David Zak

Open Space Arts will present a two-week extension of SUNSETS: TWO ACTS ON A BEACH by Cal Yeomans, a long-lost drama by an early pioneer of gay theater. Learn more about the production and see how to purchase tickets.

Classic gay drama 'Sunsets: Two Acts on a Beach' will be opening on February 2 at Open Space Arts.

Open Space Arts announces the upcoming production of 'SUNSETS: TWO ACTS ON A BEACH,' a classic gay drama by Cal Yeomans. Don't miss this limited engagement running from February 2 to 19, 2024. Get all the details and reserve your tickets now.

 Open Space Arts, the company formed in 2022 dedicated to combating homophobia and antisemitism through film presentations and live performances, will open ROSENBERG, the second of its two hyper-intimate, “micro-theater” dramatic productions to be staged in fall 2023.

Open Space Arts is set to captivate audiences with their hyper-intimate 'micro-theater' productions of 'MASSAGE THERAPY' and 'ROSENBERG' in fall 2023. Discover the dates, venues, and limited seating information for these unique performances. Don't miss out on this extraordinary theatrical experience.

Pride Film Fest will celebrate the Pride month of June with three programs of short LGBT films from around the world and an in-person screening of the Argentine film HORSEPLAY at  Chicago’s Facets on June 22.

Pride Film Fest has announced its first schedule of LGBTQ-themed films since spinning off as a separate entity from PrideArts (previously Pride Films and Plays), where it began in 2012 as the in-person Queer Bits Film Fest.

Open Space Arts is presenting their inaugural production of THE KRAMER PROJECT directed and adapted by David Zak from Larry Kramer’s (THE NORMAL HEART) watershed speech “The Tragedy of Today’s Gays”. The production runs July 22 - July 31 at Center on Halsted, 3656 N Halsted. Press Opening Friday, July 22 at 7PM.  Get a first look at photos here!

Open Space Arts announced its inaugural production of THE KRAMER PROJECT directed and adapted by David Zak from Larry Kramer’s (THE NORMAL HEART) watershed speech “The Tragedy of Today’s Gays”. The production runs July 22 - July 31 at Center.

Jonathan Tolins' look at gay life in the 1990s - THE LAST SUNDAY IN JUNE a?" will be performed via Zoom by a cast of socially-distanced actors on the actual last Sunday of June 2020 a?" the day on which Chicago's Pride Parade was set to take place before its cancellation due to the city and state's COVID-19 restrictions prohibiting large gatherings. Michael Rashid, an ensemble member of Hell in a Handbag, will direct.

Pride Films and Plays today announced five more live online readings of LGBTQ-themed plays, following its enthusiastically received April 14th reading of Terrence McNally's MOTHERS AND SONS.

Today we shine a spotlight on Chicago's Pride Films and Plays with Executive Director David Zak.

Pride Films and Plays Executive Director David Zak today announced the remaining productions in the company's 2019-20 season a?" an eclectic mix of LGBTQIA+ themed plays and musicals that will include world, US, and Chicago premieres as well as revivals.

Pride Films and Plays' Chicago premiere of AFTERGLOW, S. Asher Gelman's long-running off-Broadway drama, has been extended a second time - this time for an additional eight weeks.

The Chicago Premiere of AFTERGLOW, an off-Broadway hit from 2017 exploring the emotional, intellectual, and physical connections between three men and the broader implications within their relationships, will be extended for an additional four weeks to meet demand.

Pride Films and Plays will mount Jonathan Tolin's one-man play BUYER & CELLAR in the Broadway Theater of the Pride Arts Center, according to the company's Executive Director David Zak. The production will be directed by Chicago-based Donterrio Johnson, whose many acting credits include his Jeff Award-winning Judas Iscariot in JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR for Theo Ubique and most recently, his role as the Leading Player in Mercury Theater's production of PIPPIN. Johnson has also performed as an actor with Pride Films and Plays, in productions including UNDER A RAINBOW FLAG.

Pride Films and Plays' annual fall benefit, SIMPLY SENSATIONAL, will feature Chicago native Jose Maxi Ramos, who had played the roles of John Laurens and Phillip Hamilton in the Chicago production of HAMILTON from its opening in September 2016 until late this past summer

Pride Films and Plays will host the first Chicago screening of the documentary EVERY ACT OF LIFE, a feature-length documentary film by Jeff Kaufman about Terrence McNally, one of theatre's most important and prolific playwrights of the last half-century. EVERY ACT OF LIFE profiles McNally's pioneering five-decade career in the theater, focusing on the struggle for LGBT rights and his pursuit of love and inspiration at every age. The 93-minute film features Angela Lansbury, F. Murray Abraham, Larry Kramer, Nathan Lane, Audra McDonald, Edie Falco, Christine Baranski, Patrick Wilson, Billy Porter, and many more artists who have worked with McNally over his career.

Pride Films and Plays will host a party saluting its upcoming 2018-19 five-show season on August 13 at My Buddy's, 4416 N. Clark (at Montrose), beginning at 7 pm. The event will include a meet and greet with Pride Films and Plays artists, including Artistic Director Nelson A. Rodriguez and the other directors of the five plays.