May 15, 2014 | #GiveOutDay, A Letter to Harvey Milk, Adam & Steve and the Empty Sea, Blog, Borderlands, Eric(a), Facing East, Plan-B Theatre, She Was My Brother, The Laramie Project
Jerry Rapier has been Plan-B’s Artistic Director since 2000. He shares his thoughts on Plan-B’s LGBTQ work as part of Give OUT Day. I stumbled onto a copy of Harvey Fierstein’s TORCH SONG TRILOGY the summer I turned 16 in the Duncan, Arizona (population 700) town library. I’m positive my aunt, who ran the library, didn’t know what it was. I had never read a play before. I had never seen many of the words in that play before. And I had never quite understood who I was. It opened up the world for me. Fast forward to the fall of 2000 and I suddenly found myself in a position to make artistic decisions for Plan-B Theatre Company. I got my hands on the unpublished manuscript of THE LARAMIE PROJECT, the original production of which was still touring the country. I called Dramatists Play Service daily for 6 months and finally had to get Salt Lake Acting Company and Pioneer Theatre Company to confirm with Dramatists that they were not interested in the title so Plan-B could produce it. That production – the first independent, regional production worldwide – was the mother of all mile markers for Plan-B. It made it possible for us to segue from a community theatre to a community-based professional theatre. With it, we launched our Benefit Performances Program; realized the value of creating true community awareness around each play; committed to producing at least one play per season focused on LGBTQ issues; and began focusing more tightly on socially conscious theatre. Plan-B had produced LGBTQ-inclusive work prior to THE LARAMIE PROJECT. But now our body...
May 31, 2009 | A Letter to Harvey Milk, A Perfect Ganesh, Bash: Latter Day Plays, Blog, Di Esperienza, Facing East, Hedwig and The Angry Inch, My Left Breast, Patient A, Plan-B Theatre, The Alienation Effekt, The Laramie Project, The Tricky Part
Since 2001, Plan-B has produced plays that place LGBT issues center stage. Plays such as: A PERFECT GANESH – 2001 THE LARAMIE PROJECT – 2001 MY LEFT BREAST – 2002 HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH – 2003, 2005 BASH: LATTERDAY PLAYS – 2003 A LETTER TO HARVEY MILK – 2004 PATIENT A – 2005 MIASMA – 2006 FACING EAST – 2006, 2007 THE ALIENATION EFFEKT – 2007 THE TRICKY PART – 2008 DI ESPERIENZA – 2009 To recognize Plan-B’s exceptional commitment to these important issues, Equality Utah honored Plan-B with our 2007 Allies for Equality award. I am honored to personally support Plan-B’s unique and socially conscious...
