The TEMPERAMENTALS Opens At Barrow Group Theater Previews 4/30, Opens 5/4

Henry "Harry" Hay (April 7, 1912 - October 24, 2002) was a teacher, labor advocate and early leader in the American LGBT rights movement. Drawing on his background in the Communist Party USA, he co-founded the Mattachine Society, the first enduring LGBT rights organization in the US, in 1950. Following his ouster from Mattachine leadership in ‘53, he withdrew from organized LGBT activism until the late 1970s (although he participated informally). Following the 1969 Stonewall riots, he became involved in a local Gay Liberation Front chapter and in ‘79, he co-founded the Radical Faeries.

Tickets are now on sale for the MAN underdog production of "The Temperamentals" by Jon Marans, Off Broadway at The Barrow Group Studio Theater, 312 West 36 Street 3rd Floor, NYC. Previews begin Thursday, April 30, 2009 and the opening is Monday, May 4 at 8:00 pm for the limited engagement at the intimate studio theatre. Thomas Jay Ryan plays Harry Hay and Michael Urie is Rudi Gernreich, Tom Beckett, Matthew Schneck, & Sam Breslin Wright complete the cast. It is directed by Jonathan Silverstein. Set & Costume design is by Clint Ramos, lighting by Josh Bradford and Daniel Kluger is the sound designer. Classical composer and vocal coach Aaron Dai is the Musical Consultant. "Temperamental" was a code word for "homosexual" in the early 1950s, part of a created language of secret words that gay men used to communicate. In this underground world, danger was always an underlying presence. But with it, a heady, intoxicating secrecy also hung in the air. www.thetemperamentals.com

"The Temperamentals" tells the story of two men - the communist Harry Hay and the Viennese refugee and designer Rudi Gernreich - as they fall in love while building the first gay rights organization in the United States pre Stonewall. The play weaves together the personal and political to tell a relatively unknown chapter in gay history. It explores the love between two complex men, as their impossible dream of forming such an unheard of organization becomes a reality in this perilous, unpredictable world. "The Temperamentals" is an intimate portrayal of the men who created history and the epic struggles they overcame. The characters consist of the actual men who founded the Mattachine Society (Harry Hay, Rudi Gernreich, Chuck Rowland, Bob Hull, and Dale Jennings), as well as prominent figures of the time such as Frank Tavener of the House Un-American Committee and the director Vincente Minnelli.

Jon Marans' "Old Wicked Songs" was a 1996 Pulitzer Prize Finalist for Drama, winner of New York Drama League, L.A. Drama Logue Award, and included in Otis Guernsey's Best Plays of 1996-97. It has been produced in over a dozen countries including in London's West End with Bob Hoskins and James Callis. Jon and Yuri Sivo were hired by Universal Pictures and Tribeca Films to write a political/war screenplay based on the acclaimed book CHASING THE DRAGON. Robert DeNiro is slated to play the role of Henry Luce.

Jonathan Silverstein recent credits are the acclaimed Off Broadway revivals of "The Dining Room" (Drama Desk nomination; Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Ensemble) and "Tea and Sympathy", both for the Keen Company, where he serves as Resident Director. Some other NYC credits include: Cocteau's "Indiscretions", "Red Herring" (New York International Fringe Festival; "Outstanding Direction" award), "The Hasty Heart" to name a few. Some regional credits are: "The Fantasticks", "Urinetown", "Tick, Tick, BOOM!", "Much Ado About Nothing", and "Cymbeline". www.jonnysilver.com

Performances of the limited Off Broadway engagement at the intimate theatre for "The Temperamentals" are: Friday - Monday at 8 pm and matinees on Sunday at 4 pm; with special performances on Thursday, April 30 at 8 pm and Saturday, May 2 at 2 pm through May 18. There is no performance Saturday evening 5/2. Tickets are only $18.00. They are now on sale through Smarttix: online at www.smarttix.com or by phone at (212) 868-4444.

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