Mon, June 18 2012

Cindi Creager
Director of Communications & Marketing
(646) 358-1703
ccreager@gaycenter.org

CONTACT for TOSOS:
Barry Childs, Producer
(646) 358-1703, tososnyc@gmail.com

THE LGBT COMMUNITY CENTER PRESENTS TOSOS IN A SPECIAL BENEFIT PERFORMANCE OF DORIC WILSON'S STREET THEATER

A year after the playwright’s passing, TOSOS and the Center present his award-winning play chronicling the birth of the Gay Pride movement.

In honor of Gay Pride 2012, and in loving memory of Off-Off Broadway legend and groundbreaking gay playwright, Doric Wilson, TOSOS and the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center present a special benefit performance of Street Theater, Wilson's award-winning satire about the Stonewall Riots, on Thursday, June 28th.

A participant in the Stonewall Uprising, Doric Wilson wrote Street Theater not so much as a history of the event, but as a record of the people he knew and the incidents he was involved in on Christopher Street in the months, days and hours leading up to the night gays fought back. The play focuses on a panorama of drags, dykes, leathermen, flower children, vice cops and cruisers - the innocent and not-so-innocent bystanders who would turn the 28th of June, 1969 into Stonewall, the D-day of gay history.

First produced in New York in 1983 at the notorious leather bar, the Mineshaft, Street Theater rapidly became central to the gay theater canon with hundreds of productions around the country and is currently making inroads in the college and university circuit. TOSOS Artistic Director Mark Finley revived the play at the NY Eagle in 2002-2003 to great success, with the New York Post saying there was "no funnier show now running."  This presentation includes principal cast members from this production.

Written by Doric Wilson
Directed by Mark Finley
Graphic Design by Howard Cruse for the 1983 Mineshaft production.

Date: 7:30 pm, Thursday, June 28th, 2012.  Doors open at 7:00 pm.
Venue: The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center, 208 West 13th St., NY, NY 10011

Tickets to benefit TOSOS and the Center: $20 in advance, $25 at the door.

For tickets, please visit http://www.gaycenter.org/node/7936

Cash bar reception after the performance with the cast, director, and community.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lgbtcenternyc_tosos

About Doric Wilson: Frequently called the "father of modern queer theatre," Doric Wilson's 50 year dedication to queer culture was recognized with the first Robert Chesley Award for Lifetime Achievement in Gay Theatre; the 2007 IT Award for Artistic Achievement; in 2009, the ATHE (Association for Theatre in Higher Education) Career Achievement Award for Professional Theatre; and last year the Fresh Fruit Festival presented playwright Doric Wilson with the 2010 PassionFruit Award for Enduring and Continuing Pioneer Work in LGBT Theater. Doric Wilson passed away last May at the age of 72.

About TOSOS: In 1974, playwright and gay activist Doric Wilson founded the first professional gay theatre company. It was called The Other Side of Silence - TOSOS for short. In 2002, directors Mark Finley and Barry Childs and Wilson resurrected the company, rededicating it to an honest and open exploration of the life experience and cultural sensibility of the GLBT community and to preserving and promoting our theatrical past in a determined effort to keep an important literary heritage alive. More information here: www.tosos2.org

About Street Theater: Street Theater, written in 1981 by Stonewall veteran Wilson, was first performed at San Francisco's Theatre Rhinoceros in 1982 (Doric's play The West Street Gang was the first play produced by the fledgling Rhinoceros in 1977). Only a few months later, Street Theater opened at New York's notorious Mineshaft, then transferred to the Actor's Playhouse in 1983 thanks to Doric's agent, Terry Helbing. The newly re-formed TOSOS presented Street Theater as their inaugural production in 2002 at the Eagle NYC. Director Mark Finley made the most of a strip of playing space barely a yard wide, sandwiched between audience members who were themselves hedged in by barstools and beer-stained walls. The choice of venue --- the crowded center drag of a West Chelsea leather bar - was a tribute to the 1983 Mineshaft production. The proximity of both the actors and the dark corners was disarming and invited involvement without infringing on personal space. Doric's close involvement with the production allowed, in his words, the "definitive performance to date." The play returned for a 2003 encore run after rave reviews. Michael Lynch reprised his role as Boom Boom, which he first played in the 1983 Mineshaft production and has perennially played ever since, including the upcoming June 28th performance. Over the years, Street Theater has also been performed in San Diego, New Orleans, Omaha, Miami, Memphis, Fort Lauderdale, and Oregon State University. It was performed in Utah for the first time in 2011 by the University of Utah Theatre Dept. in association with Utah LGBT Pride. More information here: http://www.buddybuddy.com/pc-f-38.html

About the Center

A beacon of hope for 29 years, the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center builds and supports our community through arts and culture, wellness and recovery, family services and life-saving youth programs designed to foster healthy development in a safe, affirming environment. The Center envisions a world where LGBT people will no longer face discrimination or isolation because of who we are or who we love. We offer a welcoming home to 300,000 visitors each year and we are committed to serving all LGBT people through a variety of programs, services and activities that are designed to meet existing and emerging needs.The Center is many things to many people. We invite you to experience our home at 208 West 13th Street in person and online at gaycenter.org