The Left Out Festival Announces Casting of Premiere Plays

The Fifth Annual Left Out Festival (April 14 to April 25) announced the casting for its three premiere plays, Getting Away With Mother, Home In Her Heart and The Mademoiselles.

Jason Sebacher’s The Mademoiselles, directed by Micheal Fentin comes to the New York City festival from Michigan-based New Theatre Project.   Susan Daly, Britannie Bond and Maribel Martinez will star alongside Barrie Golden as Alice Toklas, and Randy Cordero as Pablo Picasso.

The Mademoiselles performs Sunday, April 15 and Thursday, April 19 at 7:30 pm as invited guests of the Left Out Festival, produced by Cheryl King and Joe Hutcheson to make their New York City premiere.

When asked about the selection process, King declares, “It was all about the writing.  Everything we picked was based on high quality writing.”  Though the Left Out Festival honors the LGBT’s contribution and presence in the arts, artists are not limited by their own sexuality.  “We have straight and gay artists working together on all the shows.  And the subject matters are all over the map, yet somehow we ended up with a literary and artful theme we now realize.”  The Mademoiselles covers Toklas, Gertrude Stein and Picasso.  Other plays returning to the festival include That Play: A Solo Macbeth, Southern Gothic Novel, and A Mad Person’s Chronicle of a Miserable Marriage, which examines the lives of the Tolstoys.

The lesbian love of male impersonator Jimmie LeRoy and pianist Claire Hicks, who performed together as a mixed race pair for three years in pre World War II London, comes to life in the world premiere of Margaret Morrison’s Home in Her Heart.  The play stars Ericka L. Hart and Morrison, under the direction of festival producer Cheryl King, and performs Monday, April 23 and Wednesday, April 25 at 7:30 pm. 

Morrison began writing plays because she felt closeted and invisible in the theater and dance communities. “My play explores what I've always yearned to see on stage: butch-femme romance, the power of lesbian sexuality, the crushing toll of homophobia and racism. As a writer, performer and producer, I also have a commitment to desegregate my performance spaces and subvert the invisibilization and stereotyping of women of color.”

The third Left Out Festival premiere will be a staged reading of Topher Cusumano’s Getting Away With Mother, Wednesday, April 18 at 7:30 pm and Sunday, April 22 at 2 pm.  The cast includes Don Rider, Gaby Gold, Michelle Ramoni, as well as producers Hutcheson and King. Directed by Toni Silver, it’s the story of Avery, whose estranged mother Matilda appears in his bedroom at 4:00 am with shocking news that will propel his life from dysfunctional to downright dangerous.   Cusumano is a performance artist, poet and writer currently based in Philadelphia.  He will be attending Savannah College of Art and Design this fall with his partner. 

Casting was also completed for Selected Shorts which will be included in the festival for two performances, Sunday, April 15 at 2:00 pm and Saturday April 21, also at 2:00 pm.  Selected Shorts offers a variety of work from short plays, performance artists, and even some “greatest hits” from the past and present offerings at Stage Left Studio.  The line-up of performers includes Alex Beck, Frank Blocker, Matthew Clark, Patrick Falahee, Chaz Lowery, Clayton Luopa, Jacob Moore, Michelle Ramoni, Peter Straus, and KC Weakley.  Selected Shorts will feature the writings of Richard Ballon, Frank Blocker, Robin Goldfin, William LoCasto, Michelle Ramoni, and Karen Thibodeau.

All tickets $20 ($2 ticketing surcharge will be added) at www.stageleftstudio.net. A limited number of half-price student tickets will be available. Seating is limited, advance purchase recommended. Net proceeds from this festival are donated to Bailey House, www.baileyhouse.org  who will dedicate funds to their newest program STARS for HIV+ LGBT Youth.

The Left Out Festival is sponsored by Community Media, LLC - publishers of Chelsea Now, Gay City News, The Villager, and The East Villager.

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