GayFest NYC's GROSS INDECENCY: THE THREE TRIALS OF OSCAR WILDE Begins Performances at Dorothy Strelsin Theatre Tonight

GAYFEST NYC, Inc. (Bruce Robert Harris and Jack W. Batman, Producers; Craig Wesley Divino, Associate Producer), the country's premier producer of new LGBT-themed plays, continues the Fifth Festival of Plays, a four-week event filled with powerful theatre works spotlighting gay issues with The BASiC Theatre Project production of Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde written by Moisés Kaufman. Directed by Zi Alikhan, cast features Drew Feldman, Benjamin Fisher, Joshua Forcum, Michael Greehan, Anthony Jackson, Charlie Kolarich, Michael Lorz, Russell Peck, Jonathan Sokolow and Carl Wilson.

Performances begin Thursday, May 30, 2013 and will continue through Sunday, June 16, 2013 in the Dorothy Strelsin Theatre at the Abingdon Theatre Arts Complex (312 West 36th Street). Opening night is Friday, May 31, 2013 at 8:00 p.m.

Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde is an incredibly important and relevant piece of theatre that uses first-hand accounts of the 1895 Oscar Wilde trials to examine the origins of the homosexual identity and the male identity and questions where, how, and if they intersect in historical and contemporary discourse. Through the compilation of diaries, court records, news sources, and more, Kaufman has created for us a fast-paced portrayal of Wilde's fall from fame and the bigger social repercussions that followed. This production will use various styles of movement and music in a collaborative rehearsal process to discover the timelessness of Wilde's story and how it still functions with and relates to our social climate today.

It is a play about love, struggle, nature, and man. It is a story you think you know but one that will provoke a whole new set of questions set against our current social background.

The creative team includes Jason Sherwood (Set), Mia Cook and Danielle Mahoney (Costumes), Joanna Emmott (Lighting), and Dan Crowley (Sound). The Production Stage Manager is Mariliza Parker.

Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde will play the following schedule: Tuesday-Friday at 8:00 p.m., Saturday at 2:30 & 8:00 p.m. and Sunday at 3:00 p.m.

Single tickets are priced at $25 and are available at www.Theatermania.com or by calling 212-352-3101. For additional information log onto:www.GAYFESTNYC.com. All proceeds from GAYFEST NYC benefit the Harvey Milk High School.

The 2013 GAYFEST NYC Festival concludes with the World Premiere of The Loves of Mr. Lincoln by David Brendan Hopes and directed by Sidney J. Burgoyne. The cast features Don Burroughs, Leah Curney, Tyrone Davis, Jr., Steven Hauck, and Stacey Todd Holt. Performances begin Thursday, June 6, 2013 and will continue through Sunday, June 16, 2013. Opening Night is set for Friday, June 7, 2013 at 7:30 p.m.

The Festival opened with the New York Premiere of Moonlight & Love Songs by Scott C. Sickles (May 23-June 2, 2013). Directed by Steven Petrillo, the cast featuredNick Bailey, D.H. Johnson, Kathryn Markey, Gerald McCullouch, Robert Meksin, Corey Richmond Skaggs and Christine Verleny.

Photo credit: Catherine Bell