Diversionary Theater Closes DEAR HARVEY At FringeNYC 8/28

Diversionary Theatre, San Diego's LGBT Theatre will present Patricia Loughrey's tribute play Dear Harvey at the 14th annual New York International Fringe Festival (www.FringeNYC.org), a production of The Present Company. The play will be performed by a cast of seven to be announced shortly and will include original music performed by composer Thomas Hodges. Five performances will be held at Soho Playhouse (Venue #16), 15 Vandam Street, NYC from August 20-28.

Drawn from over thirty interviews conducted by Patricia Loughrey, Dear Harvey recounts the achievements and vision of Harvey Milk, the first openly gay man elected to a major public office in the United States. The tribute play weaves together the voices of a drag queen, a State Senator, an international gay rights activist, and a nineteen-year-old composer with the personal and political writings of Harvey Milk to paint a portrait of a leader, and a vision for equality.

"These stories about Harvey Milk are from the people he knew and the lives he changed," said playwright Loughrey. "I've had the remarkable privilege of talking with people close to him, and it's exciting to be able to share these intimate, sometimes surprising, stories with our community. We lost Harvey too soon, but in these stories, we get to hear the impact of his love and courage."

Milk and Mayor George Moscone were assassinated in San Francisco's City Hall in November 1978. Dear Harvey is based on interviews with Harvey's nephew Stuart Milk, Harvey's campaign manager Anne Kronenberg, AIDS Quilt founder Cleve Jones, California State Assemblymember Tom Ammiano, activist Robin Tyler, plus other community activists, and is supported with original music by Thomas Hodges and historical photos of Harvey Milk by Daniel Nicoletta.

Dear Harvey was given a professional concert reading at The Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. in April of this year as part of the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival (KCACTF), and Loughrey was awarded a Core Apprenticeship at the Playwrights' Center in Minneapolis for the upcoming year. Since its premiere, the play has also had readings or productions in Sacramento, Los Angeles, Torrance CA and at San Diego State University (their production of the play went to the regional KCACTF in St. George, Utah). Harvey Milk would have turned 80 this past May 22nd, and readings or productions in Santa Monica, Staten Island, Bakersfield CA and Boston celebrated his birthday and California's first Harvey Milk Day, a statewide day of recognition. This fall Dear Harvey will be published by Playscripts, Inc., and will have productions in Los Angeles, Phoenix and Albany NY.

An AEA showcase (approval pending), the FringeNYC production of Dear Harvey has already garnered some advance press, including a nod on Ken Davenport's The Producer's Perspective blog as one of the "10 shows that stand out at this year's Fringe Festival."

Dear Harvey opens Friday, August 20th and runs through Saturday, August 28th on the following schedule:

Fri., Aug. 20th @ 4:15pm
Sun., Aug. 22nd @ 4:30pm (a FringeHIGH talkback follows the performance)
Tues., Aug. 24th @ 5:45pm
Thurs., Aug. 26th @ 10pm
Sat., Aug. 28th at 8:15pm

The runtime for Dear Harvey is 75 minutes without an intermission.

Diversionary Theatre was founded in 1986 and is celebrating their 25th Anniversary Year during their 2010-2011 season. Their mission is to produce plays with gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender themes that portray characters in their complexity and diversity both historically and contemporarily. Dear Harvey was chosen for FringeNYC from more than 800 submissions.

More commonly known as FringeNYC, the Festival is the largest multi-arts festival in North America, with more than 200 companies from all over the world performing for 16 days with 1,200 performances in more than 20 venues. FringeNYC will run August 13-29.

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