LEARN TO BE LATINA Named as Winner of Great Gay Play Contest

Pride Films and Plays announced today that the winner of the first Great Gay Play Contest is Learn to be Latina, by Enrique Ureata from San Francisco. Learn To Be Latina was one of five finalists which were all performed as staged readings March 3 to 6, 2011, in the Hoover-Leppen Theater at the Center on Halsted.

Other finalists included The Times by Mark S. Watson, Save the Date by Tyler Dean, Short Expanse by Corinne J. Kawecki, and False Reality by Joe Lauderdale, a drama about gay teens which won the Audience Favorite Award chosen by those who had attended all five readings.

In addition to seeing the works performed, the five finalists each received a $400 cash prize.

In Enrique Urueta's irreverent new comedy Learn To Be Latina, Hanan Mashalani is beautiful and talented, but she's Lebanese and that just doesn't a pop star make. As she's made over by FAD records to be the next Latin bombshell, she falls in love with an actual Latina. She struggles to maintain the image everyone expects her to be, which ultimately tests her relationship and her own identity.

About Learn To Be Latina, judges on the panel said:
"I would pay A LARGE SUM OF MONEY to see this on stage. The playwright clearly understands & embraces the medium of theatre -- a rare treat."
"It lures you in because it's so fun. Just make sure that any producer is willing to go the distance and stay true to the vision."
"I would love to see this onstage which makes me believe in its viability. The physical production and musical staging will only make it funnier and more insane than it is onstage."
"This hilarious play is irreverent and deliciously politically incorrect. Audiences will alternate between being offended and falling on the floor with laughter."

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