TPR has always championed About Face Theatre, the 14 year old production company whose mission is to showcase plays that deal with queer issues…as in, my DREAM theatre company–for us and about us. So it is with a worried wart on my heart that I post this call for help. It was in the Chicago Tribune this morning and shortly after I got a press release from AFT. When Bonnie Metzger inherited AFT last year, it already had some debt, and now they need to raise $300,000 in order to stay alive. I can’t express how sad this makes me, but the company is being brave by slashing its budget and postponing it next production.
“Donations can be made at http://www.aboutfacetheatre.com , by calling (773)784-8565, or by mailing a check to the theatre at 1222 W. Wilson, 2nd Floor West, Chicago, IL 60640. Currently, About Face Theatre is running its critically-acclaimed production of “Stupid Kids.” Directed by Bonnie Metzgar in collaboration with Megan Carney, the production features adult actors as well as current members and alums of About Face Youth Theatre. The Chicago Reader notes: “If this gutsy, high-energy show is a sign of what we can expect from About Face under Metzgar, the company’s future is bright.” “Stupid Kids” runs through March 8 in the Hoover-Leppen Theatre at Center on Halsted, 3656 N. Halsted. Tickets are available at http://www.aboutfacetheatre.com or by calling 866-811-4111.”
About Face Theatre was created in the mid-90’s by Eric Rosen and Kyle Hall, who had a vision of creating a theatre company that would advance the national dialogue on gender and sexual identity, to create new, bold theatre (like I Am My Own Wife by Doug Wright and Clay by Matt Sax and Eric Rosen), and to create a youth theatre that serves as a safe and supportive environment for LGBTQ youth and their allies to make theatre about the issues affecting them (LGBTQ youth homelessness, gay marriage, and sexual health education, to name a few). The youth theatre program tours high schools, universities and conferences both here in Chicagoland and nationally, and often serves schools in crisis that have experienced a hate crime or hazing incident.
