One of this years GPS events features Shrew, Slipstream Theatre Initiatives all-male take on William Shakespeares Taming of the Shrew featuring (left to right) Miles Bond, Brenton Herwat, Bailey Boudreau and Steve Xander Carson. Photo: Brandy Joe Plambeck.
The fifth installment of The Ringwald's wildly popular Gay Play Series returns for a special anniversary edition featuring a slate of one-act plays by all-Detroit playwrights. GPS will run for two weekends, June 20-June 30, at The Ringwald Theatre in downtown Ferndale.
The 2014 GPS will kick off at 8 p.m. June 20 with a special screening of audience favorite "Southern Baptist Sissies – The Movie!" Filmed live last year in Los Angeles and featuring Emmy Award winner Leslie Jordan and Willam Belli (of "RuPaul's Drag Race" fame), Del Shores' "Southern Baptist Sissies" has played The Ringwald three times over the past seven years, always to great acclaim. The theater is thrilled to be able to screen the movie for the opening night kickoff.
The original One Act Festival will kick into gear on June 21 and will repeat June 22, 28 and 29.
Artistic director Joe Bailey said, "Of all the submissions received this year, the best were from our own hometown. So it made sense, for the fifth anniversary of GPS, to celebrate the talent here and to make it a complete Detroit playwright lineup."
The 2014 One Acts are:
* "Make Room for Stu" by Bitch and Fag (Tara Rase & Mark Sobolewski)
* "The Shelter" by Josh Campos
* "Let Go, Larry" by Jeff Mansk
* "The Choice" by Dave Davies
* "Monster" by Mike McGettigan
* "At the Food Court" by Kim Carney
* "Who's on Dick?" by Marty Shea
* "Mom is so GLAAD" by Margaret Edwartowski
As always, audience members will vote for their favorite script. The winning script will receive an additional performance at the closing ceremonies at 8 p.m. June 24. Audience members will also be asked to vote for a favorite performances and director.
Also, as part of the festival, Monday, June 23 brings to The Ringwald stage the newest Shakespeare outing from Slipstream Theatre Initiative: "Shrew." On the heels of its successful all-male production of "Twelfth Night," Slipstream is at it again, this time tackling Shakespeare's "Taming of the Shrew." Using an all-male cast, Slipstream is creating the play in a world of dominance vs. submission, where it is not a battle of the sexes, but a battle for control in general.
Using an S&M theme and taking advantage of the adaptable space of The Ringwald stage, this production of "Shrew" is a bit unlike any you've seen before. The question you'll be asking yourself is not "was she really tamed?" but rather "where did they get all that bondage gear?!" The cast features Steve Xander Carson, Alexander H. Trice, Miles Bond, Emilio Rodriguez, Dick Ward, Ryan Ernst, Michael Lopetrone, Bailey Boudreau, Brenton Herwat and newcomer Michael Soave, with direction and costume design by Boudreau. The play has been sliced from its standard three hours to a mere hour and 15 minutes and will be sure to have you seeing the Bard in a whole new way: in leather and lace.
Friday, June 27 at 8 p.m. marks the return of hometown hero Vince Kelley in an all-new concert, "Pop Tart!" Enjoy the vocal stylings of Kelley as he works his way through an all-pop concert featuring songs by Miley Cyrus, Katy Perry, Britney Spears, and many more. This will mark Kelley's first Detroit appearance since moving to New York City last year.
Saturday, June 28 at 8 p.m. and Sunday, June 29 at 3 p.m. will feature all eight one-act plays both days.
The festival will conclude at 8 p.m. Monday, June 30 with the awards ceremony, a repeat performance of the audience-voted favorite one act, and a fierce lip-sync battle, "Lip Sync for Your Life." This promises to be an evening of awesome lip-synced performances wherein participants will, almost-but-not-quite-literally-lip sync for their lives!
Admission to individual events during this year's GPS will be $10 per event. A $30 All Pass (which gets you into all events during both weekends) will also be available.
Tickets can be purchased at
http://www.TheRingwald.com or at the theater box office. The Ringwald box office opens 45 minutes before performances; tickets can be purchased with cash, Visa or Mastercard.
The Ringwald Theatre is located at 22742 Woodward Avenue in the Times Square of downtown Ferndale.
