Celebration Theatre Presents NORA HIGHLAND By Ryan Spahn

CELEBRATION THEATRE will present, as part of its Celebrating New Works reading series, NORA HIGHLAND by Ryan Spahn and performing one night only on Tuesday, December 15th at 7:30pm online at Celebration Theatre's YouTube Channel.

NORA HIGHLAND follows the casting process of a notable gay character in an upcoming Broadway revival and explores the phenomenon of straight performers being lauded for their work in queer roles.

The play was adapted into a film and shot entirely on computers during the Covid-19 Pandemic. It had its world premiere at the 2020 NewFest: New York's LGBT Film Festival.

ABOUT THE CREATIVE TEAM AND CAST

Ryan Spahn (Playwright) is an actor and writer from Detroit. His screenwriting credits include the feature films Nora Highland (NewFest Film Festival premiere), Woven (LA Film Festival premiere, co-writer), Grantham & Rose (Cleveland International Film Festival premiere), and He's Way More Famous Than You (Slamdance Film Festival premiere, co-writer). Ryan co-created the digital series What's Your Emergency, was a producer for Logo's Cocktails & Classics, and co-created the original pilot When I Was Your Age (Warner Bros). As a playwright, his plays include Inspired By True Events, Nora Highland, Adrienne and The White Bird, and Blessed and Highly Favored. Ryan is a graduate of The Juilliard School, and will appear in the upcoming seasons of Modern Love (Amazon) and The Second Wave (CBS Spectrum Originals).

Michael A. Shepperd (Director) is the Ovation Award-winning director of the West Coast premiere of The Boy From Oz and the Artistic Director of Celebration Theatre.

NATHAN FRIZZELL (Producer) Currently the Co-Associate Artistic Diretor of Celebration Theatre, Nathan has been the Executive Producer of Celebrating New Works since 2013. During that time, Celebration has helped to give voice to new works by over 40 LGBTQ and Allied artists. As a member of Celebration Theatre, Nathan has appeared onstage (Four, Beautiful Thing, Stupid Kids) written for Celebration's resident sketch comedy group and produced numerous mainstage productions including Booty Candy, Die Mommie Die!, and the Ovation Award-winning West Coast premieres of The Boy From Oz and Priscilla Queen Of The Desert. In 2017, Nathan- along with Jay Marcus and Tom Detrinis- developed the world premieres of two smash hits So Long, Boulder City and Tilda Swinton Answers An Ad on Craigslist which both sold out lengthy runs in Los Angeles before going Off-Broadway in New York. An actor and a writer, Nathan is proud to have been a Celebration Theatre company member since 2005. @nathanfrizzell

NORA HIGHLAND will feature Evan J. Todd (@evantoddhere) and Dalila Ali Rajah (@dalilaalirajah).

PRICING

Admission is free... with donations gratefully accepted.

Celebrating New Works is produced by Celebration Theatre's Literary Director Nathan Frizzell. Celebration Theatre is headed by its Artistic Director Michael A. Shepperd, along with its Executive Director Christopher Maikish.