THE BOYS IN THE BAND Set for Little Theater of Manchester's Evenings@7

Little Theater of Manchester's Evenings@7 performance series returns to Cheney Hall on April 12, continuing its longstanding commitment to arts and the local community. The first reading of the series will be the drama The Boys in the Band a play by Mart Crowley.

Evenings@7 offers FREE presentations of intimate script-in-hand play readings. Open to the public, these ONE-NIGHT ONLY performances are part of Little Theatre's mission to develop art and artists. This series, featuring both established plays and musicals and new works, enables local talent to grow in their craft by performing for live audiences in a casual atmosphere with minimal production elements.

The April 12 reading of The Boys in the Band is produced by Todd Santa Maria and will begin at 7:00 PM at the Silk Room at Cheney Hall, 177 Hartford Rd, Manchester. The event is free, although donations to support this type of work are gladly accepted. Dinner will be available for purchase with advanced reservations. For dinner reservations, and more information regarding The Boys in the Band or the Evenings@7 series, call the Box Office at 860-647-9824.

Future 2016 Evenings@7 performances include May 10, Proof by David Auburn and produced by Alysa Auriemma; June 14, Colonel Sellers: Reanimator, a "new" play by Mark Twain and William Dean Howells and revised by Jacques Lamarre; September 13, The Normal Heart by Larry Kramer and produced by Michael Forgetta; October 11, August: Osage County by Tracy Letts and produced by Linda Ferreira and Debi Freund; and November 15, See Alice Run a new play by Anne Pié.

Mart Crowley's play The Boys in the Band debuted in 1968 at Theater Four in New York and has been produced more than 1,000 times. The play that takes place in an apartment in the Upper East Side of Manhattan at a birthday party for a gay male who is troubled by the thought of growing older. From the play's description:

Michael is throwing a birthday party for Harold, a self-avowed "32-year-old, pock-marked, Jew fairy", complete with a surprise gift: "Cowboy" a street hustler. As the evening wears on, fueled by drugs and alcohol, bitter, unresolved resentments among the guests come to light when a game of "Truth" goes terribly wrong.