June 23 – July 2
Area premiere
Birds of a Feather by Marc Acito
Directed by Jarrod Turnbull

Featuring: Lori Cannon, Todd Taylor, Tony White and Dayton Edward Willison
Performances: June 23 (Preview) at 7:30, June 24 (Opening) at 8:00, June 25 at 8:00, June 26 at 2:00, June 29 & 30 at 7:30,
July 1 & 2 at 8:00

BIRDS OF A FEATHER recounts the story of Roy and Silo, the two Central Park Zoo male chinstrap penguins who partnered, adopted an egg, hatched, and raised a chick together. BIRDS OF A FEATHER centers around the trials and tribulations of parenting, regardless of your species or sex. Roy and Silo are no strangers to the spotlight. In 2005, they were the subject of a widely contested children’s book, And Tango Makes Three, by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson. The book, temporarily pulled from school bookshelves in Loudoun County, became one of the most banned books in the US.

About Marc Acito

Marc Acito won the Helen Hayes Award for Best New Play with his comedy Birds of a Feather. He is the head writer of the musical Allegiance, which won the Craig Noel Award for Outstanding New Musical for its run at the Old Globe and is the book writer of A Room with a View, which also had its world premiere at the Old Globe and will appear next season at the 5th Avenue Theatre in Seattle. With producer Dede Harris, he is developing a stage adaptation of his first novel How I Paid for College, which won the Ken Kesey Award for Fiction and was an Editors’ Choice for The New York Times. Translated into five languages the author cannot read, the novel inspired a sequel, Attack of the Theater People. Other projects in development include a Comden & Green revue for producer Eva Price and a collaboration with Urinetown composer Mark Hollmann. A theatre historian and a regular contributor to Playbill, Marc teaches Story Structure to writers of all mediums at NYU.

July 21 – 30
Area premiere
Gently Down the Stream by Martin Sherman
Directed by Joe Bishara

Featuring Mark Phillips Schwamberger as Beau, Jarrod Turnbull as Rufus and Akky Oyagi as Harry
Performances: July 21 (Preview) at 7:30, July 22 (Opening) at 8:00, July 23 at 8:00, July 24 at 2:00, July 27 & 28 at 7:30,
July 29 & 30 at 8:00

Beau, a pianist expat living in London, meets Rufus, an eccentric young lawyer, at the dawn of the internet dating revolution. After a life spent recovering from the disappointment and hurt of loving men in a world that refused to allow it, Beau is determined to keep his expectations low with Rufus. But Rufus comes from a new generation of gay men who believe happiness is as much their right as anyone else’s, and what Beau assumed would be just another fling grows into one of the most surprising and defining relationships of his life. A remarkably moving, brilliantly funny love story, GENTLY DOWN THE STREAM reflects the triumphs and heartbreaks of the entire length of the gay rights movement, celebrating and mourning the ghosts of the men and women who led the way for equality, marriage, and the right to dream.

About Martin Sherman

Is an American dramatist and screenwriter best known for his 20 stage plays which have been produced in over 60 countries. He rose to fame in 1979 with the production of his play Bent, which explores the persecution of homosexuals during the Holocaust. Bent was a Tony nominee for Best Play in 1980 and won the Dramatists Guild’s Hull-Warriner Award. It was adapted by Sherman for a major motion picture in 1997 and later by independent sources as a ballet in Brazil. Sherman is an openly gay Jew, and many of his works dramatize “outsiders,” dealing with the discrimination and marginalization of minorities whether “gay, female, foreign, disabled, different in religion, class or color.” He has lived and worked in London since 1980.

September 15 – 24
Area premiere
Boy by Anna Ziegler
Directed by Mark Phillips Schwamberger
Performances: September 15 (Preview) at 7:30, September 16 (Opening) at 8:00, September 17 at 8:00, September 18 at 2:00,
September 21 & 22 at 7:30, September 23 & 24 at 8:00
Inspired by a true story that explores the tricky terrain of finding love amidst the confusion of sexual identity, and the inextricable bond between doctor and patient. A well-intentioned doctor convinces the parents of a male infant to raise their son as a girl after a terrible accident. Two decades later, the repercussions of that choice continue to unfold.