CLOSET PLAY Virtual Benefit Concert to Lead Off PrideArts Four-Show Virtual Season

PrideArts virtual fall season called REIGNITE will open on September 30 with a benefit concert conceived by PrideArts Artistic Director Donterrio Johnson that will intertwine original jazz compositions with poetry by James Baldwin and Tennessee Williams. The concert will stream live from the Pride Arts Center's Buena Theatre on September 30 at 7 pm (no-in-person audience).and stream online on demand thereafter. Entitled CLOSET PLAY, the concert will be a modern spin on the art form of the Closet Drama - plays written to be read, rather than staged. The link to the event will be published on PrideArts.org.

CLOSET PLAY's cast will include Broadway's Gerry McIntyre along with Trenton Baker, Jos N. Banks, Christian Bufford, Robbin DaSilva, Ryan Lanning, Kimberly Lawson, David Robbins, Tiffany T. Taylor, Koray Tarhan, WIll Wilhelm, Jasmine Lacy Young, Joey Stone, Ricki J Pettinato, and Eustace J. Williams.

CLOSET PLAY will be streamed live on September 30, 2020, broadcasting from the Pride Arts Center's Buena Theatre at 7:00 pm on Facebook and YouTube; and available to stream thereafter. Links will be posted on the PrideArts Facebook page (www.facebook.com/pridefilmsandplays) and website (www.pridearts.org). There is no charge to view CLOSET PLAY, but donations will be gladly accepted.

The fall Virtual Season will continue with John Maddison Morton's BOX AND COX, a three- character one-act farce that premiered in London in 1847. BOX AND COX will be streamed twice only - on Thursdays, October 22 and 29; at 7:00 pm each evening. The BOX AND COX cast of three will include Shalita Cake as Mrs. Bouncer, John Marshall Jr., as John Box, and Eustace J. Williams as James Cox.

Following BOX AND COX will be the two-character one-act comedy A PAIR OF LUNATICS, by W.R. Walkes. In A PAIR OF LUNATICS, which premiered in London in 1898, He and She meet for the first time in an asylum and each mistakes the other for an inmate. A PAIR OF LUNATICS will be streamed twice only - on Thursdays, November 19, and December 3; at 7:00 pm each evening.

The final play of the virtual fall season will be Anton Chekov's THE PROPOSAL, to be streamed twice only - on Thursday, December 17 and Wednesday, December 30; at 7:00 pm each evening. In this one-act Chekov comedy, Ivan, an hypochondriac, has a proposal for Natalya the neighbor. That is, if they can ever agree on anything.

Casts of A PAIR OF LUNATICS and THE PROPOSAL will be announced later. Costs to view are $25.00 for each of the three plays and tickets will be available at www.pridearts.org.