Who Needs A Black Queer Hero?

FREEDOM TRAIN PRODUCTIONS PRESENTS:

Friday, April 18th, 2008 @ 7pm
WHO NEEDS A BLACK QUEER HERO?
CUNY Graduate Center, Rooms 9204/9205
365 Fifth Avenue
Midtown Manhattan

Throughout history, canonized protagonists have been largely white, heterosexual men. If, however, art is meant to illuminate all of society, and not just the privileged few, what of the rest of us? The Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies at CUNY Graduate Center (CLAGS), All Out Arts, and Freedom Train Productions, a theatre project that promotes plays that feature Black LGBT protagonists, will gather some of today’s exciting playwrights and theatre producers to answer the question: who needs a Black Queer Hero?

Panelists:
Aurin Squire - Playwright
Harrison Rivers - Playwright
Carol Polcovar - Artistic Director, Fresh Fruit Theatre Festival
Bryan E. Glover - Associate Producer, A Love Like Damien’s

More 411: New plays by Aurin Squire (New School MFA) and Harrison Rivers (Columbia MFA Candidate) will be featured at Fire! New Play Festival 2008 this August. Harrison will tackle color perception and the “oreo,” while Aurin’s new work looks at sex and freedom. Throughout the tenure of Artistic Director Carol Polcovar, Fresh Fruit Theatre Festival has been a supporter of engaging work that features Black LGBT protagonist, particularly plays with Black women center stage. Bryan Glover is currently enrolled in The Broadway League’s Commercial Theatre Institute and served as the Associate Producer of A Love Like Damien’s (HERE Arts Center), Andrea E. Davis’s cautionary tale on spiritual intolerance in the Black church community.

Sponsored by Freedom Train Productions, CLAGS, and All Out Arts/Fresh Fruit Theatre Festival, this panel discussion is free and open to the public. A question and answer will follow.

Tags: andre lancaster, black theater, bryan glover, center for lesbian and gay studies, cuny, freedom train, gay theater, queer theater