Del Shores News

Writer and performer Susan Leslie is probably best known in the theatre world for her long association with writer/director, Del Shores, having appeared in six of his plays. And this month, she will be directing Martyna Majok’s play Ironbound, with three performances July 14-16 at The Broadwater Second Stage. I decided to speak with Susan about her decision to direct this play and why the short run is being presented as a benefit for WomenShelter of Long Beach.

The Del Shores Foundation has revealed the winners of the second Del Shores Foundation Writers Search from the unproduced plays, screenplays and shorts/web series scripts of LGBTQ+ Southern writers.

Labeled as “a black comedy about white trash,”Sordid Lives, though by name sounds like an unsavory show, is in actuality an enjoyable hootenanny. The setting is July 1988 in small-town Winters, Texas and everyone’s lives have been upturned by the peculiar passing of family matriarch, Peggy. Peggy was a good Christian woman who hits her head on the sink and bleeds to death after tripping over her lover’s wooden legs in a motel room.The show chronicles the lives of Peggy’s family and associates from the time of her passing to her funeral as everyone tries to make sense of the nonsensical death.

Check out photos of Pamela Anderson, Adam Lambert, Peppermint, Keke Palmer, and more at the Los Angeles LGBT Center's The Center Gala!

Celebration Theatre recently presented its first live fundraiser since 2019, as part of a new partnership with the Los Angeles LGBT Center, a prime opportunity to introduce new leadership and to share their commitments to the Los Angeles theatre community - and the queer community at large. 

WPalm Canyon Theatre (PCT) and Del Shores have a long, strong bond with each other. His sidewalk star is even strategically placed in front of the theatre. It seems that every year PCT produces one of his plays, frequently Sordid Lives. This year they are presenting Daddy’s Dyin’, Who’s Got the Will?, his second play which was first produced in 1990.  I’ve known the title for years – it’s the sort of title you don’t soon forget – but this is the first time I have seen it produced.  I personally think it is a better structured play than the more popular Sordid Lives, and the opening night audience at PCT howled with laughter from the very first entrance.hat did our critic think of DADDY'S DYIN', WHO'S GOT THE WILL? at Palm Canyon Theatre?

One Life, Live It!, a new play written and produced by Stephen S. Miller and directed by Laurie Rae Waugh will make its World Premiere at the New York Theater Festival at Teatro LATEA with three performances: Monday, May 8, 2023 at 6:15 p.m., Friday, May 12, 2023 at 9:00 p.m. and Sunday, May 14, 2023 at 3:30 p.m.

Celebration Theatre, one of the world's longest-running LGBTQ+ theatres, is hosting an awards gala Saturday, March 11th, 2-5pm, to celebrate its arts community's creative heroes during an entertaining afternoon of special appearances and social festivities that will become an annual tradition.

“I haven’t laughed so much in my life,” the audience member me behind remarked as curtains drew to a close. A fellow patron to my right turned around and declared, “Neither have I!” The two instantly bonded over how much they loved SORDID LIVES, a self-proclaimed “black comedy about white trash” - the latest production from Encore! Performing Arts.

What did our critic think of THE SCARLET PIMPERNEL at Palm Canyon Theatre? Palm Canyon Theatre has taken some risks this season by offering a season of lesser-known shows, but their decision seems to be paying off. I know that my first-ever viewing of Titanic will last with me a long time, and their current production, The Scarlet Pimpernel, stacks up very close. It is definitely worth seeing - and especially hearing. The voices of the three leads would be comfortable in any concert hall in the world, and hearing them in PCT's relatively small auditorium is a rare treat.

MTM Players presents the ridiculously funny comedy “Sordid Lives.” The play runs weekends February 17 - 26, 2023 at Mercer County Community College's Kelsey Theatre located on the college's West Windsor campus on 1200 Old Trenton Road.

Theatre West will be the host venue for The 36th Annual Robby Awards ceremony, celebrating excellence in theatre in the Los Angeles area.

The Del Shores Foundation presents its first weekend-long Del Shores Foundation Writers Festival September 9-11, 2022 at the Trinity River Arts Center in Dallas. The festival will feature live stage readings of all three winning scripts from the first Del Shores Foundation Writers Search along with panels featuring industry experts in theatre and film focused specifically on writing.

From August to December, LGBTQ+ identifying writers living in thirteen Southern states submitted their unproduced plays, screenplays and shorts/web series scripts to the Del Shores Foundation Writers Search. Through a series of judging panels assembled from industry professional across the arts and entertainment industry, here are the selected winners:

The stars of four seasons of BRAVO's hit social series 'The People's Couch,' EMERSON COLLINS and BLAKE McIVER EWING are performing together for the first time and launching a national tour of their new live duo musical cabaret nonsense show I DREAMED A DREAMGIRL.

Uptown Players presents its 19th annual fundraiser Broadway Our Way '22. This year's production is written and directed by B.J. Cleveland, choreographed by Andrew Coopman with music direction by Kevin Gunter and Kelley Poche Rodriguez and musical arrangements by Adam C. Wright. Broadway Our Way will run June 9 - 12, at the Kalita Humphreys Theater. This year's event includes the return of two special guests, Emerson Collins and Black McIver

BroadwayHD is delivering a variety of titles this June for viewers at home to stream. Additionally, they offer an extensive list of titles and documentaries worth viewing in honor of Pride month!

Next up at the Ahmanson, the Los Angeles engagement of the eight-time Tony Award-winning Hadestown opening April 27, 2022. Rachel Chavkin directs this touring cast which includes Nicholas Barasch as Orpheus, Morgan Siobhan Green as Eurydice, Tony Award winner Levi Kreis as Hermes, Kimberly Marable as Persephone and Olivier Award® nominee Kevyn Morrow as Hades. Also featured, Belén Moyano, Bex Odorisio, Shea Renne, Lindsey Hailes, Chibueze Ihuoma, Will Mann, Sydney Parra and Jamari Johnson Williams. Levi managed to find some time between his rehearsals and songwriting to response to a few of my queries.

It’s 2015, and seventeen years later, the sordid saga continues with all the same crazy characters we love. After a chance meeting with a dangerous criminal, Brother Boy, who has added Loretta and Dolly to his repertoire, is forced out on the run.

On January 21, 2022, Wheat Ridge Theatre Company (WRTC) will open Sordid Lives at the John Hand Theater located at 7653 E. 1st Place on the Colorado Free University Campus at Lowry. Performances are Friday and Saturday at 7:30pm; Sunday at 2:30pm through February 13. There will also be an Industry Night on Thursday, February 3 at 7:30pm.