PRIDE FILMS AND PLAYS Presents Gay UK

Pride Films and Plays celebrates Pride Month in June with its third reading series Gay UK, featuring five provocative works by British authors. The pieces include Kevin Elyot's haunting comedy MY NIGHT WITH REG; MAURICE, a play by Roger Parsley and Andy Graham from the novel by E. M. Forster; BLOWING WHISTLES, a bittersweet comedy by Matthew Todd; PIG, a sensational drama by Tim Luscombe; and the Chicago premiere of Alexi Kaye Campbell's compelling drama THE PRIDE, directed by Timeline Theater's Artistic Director Nick Bowling.

The series runs June 1 to 19 at Theatre Wit, 1229 West Belmont. All performances are at 7:30. Tickets $12 for each reading, or $50 for a five play pass. Tickets for film and theater industry members and students are $6. Tickets are available only through Brown Paper Tickets at 1800 838 3006, or www.brownpapertickets.com.

The performance schedule is:
?Wednesday June 1 - My Night With Reg, a bittersweet comedy by Kevin Elyot, directed by Michael Ryczek
?Sunday June 5 - Maurice, a play by Roger Parsley and Andy Graham from the novel by E. M. Forster, directed by John Nasca
?Wednesday June 8 - Blowing Whistles, a hilarious comedy by Matthew Todd, directed by Andrew Souders
?Wednesday June 15 - Pig, a shocking drama by Tim Luscombe, directed by Derek Bertelsen
?Sunday June 19 - The Pride, Alexi Kaye Campbell's drama which contrasts LGBT pride in 1958 and 2008, directed by Nick Bowling

Kevin Elyot's My Night With Reg premiered in London's Royal Court Theater in 1994, and won the Olivier Award for Best Comedy the following year. This affectionate and bittersweet work portrays a group of friends gathering for a flat-warming, and later after a funeral, as they share the various events and connections that brought them together, yet kept them apart.

E.M. Forster's novel Maurice was written in 1913, but published only after the author's death in 1971. It follows Maurice Hall from school days through University life, and beyond. Roger Parsley and Andy Graham's remarkably faithful adaptation brings all the contradictions of love in this period alive in a work about family, loyalty, and love.

Tim Luscombe's dangerous drama Pig has not yet been produced. In this piece, three actors play 10 characters involved in complicated exchanges of drugs, sex, love, and death. Dominic Cook, Artistic Director of London's Royal Court Theater, says "I think it's a fierce, brave piece. It's incredibly inventive, formally and thematically, and holds its gaze with unusual tenacity and confidence."

In Matthew Todd's comedy Blowing Whistles, we meet Nigel and Jamie, who have been in a relationship for many years. When Nigel meets 17-year-old Mark on Gaydar.com, the ensuing hilarity of Act 1 gives way to some powerful surprises in Act 2. Blowing Whistles premiered at The Warehouse Theater in 2005.

The Pride by Alexi Kaye Campbell premiered to great success at The Royal Court in 2008, and was seen off-Broadway in 2010. In this remarkable drama alternating between 1958 and 2008, The Pride examines changing attitudes toward sexuality using themes of love, lust, and betrayal as Campbell etches compelling portraits of our complicated relationships in two very different time frames.

Gay UK is part of Pride Films and Plays continuing mission to develop and promote excellent writing for the stage and screen that speaks not only to the LGBT community, but is essential viewing for our friends, family, and co-workers. Using stories with gay and lesbian characters or themes, Pride Films and Plays develops human stories of parenting, marriage, faith, and love that become a cultural bridge to understanding.

Pride Films and Plays, based in Chicago, links an international network of writers with professionals working in film and theater. It will accept entries for the second annual Great Gay Screenplay Contest between May 1 and June 30; entries for LGBT plays and musicals will be accepted this fall.

Through readings, contests, classes, screenings and full Theater Productions, PFP engages artists and audiences in the full developmental process needed to make great artistic experiences.

PFP's next performance event will be Women's Work, a week featuring the five finalists in both the Sapphics on Stage and Sapphics on Screen writing contests for works with lesbian characters written by women.

For more information on Pride Films and Plays, visit www.pridefilmsandplays.com.

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