Editor’s Pick: DC Black Pride LGBTQ+ Theater Showcase
Now in its 30th year, the DC Black Pride LGBTQ+ Theater Showcase is treasure trove of short plays, all written by the gifted Alan Sharpe.
Alan Sharpe was so inspired by the first “DC Black Gay Pride Festival” held in 1991, the D.C.-based playwright decided to launch an annual evening of LGBTQ-themed theater starting the very next year.
“It became very obvious very quickly that this was something that was needed,” Sharpe says. “To see our lives and our experiences, our challenges, our dreams, our hopes, take center stage, rather than LGBTQ characters always being on the edges of the story, or the best friend, or the comic relief, the target of derision.”
Over the past three decades, the DC Black Pride LGBTQ+ Theater Showcase has evolved into a “reader’s theater program of short plays,” primarily one-act works ten-to-fifteen minutes in length — all written by Sharpe and performed by a cast of mostly local actors.
After shifting to the virtual realm in 2020 and 2021, the showcase, presented by Sharpe’s African-American Collective Theater (ACT), returns this year as a live, in-person presentation, just in time to mark the 30th anniversary.
“Nothing compares to the enthusiasm, energy, interactive feedback…and immediate gratification we’ve always enjoyed from our loyal [in-person] audiences,” Sharpe says.
Titled In the Flesh, the 2022 program features nine total short plays by Sharpe.
The roster includes:
Bad Date starring Antwain Cook-Foreman and Zukeh Freeman.
A Visit to the Ladies Room with Abbey Asare-Bediako, Adrianne Foster, and Ashley Nicole Lyles.
One Day in the Park featuring Gregory Ford and Larry Hull.
After Ours with Moses Princien and Ameirah Neal.
Urgent Care starring Edwin L. Brown III and Kevin E. Thorne II.
Blessings with Beverly Marie White and J’Nandi Lee.
The Tea starring August Bullock and Maggy Denise Lewis.
ICU, featuring an eight-member cast including J’Nandi Lee, Monte J. Wolfe, Barbara K. Asare-Bediako, and Andreas DaQuan Smith.
Father’s Day starring Donald Burch III and Jivon Lee Jackon.
Sunday, May 29, at 5 p.m. at First Congregational UCC Church, 945 G St. NW.
Tickets are $15. Call 202-628-4317 or visit www.a-act.org.
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