Working Mans Clothes And GLAAD Celebrates Chisa Hutchinson's SHE LIKE GIRLS

Working Man?s Clothes is thrilled to celebrate the world premiere production of Chisa Hutchinson?s She Like Girls, directed by Jared Culverhouse, which was named Outstanding New York Theatre, Off-Off Broadway by the GLAAD media awards. The 21st Annual GLAAD Media Awards-New York, honoring entertainment and news media for their representations of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community, was held at the Marriott Marquis on Saturday, March 13. Tony Award winner Alan Cumming hosted the event.

"We are so proud of Chisa, of the production, of the entire team,? said Darcie Champagne, Artistic Producer. ?She Like Girls was a very important project for us and we are thrilled to have it so well received. We look forward to creating more work that ignites conversation."

She Like Girls played a five-week limited engagement at Off-Broadway?s Ohio Theatre (66 Wooster Street), from December 2 through December 30. Inspired by true events, She Like Girls, follows the story of Kia Clark, a black teen, as she struggles with brutal self-discovery in the face of a non-accepting, insular community where falling outside of the norm is difficult and dangerous. When Kia?s relationship with Marisol Feliciano moves from friendship to something more, the absence of understanding and respect in their volatile urban environment creates ripples of vehement hate. Chisa Hutchinson's She Like Girls is the story of two inner-city high school girls who fall in love and dare to challenge their world by choosing freedom over silence.

A love story at heart...Speak up; be honest about who you are: these are Ms. Hutchinson's themes, and she insists that Kia follow them to their bitter end.
?New York Times

The haunting aspect of Girls isn?t the violent act the ends the life of protagonist Kia Clark (Karen Eilbacher). What stays with you long after this production, directed with kinetic intensity by Jared Culverhouse, is the purity of the love story at its heart. ? Show Business Weekly

She Like Girls is an attack on all your senses: Ears are assaulted with Jay-Z rap lyrics, graffiti covers every visible surface, and the tension is palpable at the start. Welcome to playwright Chisa Hutchinson's inner city, where issues of race take a back seat to those of sexual orientation.?Back Stage

What stays with the audience, however, is Hutchinson?s writing...her modest writing stirs up emotions and doesn?t patronize. What, I wonder, will transpire from her inspirations in the future. ? New Theater Corp

Is the rare "important" play that counts as a joy to watch ? funny and engaging as well as thoughtful...Bring someone who needs an eye-opening display of the persisting and senseless violence against these vulnerable youth. ? Flavorpill

It is a play about love--the love between two inner-city high school girls who bravely confront the dangers of being different, and who refuse to let anything, even death, keep them silent. ? The Edge

This isn't a "gay play." It's more or less a traditional (and often quite funny) story about growing up, finding first love, and experiencing the pain and despair of young adulthood. ? Blogcritics

She Like Girls provides insight into the often hushed experience of a young woman discovering her sexuality in the midst of an urban, homophobic environment...The story that She Like Girls tells is extremely important and it is refreshing to see this work be supported and engaged.?nytheatre.com

Powerfully intense and tragically resonating modern drama, centered on the self-discovery of a teenager?s identity.?Examiner.com

I can?t help wondering if there had been better role models for Kia, and Sakia, if she would still be alive today. And it is here where I agree fully with Ms. Hutchinson ? that fear and ridicule will always exist, but understanding and respect must grow in order to stem the tide.--Happiest Medium

The production starred Adam Belvo, Karen Eilbacher, Amelia Fowler, Jessica Gist, Ashley Noel Jones, Paul Notcie II, Lavita Shaurice, Karen Sours and Chaz Rose. The production featured scenic design by Kelly Syring, lighting design by Jake Platt and choreography bySabrina Jacob. Ryan Dorin was the sound designer, Laura Taber Bacon was the costume designer, and Darcie Champagne was the artistic producer.

Chisa Hutchinson (Playwright) earned a B.A. in Playwriting from Vassar College, studied at the National Theatre Institute at the Eugene O?Neill Center, and is currently pursuing her M.F.A. in the Dramatic Writing Department at NYU/Tisch School of the Arts. Her plays, which include She Like Girls, Sex on Sunday (or How to Make a Man Stay, Beg and Roll Over), The Subject, and Dirt Rich, have been presented by such companies as the Lark Play Development Center, Vital Theater, The BE Company, Working Man?s Clothes, City Parks Theater, and the Atlantic Theater Company. Chisa has been twice nominated for the highly selective Wasserstein Prize, twice selected as a finalist for the Weissberger Award (2009 decision pending), and chosen as a finalist for the New Generation Playwriting Award, the Otis Guernsey New Voices Playwriting Award and the Heideman Award. Most recently, she was honored with a GLAAD Award for the Working Man?s Clothes production of her play, She Like Girls. Currently, Chisa is a writer-in-residence at the William Inge Center for the Arts in Independence, Kansas. When she returns to New York, it will be to present her thesis play, Somebody?s Daughter, at Cherry Lane, and to gear up for a production of Sex on Sunday with the BE Company.

Jared Culverhouse (Director) is a native Texan who moved to New York after graduating from Texas State University. He founded Working Man?s Clothes on a no nonsense, blue collar approach and the company has thrived since first working Green by Bekah Brunstetter way back in 2005. Jared has been seen in NYC productions such as Penetrator, To Nineveh ( six NYIT awards ), and Fuckplays (two NYIT nominations). His directing credits include Pulling Teeth ( American Place Theatre ), Men Eat Mars Bars While Touching Their Penis (Under St. Marks ), and is now happy to add She Like Girls to that list. Working Man?s Clothes has been instrumental in developing over forty plays through workshops, readings, and performances. Jared is pleased to work with Chisa Hutchinson a great emerging playwright and person.

Working Man?s Clothes Productions is dedicated to developing and producing authentic and original theater by supporting new works and new talent that will incite an evolution within modern theater. Working Man's Clothes is about keeping our nose to the grindstone and producing quality theatre. We believe in applying the spirit of American entrepreneurship to our work, and with only an artistic agenda, creating opportunities for playwrights, directors, designers, and actors to engage in creative collaborations while producing quality theatre. We believe that theatre can and will survive by building reciprocal working relationships with other artists, maintaining an unwavering commitment to excellence and by sheer determination. www.workingmansclothes.com

The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) is dedicated to promoting and ensuring fair, accurate and inclusive representation of people and events in the media as a means of eliminating homophobia and discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation. For more information, please visit www.glaad.org.