Pride Films and Plays Hosts Final Great Gay Screenplay Weekend

"If you want to shape the future of great LGBT films, please join us this weekend for the Great Gay Screenplay Finale weekend at the Hoover-Leppen Theater at Center on Halsted.

In addition to hearing five new screenplays read by our great team of actors, you can meet the screenwriters and participate in talkbacks about what you have seen. It is an interesting process as you build from the words of the screenwriters and fill in all that the director will later fill in when filiming.

The screenplays are a diverse lot starting with a great comedy about a struggling theater company on Friday. Saturday's double bill includes a great new comedy about life in LA and a new cop drama. On Sunday we have our first screenplay about an intersex teen, and our first sci-fi epic. I know you will enjoy all of them!

Thanks for your interest in Pride Films and Plays. I look forward to seeing you at an event soon!"

David Zak
Executive Director

Easy On The Eyes by Kevin Michael West, Los Angeles, CA and directed by Andrew Souders*

Ethan (a neurotic playwright) and Jake (a hunky actor) are best friends who decide to become friends with benefits. Unfortunately, the arrangement triggers a lot of emotional consequences that neither one counted on. It's a "When Harry Met Sally..." for gay men.

Easy on the Eyes features Victoria Abram-Copenhaver, Tommy Aldis, Danny Bernardo, David Besky, Sean-Edward Hall*, Jessica Hoard, Andy Monson, Kyle Niemer, Dan Olson, Keith Stoneking, and Lee Wichman*.

Easy on the Eyes, Friday, October 21, 7:30 pm.
Tickets for this event are available here.
Welcome to LA
by Howard Casner, Los Angeles, CA
directed by Derek Bertelsen

In this black comedy, Adam's first few days in Los Angeles are greeted by a continual discovery of dead bodies in his building; an amorous police officer who wants to have sex with him, then wants Adam to read his screenplay; and a mentor whose main advice is not to masturbate more than once a day.

Welcome to LA features Samuel Drew Brown, Ethan Dubin, Julie Johnson, Shane Kalminiski, Michelle McKenzie-Voigt*, Jack Sweeney, and John Wilson.

Welcome to LA, Saturday, October 22, 4:30 pm. Tickets for this event are available here.

Wandering the Elysian Fields
by Richmond Weems, Clayton, NC
directed by Brian Rooney*

A hard-boiled, gay private detective must reflect on his own relationships and his misanthropic behavior as he tries to solve a murder case that no one wants solved.

Wandering the Elysian Fields features Steve Anderson, Chris Baker, Chad Bay, Michael Baylon, Steve Cosgrove, Jay Disney, Nicholas Harper, Joan McGrath*, Nelson Rodrigues, Tony Rossi, Jamie Smith, and Christine Vrem-Ydstie.

Wandering the Elysian Fields, Saturday, October 22, 7:30 pm. Tickets for this event are available here.
The Way Shim Likes It
by James Palmer, Los Angeles, CA
directed by Rebecca Kling

When Jamie's private tutor dies unexpectedly, this intersex teenager defies father's wishes and enrolls in public school to achieve popularity "like the kids on TV." The Way Shim Likes It follows Jamie as she/him/shim poses alternatively as a boy and girl, fools the whole school, and breaks a few hearts.

The Way Shim Likes It features Anna Rose Epstine, Kaitlin Gilgenbach, Marc James, Juliane Johnson, Jennifer Kaesheimer, Annie Ratteree, Mark Smaglinski*, and Duncan Shuckerow.

The Way Shim Likes It, Sunday, October 23, 1:30pm Tickets for this event are available here.

Bre'gan's Fist

by Tom Emerick, Chicago, IL
directed by David Zak*

Bre'gan's Fist is the story of two people, one a human, the other a Mage, who have both suffered personal loss. As they comfort each other, a crisis emerges that threatens the entire Earth itself. Can they repair the damage done to their shattered lives and save the planet in the process?

Bre'gan's Fist features Chad Bay, Tom Chiola*, Sean-Edward Hall*, Kristin Hairston, Joan McGrath*, Cyra K. Polizzi*, Beth Richards, Tony Rossi, Mark Smaglinski*, and Nicholas Stockwell.

Bre'gan's Fist, Sunday, October 23, 4:30 pm.
Tickets for this event are available here.

Meet Our Newest Ensemble Member Kelli Walker

Kelli Walker recently returned to her hometown of Chicago after adventures in Indianapolis and Washington State. A loyal Butler University alumna, Kelli has appeared in The Women and A Perfect Wedding (Circle Theatre), Frozen and
Love Song (Buffalo Theatre Ensemble), The Tempest (BoHo Theatre), Black Comedy (Piccolo Theatre), Stuff Happens, Miss Witherspoon, Callie's Tally, Boston Marriage, Proof, and The Vagina Monologues (Phoenix Theatre, Indianapolis), Touch (Phoenix transfer to Victory Gardens Theatre).

You may recognize Kelli from her appearances in The Basement and Raising Ricci in PFP's Women's Work Weekend.

About
PRIDE FILMS AND PLAYS

Pride Films and Plays, based in Chicago, links an international network of writers with professionals working in film and theater.

PFP fosters excellent writing for the stage and screen that speaks not only to the LGBT community, but is essential viewing for our friends, family, and co-workers. Using stories with gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender characters or themes, Pride Films and Plays develops human stories that become a cultural bridge to understanding.

Through readings, contests, classes, screenings and full Theater Productions, PFP engages artists and audiences in the full developmental process needed to make great artistic experiences.

PRIDE FILMS AND PLAYS
3023 N Clark 327,
Chicago, IL 60657
www.pridefilmsandplays.com

David Zak
Executive Director

John Nasca, Andrew Souders
Artistic Associates

Allison Fradkin
Literary Coordinator,
Women's Work

Artistic Ensemble
Derek Van Barham, Charles A. Berglund, Tom Chiola,
Patrick Gannon, BrIan Grey, Sean-Edward Hall,
Jude Hansen, Valerie Heckman, John Highberger, Kris Hyland, Kelley Keough, Michael Lasswell, Joan McGrath,
Michelle McKenzie-Voigt, Tiffany Nasca, Cyra K. Polizzi,
Brian Rooney, Chad Ryan, Patrick Rybarczyk,
Mark Smaglinski, Jake Szczepaniak, Kelli Walker,
Kevin Webb, Honey West, Lee Wichman