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Rainbow
Theater
Festival
2008 |
To have a symbol for the
gay community to rally around during the turbulent 1970s,
Gilbert Baker created the first Rainbow Pride Flag symbolizing
different parts of gay life. This flag would go on to become
a symbol for the struggles of gay, lesbian, bi-sexual and
transgender people everywhere. To honor their sacrifices and
cultural milestones Bread & Water Theatre selects a color from
the flag each year and uses it as a source of inspiration for
their annual Rainbow Theater Festival. This choice of color
helps to decide everything from choice of production to the
type of food served at concessions. With the 2008 festival
quickly approaching BWT is proud to announce the color green
and the theme of nature as the guiding force behind 2008's
Rainbow Theater Festival.
Topics of nature versus
nurture, issues of the natural cycle of life and death, our
universal connection to the earth, and the evolution of GLBT
culture as a whole are sure topics for the two full length
theatrical productions and the Lambda Project that make up the
bulk of the festival's activities. The Lambda Project is an
annual event within the festival that features actors
performing real-life stories from the community creating a
tapestry of GLBT life.
The festival will
consist of three distinct productions. Opening the festival
this year is Lambda Project: Au Naturel by J.R.
Teeter (April 18-20). The project consists of real-life
stories donated by GLBT people all over the world on the theme
of nature. Stories are as varied as can be imagined from a
woman coming out of the closet at the age of forty-two to the
story of a young woman's first crush. BWT will be taking
submissions for the Lambda Project up until the week
of production. Next in the line up is Nancy Agabian's two
plays My Gay Family and The Crochet
Penis (April 25-27). Each is a unique take on what it is
to be a bi-sexual woman in the modern world. My Gay
Family delves into a home filled with a great deal of
comedic and dramatic possibilities. There is one bi-sexual
sister, one gay brother, one lesbian sister and two homophobic
parents. The Crochet Penis is a much more biting
play dealing with the bi-sexual dilemma of living in both the
straight and gay world. The finale of the festival is Philip
Osment's The Undertaking (May 2-4). The
aforementioned play tells the story of five friends who
journey to the Irish countryside to release the ashes of a
dear friend whose died of AIDS.
Notable cast and
creative participants of the past are Alex Sovronsky, Marcy J.
Savastano, Mario J. Savastano and Carl Girard. Mr. Sovronsky
co-directed and performed in The Lambda Project: An Ode to
Two-Spirits as part of 2005's festival and has gone on to
perform in The Public Theater/NYSF's Romeo and Juliet,
The Classical Theater of Harlem's Macbeth and is
currently making his Broadway debut in Cyrano de Bergerac
opposite Jennifer Garner and Kevin Kline in the title role.
Ms. Savastano has previously been involved in seven year's
worth of festival productions as well as taking on the role of
Associate Director of Bread & Water Theatre. She has also
appeared in GEVA Theatre Center's Death of a Salesman
and All is Well in the Kingdom of Nice as well as
feature films Runaways, Fury, Maze and
Getting Personal . Mr. Savastano has left a long and
established footprint on the festival working as an actor,
director and playwright. In his five-year contribution to the
festival, Mr. Savastano has often worked opposite his sister
Marcy and continues to pursue the arts in tandem with his work
as an educator. Mr. Girard is a noted actor and director
having participated in almost every production at Bread &
Water Theatre as well as appearing in feature films
Runaways and Fury.
This year's festival
will feature special guest director Mark Allan Davis (The
Undertaking). After returning to the United
States in 1995 after over a decade in Europe, Mr. Davis
previously performed for two seasons with the Bill T. Jones/Arnie
Zane Dance Company. He has performed the works of Alvin Ailey,
Jose' Limon, Paul Tayler, Randy Warsaw and Talley Beatty. He
performed at the Next Wave Festival at the Brooklyn Academy of
Music in Remy Charlip's Ten Men and in Bill T. Jones'
dance opera The Mother of Three Sons at the Munich
Biennale and the Aachener Staatstheater. As an original cast
member of the Broadway production of The Lion King directed
by Julie Taymor (Across the Universe) and
choreographed by Garth Fagan, where he performed for over four
years. Mr. Davis received his MFA in Theatre/Playwrighting
from Smith College in 2007 with the completion of his first
play, the historical drama, Pantheon's Edge.
Founded in 2000, Bread &
Water Theatre is committed to making the arts accessible and
affordable to a broad-based audience and acting as a positive
agent of change in its community. Under the artistic
direction of J.R. Teeter, BWT develops theatre that speaks to
our living, evolving, and dramatically changing world through
new and rare works of drama, and aspires to be a major force
in American theatre, providing audiences with challenging
contemporary drama and innovative community outreach
programs.
A series of emerging
theatrical works devoted to gay themes, the 8th
annual Rainbow Theater Festival will be
presented at 243 Rosedale St. (New Life Presbyterian Church)
beginning April 18 through to May 4, 2008. Performances are
on Friday and Saturday at 8:00pm and Sunday at 2:00pm. Single
ticket prices range from $5-$10 and may be purchased at the
BWT box office or in advance at
www.BreadandWaterTheatre.org
starting March 15th. For more information call (585)
271-5523.
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ARTISTIC STAFF AVAILABLE FOR INTERVIEWS AS THEIR SCHEDULES
PERMIT
PHOTOS ARE AVAILABLE UPON
REQUEST
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