Status: Fierce & Informed at Studio Theater In Exile

FREE DRAG QUEEN PERFORMANCE AND HIV SCREENING AT STUDIO THEATER IN EXILE, JUNE 6.

A fun and educational event for the whole family in celebration of Pride.

On June 6, Studio Theater in Exile (“STIE”), housed in Hudson Valley MOCA, together with Peekskill Pride, will present a free and family-friendly drag performance with an educational element about HIV prevention, screening, and treatment. At intermission and after the show, a mobile HIV and hepatitis C testing unit from The Ally Care Center at Westchester Medical Center will be on hand, and results will be available by the end of the show.

Liam Bohan, a resident of New Rochelle, will perform as drag queen Amber Guesa, and he will share his story about living with HIV. Bohan has been performing in Westchester for ten years, and for the past three years, he has served as spokesmodel for the “HIV Stops with Me” campaign. He also works for The Ally Care Center, which provides HIV testing, screenings, care, prep, primary care, mental-health care, and more. Occasionally he has opportunities like this to combine his multiple roles and educate the public in an engaging way about the ongoing epidemic of HIV and the need for government resources.

“The Ally Care Center at Westchester Medical Center saved my life when I was 21,” Bohan said. “The fact they hired me in 2023 got me invigorated to say, this is my purpose. I love making people smile and laugh, and I love to fundraise. But I think now it’s more personal.”

The two-hour event will feature a fun and music-filled drag performance by Amber Guesa, a recounting of Bohan’s experience living with HIV, a Q&A with other spokesmodels for the “HIV Stops with Me” campaign, and the opportunity to visit the mobile testing unit for HIV and hepatitis C testing, which will be free, regardless of whether you have insurance coverage or not. Community organizations will also be on hand to answer questions, and there will be photo opportunities with Amber Guesa in her custom-made ribbon gown with red sequins.

To celebrate pride, STIE will also present The Normal Heart, a poignant autobiographical play by HIV/AIDS activist Ned Weeks that explores one man’s fight in the 1980s to bring attention to the epidemic. The play will run from June 12 to June 28, and tickets are now on sale at studiotheaterinexile.com/events.

Artistic Director Mara Mills said: “Every year, Studio Theater in Exile at HVMOCA, in collaboration with Peekskill Pride, dedicates June to Pride performances and education programs. Having Liam is a meaningful start to the celebration, and a great introduction to The Normal Heart performances.”

Originally from New Jersey, Bohan went to the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, with a very different plan for his future. “I was diagnosed with HIV on my 21st birthday,” Bohan recalled. “I kept it to myself for a few years, but I then learned I had a close friend who had been living with HIV for many years and was not able to tell people. That gave me the courage to help make a better world than the world my friend lived in.”

For more information on “HIV Stops with Me,” visit hivstopswithme.org, and for information on The Ally Care Center at Westchester Medical Center visit wmchealth.org/locations/the-ally-care-center-at-westchester-medical-center.

Studio Theater in Exile was founded in 2005 by Mara Mills and Jeremy Gratt to produce original work. STIE seeks to serve two communities: the artist community and the public community. They are committed to working with underrepresented voices, both in the playwrights and content of plays they produce. Their productions explore difficult issues of identity, conflict, and displacement. Prioritizing audience interface, STIE partners seeks dialogue and connection on difficult and little heard voices.

Peekskill Pride was incorporated in 2019 as an official 501c3 with the mission to foster safe, healthy, and supportive environments for LGBTQIA+ individuals of all ages, their allies, and families by working within the community to further the foundation for inclusion, diversity, and pride through education, advocacy, and celebration. Charles DiGruccio, President and Brian Fassett, Vice President have been collaborating with Mills and Gratt on Pride productions for several years.