Boston Theater Company Announces Virtual Preview Performance of Newest Project - THE GAY AGENDA

Boston Theater Company, the organization that produced Finish Line: A Documentary Play About the 2013 Boston Marathon, is excited to announce a one-time virtual preview performance of its newest work The Gay Agenda: A Documentary Play About the LGBTQ+ Community on Saturday, September 19, 2020 at 8:00PM during the Fierce Urgency of Now (FUN) virtual festival hosted by the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce. This one-time virtual preview event will offer audiences the chance to watch a staged reading of this documentary play involving local actors, designers, and technicians preceding an eventual world premiere in 2021.

The performance is FREE and ZOOM registration is required, please visit gayagendaplay.com to register. BTC is encouraging a suggested donation of $10 to The Trevor Project, the leading national organization providing crisis intervention and suicide prevention services to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer & questioning (LGBTQ) young people under 25. Donations can be made here.

The performance will also offer a live interactive talkback with guest speakers.

The Gay Agenda (TGA) offers a heart-wrenching, at times amusing, and always glitter-filled peek into what it is like to identify as LGBTQ+ in today's world. Using words taken directly from interviews, TGA takes us on a journey through the interviewees' most memorable and impactful memories. These interviews are approached through the eyes of artists who are attempting to create theater in partnership with those being interviewed. Every word in the script is verbatim from interviews, and this unique approach to theater gives a voice to these real-life people. TGA connects the lives of many different individuals, all growing up in the modern age while carrying the burden that inevitably comes along with deviating from the societal "norm." Interviews in the piece represent the diversity of the LGBTQ+ community; the TGA team hopes to solidify 100 interviews before their world premiere.

The Gay Agenda creator Joey Frangieh shares, "Documentary theater allows art to be created by a community; here with TGA we are curating real stories by real people. This type of art removes the traditional limitations of one playwright's ideas and allows the opportunity for multiple voices to come together."

Frangieh continues, "I didn't come to the interviews with a list of questions, rather I engaged in human-to-human connection and conversation. To date, 70% of our interviewees are BIPOC. I've spoken with people all over the world, including some who remain anonymous (sometimes from countries where it is not safe for them to come out). We are creating a community of LGBTQ+ individuals who are sharing their stories so that we can showcase the complexity of the community. BLACK LIVES MATTER and BLACK QUEER LIVES MATTER."

CAST/CREATIVE CREDITS

Based on interviews by members of the LGBTQ+ community

Created by Joey Frangieh

Performed by Yewande Odetoyinbo, Sam Tanabe, Carla Martinez, Ahmad Maksoud and Futaba Shioda.

BIOGRAPHIES

Joey Frangieh - Creator

Joey is the son of Lebanese immigrants, his parents fled Lebanon during the war 30 years ago. He is proudly a Gay Lebanese-American and a passionate democrat. He is a director, designer, and producer. He is currently the artistic director of the Boston Theater Company.

Joey made history as the youngest person to ever direct at the Shubert Theatre in its 110 years, when he directed Finish Line: A Documentary Play About the 2013 Boston Marathon.

He has worked on Broadway four times, most recently as the assistant projection designer for the Tony Nominated play The Children and Saint Joan (programmer) both shows were with Manhattan Theater Club.

He is the resident designer for the Boston Theater Critics Association.

Previously he was the studio assistant for Tony Nominated lighting designer Justin Townsend.

He ran the 2017 and 2018 Boston Marathon and loves Cupcakes.

Ahmad Maksoud - Performer

Ahmad Maksoud is an NYC-based Egyptian American actor. Most recently, he'd been rehearsing for the new musical "The Visitor" at The Public Theatre before lockdowns were placed. While under quarantine, Ahmad has helped workshop a new play with The Roundabout Theatre Co. He was previously seen on Broadway and touring with "The Band's Visit." Off-Broadway and regional includes plays and workshops at The Atlantic Theatre, Lincoln Center, New York Theatre Workshop, The American Repertory Theatre, The Kennedy Center, The Eugene O'Neill Center, among others. TV credits include The Blacklist, Madame Secretary, and The Good Fight. He's a proud M.F.A. recipient from the A.R.T. Institute at Harvard University. Last year, he wrote, produced, and starred in his sold-out cabaret "Nasty Little Sweet Tooth," at The Green Room 42, and is currently developing a second solo performance. He's provided accent work for local NYC theatres and coached acting and singing for middle to college aged students.

Carla Martinez - Performer

Carla Martinez is a performer, teacher, and choreographer residing in Boston, MA. She is a graduate of Berklee College of Music, with a Bachelor of Music in Professional Music (Vocal Performance) and a minor in Drama. Born in Puerto Rico and raised in Southwest Florida, Carla has paved quite a path for herself and has performed all over the United States and the Caribbean.

At the young age of four, Carla began performing in small shows and singing in the school choir. She discovered her love for musicals early on and quickly jumped into training per recommendation by her mentors. She started taking dance classes at age 10 and a year later, began studying voice with Dr. Carol A. Nabatoff of Nabbie's Performing Arts Studio.

Carla started her professional theatrical career at TheatreZone in Naples, Florida and upon graduating from Berklee, has appeared in over a dozen shows in New England.

In her spare time, she enjoys going to the theater, spending time with her friends and family, watching terrible reality television, and adding unrealistic pins to her Pinterest boards.

Yewanda Odetoyinbo - Performer

Appeared in various productions which most recently include New Repertory Theatre's Hair: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical (2020), Moonbox Productions' Parade (2019), Lyric Stage Company's Little Shop of Horrors (2019), SpeakEasy Stage Company's The View UpStairs (2019), Moonbox Productions' Caroline, or Change (2019) - Odetoyinbo is an Elliot Norton Award nominee and winner of IRNE Awards Best Supporting Actress (Musical) - Small Theater for her performance in Breath and Imagination: The Story of Roland Hayes.

Futaba Shioda - Performer

Futaba (he/him) is an actor and activist dedicated to uplifting marginalized communities. Theater credits include: 25th Anniversary Tour of RENT, WP Theater, Barrington Stage Company, North Shore Music Theater. TV credit: "Sideways Smile." Futaba also promotes mental health for transgender and gender expansive youth through his work at the Gender &Family Project and Gender Conference* NYC.

Sam Tanabe - Performer

Sam grew up in South Florida always wanting to be an actor. He loves the sun, traveling, SCUBA and Publix chicken tenders subs.

After moving away from home, he found himself in Pittsburgh for four years at Point Park University, studying musical theatre and dance. His interest in languages and other cultures led him to Salamanca, Spain for a brief period of time, where he studied Spanish at the University of Salamanca.

Sam now resides in New York City. He is also the managing editor and a writer for the online publication Hapa Mag, which focuses on the mixed Asian experience. Check it out at www.HapaMag.com. When not performing, you can usually find him around Manhattan with a bubble tea in hand.

Boston Theater Company's The Gay Agenda, created by Joey Frangieh

Saturday, September 19, 2020

8:00 PM EST followed by a talkback

Featured virtually via the Fierce Urgency of Now (FUN) Virtual Festival, hosted by the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce

For more information, visit gayagendaplay.com

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