Pride Films And Plays Celebrates Valentine's Day with MY DEAR BOY: GAY LOVE LETTERS THROUGH THE CENTURIES

Love between men as it has been experienced and documented throughout the ages will be celebrated in a special one-night-only Valentine's Day performance at Pride Arts Center.

Selections from Rictor Norton's 1997 anthology MY DEAR BOY, which compiled love letters written by the likes of Emperor Marcus Arelius, Bo Juyi, Saint Anselm, Erasmus, Michelangelo, Mashida Toyonoshin, Thomas Gray, William Beckford, Walt Whitman, Tchaikovsky, Henry James, Countee Cullen, William Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg - will be performed in a reading adapted from Norton's book and directed by Paul Cook. Correspondents included in Norton's book range from kings and aristocrats, musicians and artists, military men and monks, to farm labourers and herring merchants, political activists and aesthetes, black poets and Japanese actors, drag queens and hustlers.

Some of the letters in Norton's came from books proudly published by their writers and some were published in newspapers and pamphlets as part of political and religious attacks; some came from court records (from the Inquisition to the Old Bailey) and some were discovered in a cardboard box after a house clearance; many have narrowly escaped censorship and suppression.

Norton's richly diverse collection of letters illustrates the basic theme of romantic love: infatuation, longing, sex, separation, the fear of rejection, jealousy, the joy of reunion, celebration, and debates about "marriage" and "infidelity" in gay relationships. Whether the affairs were stormy or tender, they are, above all, testimonials to an enduring love.

Cook's cast will include Mark Bracken, David Cameli, Laura Marsh, David Wesley Mitchell, Jesse Montoya, Timothy Swain, Brennan Urbi, and Nik Whitcomb.

The performance will be Wednesday, February 14 at 7:30 pm, in The Buena, Pride Arts Center, 4147 N. Broadway. Tickets are $20 and will be on sale soon at www.pridefilmsandplays.com. Cast to be announced.

Paul J. Cook (Adapter, Director) is delighted to be collaborating with Pride Films and Plays. Having recently finished a grad program in Southern California, he's glad to be back in his hometown. Recent credits around town include THE LANGUAGE ARCHIVE (Oakton Community College) and LES MISERABLES (the Chicago High School for the Arts). Other favorite experiences include collaborations with Shakespeare Santa Cruz, South Coast Repertory, and the Utah & Nashville Shakespeare Festivals.