRINKER CHRONICLES

adapted by Linda S. Chapman and Kate Moira Ryan

directed by Katjana Vadeboncoeur

based on the books I Am A Woman, Women in The Shadows and Journey to A Woman by Ann Bannon

Sept. 15 - Oct. 9, 2011

Thurs - Sun at 7:30pm

At Re-Bar, 1114 Howell St.

Tickets:

$18-25

Meet the Author: Thursday, Sept 15, 7:30 p.m.

Online: www.brownpapertickets.com/event/184155

Come meet Beebo Brinker: the most iconic butch character in all of lesbian pulp fiction. WITNESS the love that dare not speak its name ...REVEL in the lust and intrigue of the underground gay bars of 1950s New York ...SEE the ‘strange madness' in these women that begs for liberty! Based on the groundbreaking, award-winning pulp novels of the ‘50s and ‘60s, The Beebo Brinker Chronicles is a theatrical adaptation that follows the lives and loves of friends in pre-Stonewall Greenwich Village. Beth and Laura, secret lovers in college, still pine for each other. Before they can reunite, they find themselves entangled in a web spun by Beebo Brinker, a butch denizen of the underground bar scene. This is the Seattle Premiere of the award winning play based on the iconic books that titillated and changed a generation. The play has won the 2008 GLAAD (Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) Media Award and had a sold-out off-Broadway debut in 2008, co-produced by Lily Tomlin. Starring burlesque star Polly Wood (Sinner Saint Burlesque, The Triple Door) as Laura and beloved Seattle actor Rhonda J. Soikowski (Book-It Repertory, Washington Ensemble Theatre, Strawshop) as Beebo Brinker.

MEET Ann Bannon

Aug. 27 at ACT Theatre at 5:00 p.m.

Sept. 15 at Re-bar at 7:30pm

Tickets:

ACT Theatre: $50

ACT Ticket Office:(206) 292-7676 or www.acttheatre.org

Re-Bar: $18-$25

1-800-838-3006

Celebrated author Ann Bannon joins the producers of The Beebo Brinker Chronicles for two special events: a very personal meet and greet reception at ACT Theater Saturday, Aug. 27 from 5-6pm, and on Opening Night of the Seattle Premiere of the production, Thursday Sept. 15 at Re-bar.

The Beebo Brinker Chronicles Festival kicked off at Re-bar with the monthly Pulp Cabaret Series @ Re-bar, featuring appearances by Bannon, along with a retro lingerie float in the Seattle Pride Parade, participation in the Seattle Dyke March, and an exclusive Greenwich Village Dance Party.

ABOUT CHERRY MANHATTAN PRESENTS:

Cherry Manhattan Presents is the producing entity behind the burlesque and cabaret productions of theater director Katjana Vadeboncoeur. Bringing high quality, intelligent and diverse performances to the stage, Cherry Manhattan Presents offers audiences the best of burlesque, theatre and cabaret in the Northwest. As a burlesque artist, Cherry Manhattan has performed at the Leo K. stage at Seattle Repertory Theatre during Bumbershoot 2008, as a featured mainstage performer at the Seattle Erotic Art Festival 2009, and at a variety other venues, fundraisers and cabarets across the city. She is a regular headliner at Skinny Dip at the High Dive in Fremont, and was a co-producer/performer at the Sound and Smoke Cabaret at the Can Can. This year Seattle Weekly described Cherry Manhattan as "one of a handful of geniuses in burlesque."

ABOUT THE DIRECTOR:
Katjana Vadeboncoeur is a Seattle based director, producer and performer. Her directing work has been lauded in The Stranger, Seattle Weekly and in The Seattle Times, where she was awarded a Footlight Award for Best Off Broadway Production (Swimming in the Shallows at Washington Ensemble Theatre, 2006.) Vadeboncoeur was honored to be the featured theatre artist in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer's Spring Arts Guide in 2008, and in 2010 she was nominated Best Local Director by BroadwayWorld.com for her direction of reasons to be pretty at ArtsWest. As a Co-Artistic Director at Washington Ensemble Theatre (WET/The Ensemble) for four seasons, Vadeboncoeur co-produced, directed and generated new works at this leading ensemble theatre in the Northwest. In addition to helming two of The Ensemble's regional premieres (Swimming in the Shallows, 2006 and Mr. Marmalade, 2008) and co-adapting a new adaptation of Shakespeare's Titus (2009) that critics called "a startlingly beautiful, funny and savage art performance" (SeattleSt.com). Vadeboncoeur was also the PR/Marketing Director for the company, and was involved with the company's core community program, Queer Teen Ensemble Theatre (QTET), that gives cultivates artistry and voIce To Seattle's LGBT high school students. As a freelance theatre artist in Seattle, Vadeboncoeur has directed productions at theatres including ArtsWest, Book-It Repertory Theatre, Washington Ensemble Theatre, Second Story Repertory, Live Girls! Theater, Richard Hugo House, Next Stage and Cornish College. She has performed locally at Seattle Shakespeare Company and On the Boards, and regularly tours five solo shows nationally for Living Voices. She's taught theatre at several local colleges, most notably at the Professional Actor Training Program at the University of Washington graduate program, directing an acclaimed adaptation of Jane Eyre in 2006. Vadeboncoeur's formal background includes a BA in Drama from the University of California at Irvine, where she graduated Summa Cum Laude. She also spent a year training in the UK at the University of Lancaster studying experimental devised theatre. Vadeboncoeur is currently an Adjunct Instructor at Cornish College of the Arts, and an Associate Member of the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers.

ABOUT Ann Bannon:

Called "The Queen of Lesbian Pulp Fiction," Ann Bannon is best known for her landmark series of five original paperback novels known as the Beebo Brinker Chronicles. Written from 1957 to 1962, they tell the stories of young lesbians in the gay mecca of pre-Stonewall Greenwich Village. The novels contributed to a consciousness that was evolving into a full-fledged gay rights movement, and paved the way for the generation of lesbian writers that was to follow. When Bannon brought her first novel to a paperback publisher in the mid-1950s she was a young, married housewife. The publisher skimmed the manuscript and told her to scrap everything but the college love affair between two women. The resulting novel was Odd Girl Out, the second bestselling paperback of 1957. Her books shaped lesbian identity for lesbians and heterosexuals alike, but Bannon was mostly unaware of their impact, and she stopped writing in 1962. Returning to school, Bannon completed her master's degree at Sacramento State University and received a doctorate in linguistics at Stanford University. She taught as an English professor at Sacramento State and later became the associate dean of the School of Arts and Sciences-later the College of Arts and Letters. She endured a difficult marriage for 27 years and, as she separated from her husband in the 1980s, her books were republished by Cleis Press. They were released again between 2001 and 2003 and were adapted as an award-winning Off-Broadway production in 2007-2008, co-produced by Lily Tomlin.

Bannon's books are taught in numerous Women's and LGBT studies courses, and she has received numerous awards for pioneering lesbian and gay literature. She has been described as "the premier fictional representation of US lesbian life in the fifties and sixties", and it has been said that her books "rest on the bookshelf of nearly every even faintly literate Lesbian". Bannon retired from teaching in 1997, but tours the country visiting paperback-collecting conventions and speaking at colleges and universities about her writings and experiences. In 2004, Bannon was elected into the Saints and Sinners Literary Festival Hall of Fame, and in May 2008, Bannon was given the Pioneer Award from the Lambda Literary Foundation. She was a guest of National Public Radio's Peabody Award-winning talk show "Fresh Air" with Terry Gross, and has also been featured in Gross's book, All I Did Was Ask, a collection of transcripts from the show. Bannon frequently speaks at gay-themed events around the country and is currently working on her memoirs. www.annbannon.com

ABOUT THE CENTRAL HEATING LAB AT ACT:

ACT's innovative Central Heating Lab initiative is devoted to nurturing and supporting new works, new talent, and local artists spanning not only theatre, but also cabaret, music, dance, spoken word, film, and performance and visual art. Uniquely positioned to provide the space and resources to the development of new projects in a collaborative environment, ACT partners with emerging and seasoned local artists, and gives them the heat, sustenance and pressure required to experiment, grow and transform their work and reach new audiences. Programs are added throughout the year. www.acttheatre.org

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