Queens Theatre Presents THE STONEWALL 50 PLAYS
FLUSHING MEADOWS CORONA PARK ? In a nondescript bar on Christopher Street a revolution was sparked 50 years ago when the LGBTQ patrons decided gathering as a community was not a crime.
Instead of going along quietly with the police that June night in 1969, the bar's clientele fought back.
To commemorate the Stonewall Inn riots that pushed the LGBTQ+ Rights Movement to the forefront, Queens Theatre has joined with The One-Minute Play Festival and the Queens Museum to present The Stonewall 50 Plays: 50 Queer One-Minute Plays by 50 LGBTQ+ Playwrights for 50 Years of Stonewall Saturday, June 22, at 2pm, in the Queens Museum.
The Stonewall 50 Plays staged readings are included in a day of activism, reflection, community conversation and art that is part of an official city-wide Stonewall 50 celebration.
Queens Theatre's Director of Community Engagement and founder of the One-Minute Play Festival Dominic D'Andrea said the project stems from attempting to figure out how Queens Theatre could mark the 50th anniversary of Stonewall in a meaningful way.
"The result is that we've asked 50 LGBTQ+ playwrights, who are as diverse as the world is today, to tell their stories in their own authentic ways," D'Andrea said. "This space is needed, and we're proud to be able to offer it to the community at this critically important moment."
Every June, LGBTQ+ communities worldwide celebrate the Stonewall anniversary with Pride parades and festivals. It provides community members an opportunity to meditate on where they have come from and where they still need to go, said Stonewall 50 Plays curator and director Nathaniel P. Claridad.
"What's poignant about The Stonewall 50 Plays is that we are making space for these mediations to be clearly heard," Claridad said. "This is work made by our community for our community."
The slate of LGBTQ+ playwrights included represent international, national, New York City, and Queens-based voices: Jonathan Alexandratos, David Anzuelo, Anooj Bhandari, Maybe Burke, J. Stephen Brantley, Manny Buckley, Becca Blackwell, J. Julian Christopher, Katie Kay Chelena, Paris Crayton III, Dominic Colón, Philip Dawkins, Anton Dudley, Johnny Drago, Hennessy, Lisa Huberman, Virginia Grise, Charles Gershman, Nico Grelli, Peter Gil-Sheridan, David Grimm, Georgina Esocbar, Kevin R. Free, Gina Femia, Finkle, Daniel K. Isaac, Stephen Kaplan, Jeffrey James Keyes, Shelton Lindsay, Yilong Liu, Katie Liederman, Dani Martineck, Winter Miller, Mona Moriya, Jonathan Norton, Nilan, Ashley Marie Ortiz, Martavius Parrish, Duncan Pflaster, Azure D. Osborne-Lee, Topher Payne, Andrew Rincón, Harrison David Rivers, Connor Sampson, Darius Stubbs, Corinna "Gus" Schulenberg, Jason Tseng, Christina Quintana, Kathleen Warnock, and Steve Yockey.
The readings will be directed by Dominic Colón, Katie Kay Chelena, Nathaniel P. Claridad, Nico Grelli and Kyle Metzger. Stonewall 50 Plays curators are Caitlin Wees, Nilan, Katie Kay Chelena, Nathaniel P. Claridad and Queens Theatre's Director of Community Engagement Dominic D'Andrea.
The Stonewall 50 Plays is part of a day-long event at Queens Museum including a Community Conversation on Organizing and Activism. Radical Youth Led Art Making Space with Generation Q, Drag Queen Story Hour, a performance by Taranng Dance Troupe
All the events are free, but a ticket will be required to attend the 2pm reading of The Stonewall 50 Plays. Reservations can be made through a link on Queens Theatre's website www.queenstheatre.org.
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