CELEBRATION THEATRE Presents West Coast Premiere of THE HOMOSEXUALS by Philip Dawkins; Opening October 10

Celebration Theatre in association with Bruce W. Zisterer, Nicholas Caprio, CameRon Faber, Samantha Kern & Todd Milliner present the West Coast premiere of a new play, THE HOMOSEXUALS, written by Philip Dawkins and directed by Michael Matthews. THE HOMOSEXUALS will begin previews on Sunday, October 6 and will open on Thursday, October 10 and will perform through Sunday, December 1 at the Atwater Village Theatre, 3269 Casitas Ave. in Los Angeles, 90039.

THE HOMOSEXUALS is a wildly funny and heartwarming play that explores various friendships through the lens of sexual tension. On his first night in a Mid-western city, Evan meets a circle of men who become his closest friends and potential lovers. This Joseph Jefferson award nominee for Best New Work is for anyone who's ever fallen in love with a friend. In other words, it's a play for everyone, straights, homosexuals and everyone in between!

Michael Matthews (Director) Los Angeles: Funny Girl, Peter Pan; The Boy Who Hated Mothers (LA Premiere), Wolves (LA Premiere), Justin Love (LADCC Award, Best Musical; World Premiere), All Your Hard Work (World Premiere), Very Still and Hard To See (LA Weekly Nominations Best Director and Best Production, Play; World Premiere), The Color Purple, The Musical (Ovation and LA Weekly Awards Best Director and Best Production, Musical), Nerve (LA Premiere), What's Wrong With Angry?(Ovation Nominations Best Director and Best Production,Play), Take Me Out! (Ovation Nomination Best Director, NAACP Award Best Director) The Women of Brewster Place, the Musical (Ovation Nomination Best Director, NAACP Award Best Director, Ovation Award Best Production ,Musical; West Coast Premiere), The Temperamentals (West Coast Premiere), Haram! Iran! (West Coast Premiere, GLAAD Nomination), Three Tall Women, The Santa Land Diaries (2009, 2010, 2011, 2012), The Jazz Age (West Coast Premiere), The Prodigal Father (World Premiere), Porcelain, Stupid Kids (LA Premiere), Beautiful Thing (Ovation Nominations, Best Director and Best Production,Play), The Bacchae (Ovation Nominations, Best Director and Best Production,Play), Four (West Coast Premiere); Dead End (Assistant Director) Ahmanson Theatre and The Cherry Orchard (Assistant Director) Mark Taper Forum. Broadway: Butley (Assistant Director). Chicago: What's Wrong With Angry? (Jeff Nominations, Best Director and Best Production), In The Blood (Jeff Nominations, Best Director and Best Production), Porcelain (Jeff Nomination, Best Director), The Judas Kiss (Chicago Premiere), Being 11 (World Premiere), and...for colored girls who have considered suicide.... International: The Bacchae (Edinburgh Theatre Festival, 2010) Michael is a graduate of Columbia College Chicago, National Shakespeare Conservatory, NY, and an alumnus of Director's Lab West 2008. Proud member SDC.

Philip Dawkins (Playwright) His critically-acclaimed play The Homosexuals received a Joseph Jefferson Nomination for New Work after its world premiere with About Face Theatre in the summer of 2011, under the direction of Bonnie Metzgar. His play Failure: A Love Story premiered in 2012 under the direction of Seth Bockley at Victory Gardens Theatre, where Dawkins is an Ensemble Playwright.

His play Miss Marx or The Involuntary Side Effect of Living received a staged reading as part of Steppenwolf's 2010 First Look Series, and will be premiere at Strawdog Theatre Company this spring. Other credits: Dead Letter Office (Dog and Pony Theatre); Yes to Everything! (Chicago, NY,CA, DC); Perfect (The Side Project); Ugly Baby (Chicago Opera Vanguard/Strawdog Theatre Company); A Still Life in Color (T.U.T.A. Company). His plays for young folks have been performed all over the continent, and are published through Playscripts, Inc. A graduate of Loyola University, Chicago, Philip is an Ensemble Playwright at Victory Gardens, and a founding member of Chicago Opera Vanguard. Philip teaches playwriting at Northwestern University and through the Victory Gardens ACCESS Program for writers with disabilities. He also teaches Kung Fu to little Chicago kids through Rising Phoenix Kung Fu. Hi-Yah!

The cast of THE HOMOSEXUALS will feature (in alphabetical order): Matt Crabtree, Brian Dare, David Fraioli, Butch Klein, Ben Patterson, Kurt Quinn and Kelly Schumann.

THE HOMOSEXUALS is produced by Rebecca Eisenberg and features an award-winning design team. Set Design is by Stephen Gifford. Lighting Design is by Tim Swiss & Zack Lapinski. Sound Design is by ReBecca Kessin. Costume Design is by Allison Dillard. Props Design is by Michael O'Hara. The Fight Choreography is by Sondra Mayer. The Casting Director is Jami Rudofsky. The stage manager is Marcedes Clanton. The production team is being led by Celebration Theatre's Board of Directors and Executive Director, Michael C. Kricfalusi, Artistic Directors Michael Matthews and Michael A. Shepperd and Managing Director Michael O'Hara.

SCHEDULE AND PRICING

THE HOMOSEXUALS will preview on Sunday, October 6 at 7pm; Tuesday, & Wednesday, October 8 & 9 at 8pm and will open on Thursday, October 10 at 8pm and run through Sunday, December 1 at Atwater Village Theatre, 3269 Casitas Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90039. Free, ample street and lot parking. Parking map: http://bit.ly/OsBCRg.

Performances are Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 8pm and Sundays at 2pm. Tickets are $26 (open seating) & $33 (reserved) for all performances. There will be no performances on Saturday, October 12; Thursday October 31 & Thursday, November 28. Previews are $20. For tickets, please call 323-957-1884 or buy online at www.celebrationtheatre.com.