Massey Theatre is paying tribute to Canadian drama as part of its Under the Rainbow series of LGBTQ+ programming.
The theatre is presenting Queerly Canadian, a series of staged readings of three Canadian plays, curated by its artist-in-residence Allan Morgan along with Roy Surette, artistic director of Touchstone Theatre.
All the plays will be performed by professional actors, and all the readings are free. (Take note that they contain mature content and may not be suitable for young audiences.)
The series kicks off on Monday, Jan. 20 with Hosanna, by French-Canadian playwright Michel Tremblay. It follows the lives the aging drag queen Hosanna and her live-in partner Curiette, on Halloween night, set in the world of nightclubs and gay bars in 1970s Montreal.
The reading features the actors from the recent UBC Theatre presentation of the play, Frank Zotter and Joey Lespérance, and is directed by Stephen Heatley.
It's on at 7:30 p.m. in the Plaskett Gallery.
And save the dates for the next two plays in the reading series: Michel Marc Bouchard's Lilies, which is set for April 8 at 7:30 p.m.; and Kathleen Oliver's Swollen Tongues, coming June 8 at 7:30 p.m.
Lilies is set in 1952 in the church of a prison where it has been arranged that the jailed Simon Doucet will make his confession to his old friend Bishop Bilodeau. The reading will feature members of the cast from the Jessie Award-winning joint production of Arts Club, Touchstone and Pi Theatres, including Allan Morgan.
Swollen Tongues, written entirely in rhyming couplets, is described as a “contemporary take on Restoration comedy – with a twist.” It tells the story of a brother and sister, Thomas and Catherine, who are instructed in the powers of poetry – and who both use the poetry to declare the love for the same woman.
For all the details, see www.masseytheatre.com/queerly-canadian-a-play-reading-series-2.
