For the second time, That Uppity Theatre Company and The Vital VOICE join forces to present a festival featuring 7 short LGBT plays. Each play lasts just 10 minutes, so audience members can see all 7 works in just 90 minutes.
The idea for the festival came to That Uppity Theatre Company Artistic Director Joan Lipkin from a piece the company is currently touring. “The Big Fat LGBT Show of Shows” which gives a glimpse into the realities of LGBT culture, has had such a positive response that Lipkin realized the short format works well.
Plays for this year’s festival were solicited from around the country and then a reading committee selected the top 15. Lipkin and Associate Producer Michael B. Perkins chose the final 7, selecting the ones they liked best, but are also doable. They feature a variety of genres including rap and a non-verbal play, and showcase 7 directors and more than 20 actors from the St. Louis community.
Each performance will be followed by a Q & A session and then patrons are invited to stay for drinks and to dance to the music provided by a DJ. The post-play entertainment has prompted the slogan, “Come for the play, stay for the party!” There will also be 2 special community events. On February 28, the festival will offer a low cost preview and pizza party to LGBT and Allied youth and the March 3 matinee will honor LGBT seniors and their guests. The venue will once again be La Perla, a renovated historic bank building.
Lipkin will direct her own play, “Are You Married” which illuminates the healthcare concerns a lesbian faces when confronting a breast cancer diagnosis. Bonnie Taylor will direct “Waiting for the Skell,” by EM Lewis. It features the same characters in the Lewis play Taylor directed in last year’s festival, a pair of police professionals.
“That’s what I like about this series,” said Taylor. “They are everyday people in everyday situations. I think theater is a great medium for transforming people because you feel. It’s not an intellectual decision. It’s not idealogical. It’s from the heart.” Lipkin adds, “We want people to know that this work is for everyone, because I think LGBT stories are human stories and the theater is one place where we can all come together.”
Joan Lipkin and Bonnie Taylor were Steve Potter’s guests on “Cityscape.”
Related Event
That Uppity Theatre Company and "The Vital VOICE" Present "Briefs: A Festival of Short LGBT Plays"
February 28 and March 1, 2013
8:00 p.m.
March 2, 2013
3:00 and 8:00 p.m.
March 3, 2013
3:00 p.m.
La Perla, 312 N. 8th Street
(314) 995-4600
That Uppity Theatre Company Website
