RAINBOW THEATER FESTIVAL 2009 IS HERE!!!

The Rainbow Theater Festival will be presented at 243 Rosedale St. (New Life Presbyterian Church) beginning April 3rd and running through May 3rd. Specific performance dates are listed above. Single tickets range from $6-$12 and may be purchased in person at the Bread & Water Theatre box office or through BreadandWaterTheatre.org. For more information, call (585) 271-5523.

Bread and Water Theatre’s theme for the 2009 Rainbow Theatre Festival is based on the color yellow, which represents sun in the lesbian, bi-sexual, gay, transgender, and queer pride flag designed by Gilbert Baker. Artistic Director, J. R. Teeter, interprets the theme of sun in a myriad of ways in this year’s series of productions: The Lambda Project: Let the Light Shine On, Claudia Allen’s Raincheck and Jonathan Tolins’ The Last Sunday in June.

The festival once again opens with The Lambda Project: Let the Light Shine On, a series of monologues by J. R. Teeter, based on the life experiences of people from all over the world, of every sexual orientation and persuasion. Mr. Teeter has been compiling stories, via a series of online interviews, from people in the LBGTQ community since 2003. This year’s installment is part of an ever-growing tapestry of work, based around this year’s theme of the sun. (April 3, 4, 25 at 8pm; April 5 at 2pm)

In The Last Sunday in June, sun is given a more literal meaning, as the events of the play transpire during the summer. The play tests the concepts and stereotypes of the ‘gay play’ as a group of friends meet in a Greenwich Village apartment for the pride parade on the last Sunday in June. The play attempts to re-define gay relationships through a series of unanswered questions. Can gay culture exist in the suburbs away from bars and parades? Can a partnership exist without sex? What defines a marriage? The play primarily explores this through the largely platonic relationships of Tom and Michael, a couple in a slump about to move from the village to the suburbs and James and Susan a gay man and a straight woman who decide to ‘opt out’ of their former failed relationships through a legal marriage to each other. The playwright, Jonathan Tolins is best known for his writing for Queer as Folk, a cable television series that explores similar themes. (Performance Dates: April 17, 18 at 8pm; April 19 at 2pm)

In Raincheck, sun is interpreted as a central force within a system, in this case a family member around which the other characters unite and gravitate. Raincheck, above all else is a love story. It explores the capacity to love within family, friendship, and romance. Gwen and Thelma are women living in the same small town they grew up in. The women were close friends in high school, yet a series of events including Thelma’s four recent divorces have created a divide between the two. When Gwen’s job as a nurse leads her to the home of Thelma’s elderly grandmother Pansy and great-aunt Flora, the two are reunited not just in their love for the ageing sisters, but for each other as well. Thelma overcomes her fears surrounding her own sexuality and takes the ‘rain check’ on the relationship with Gwen she’s been missing. (Performance dates: April 24, 26 and May 1-2 at 8pm; May 3 at 2pm)

Founded in 2000, Bread & Water Theatre is committed to making the arts accessible and affordable to a broad-based audience and acting as a positive agent of change in its community. Under the artistic direction of J.R. Teeter, BWT develops theatre that speaks to our living, evolving, and dramatically changing world through new and rare works of drama, and aspires to be a major force in American theatre, providing audiences with challenging contemporary drama and innovative community outreach programs.

The Rainbow Theater Festival will be presented at 243 Rosedale St. (New Life Presbyterian Church) beginning April 3rd and running through May 3rd. Specific performance dates are listed above. Single tickets range from $6-$12 and may be purchased in person at the Bread & Water Theatre box office or through BreadandWaterTheatre.org. For more information, call (585) 271-5523.