“It couldn’t be like Mickey and Judy, ‘Hey, let’s get some costumes and put on a show.'”
With that, we introduce Paul Conroy and Out Front Theatre, one of metro Atlanta’s newer companies.
Conroy is the founder and producing artistic director of Out Front, which tells stories of the LGBTQIA (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intergender, Allied) experience. Its first show, the musical Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, runs Oct. 20-Nov. 6. It’s based on the 2011 Broadway musical, which, in turn, was based on the 1994 feature film The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. The Broadway version ran about 11 months.
Priscilla follows two drag queens and a transsexual who take a road trip across the Australian Outback. The broken-down bus they use is the Priscilla of the title. Performances run 8 p.m. Thursday-Saturday and 3 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are $25. Details and reservations HERE or at 404.448.2755. Discount season tickets at PoshDealz.com.
The rest of the Out Front season:
A Kid Like Jake | FEB. 9-26, 2017. Southeastern premiere. Daniel Pearle’s 2013 drama is about a 4-year-old boy who likes Cinderella better than GI Joe, which complicates his admission to a coveted Manhattan pre-school. The piece, which had its world premiere at Lincoln Center Theatre in New York, won the Laurents/Hatcher Award from the foundation of Arthur Laurents (Gypsy, West Side Story) and his partner, Tom Hatcher.
The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told | APRIL 27- May 14, 2017. Playwright Paul Rudnick’s comic take on the Creation story, in which God makes “Adam and Steve,” not Adam and Eve.
Out Front, says Conroy, has signed a three-year lease for the 175-seat Brady Street Theater space (formerly occupied by Fabrefaction Theatre), and will produce its first season with a budget of about $100,000. An original show may be added in the spring, and the company plans to do a reading series at some point.
The staff includes Conroy and Jacob Demlow, assistant artistic and education director. Nicholas Silvestri (music) and Ben Thorpe (literary) have signed on as artistic associates.
Like most of metro Atlanta’s small and midsize theaters, Out Front is a non-Equity company but will hire Equity actors on guest artist contracts and pay all of its performers.
