OUTstages Victoria’s new Queer Theatre Festival June 20-25, 2016. Preview.

OUTstages Victoria’s new Queer Theatre Festival June 20-25, 2016. Preview.  (Media Release).

Launched last summer, OUTstages, Victoria’s new queer theatre festival returns for a second high-heeled run, kicking off the Pride season in Victoria with shows and events running June 20-25, just before Victoria Pride Week.

OUTstages, Victoria’s new queer theatre festival, is back for year two, after a stellar first outing last summer. OUTstages presents work from theatre artists that explores and challenges attitudes towards sexuality, gender, cultural norms and queerness in engaging and inventive theatrical forms. “After a hugely successful inaugural festival, we are thrilled to return for the second year with an incredible line-up of artists. Intrepid Theatre has a 30-year history of bringing the new and now of contemporary performance to Victoria, and OUTstages presents cutting-edge queer work to Victoria audiences,” says OUTstages Curator, Sean Guist. “This is a small festival but a diverse line-up: opera-singing drag queens, shadow puppets, roller derby, and Tomboy anthems. The programming has a lot to say about the world we live in, and these artists offer personal insights into the queer experience- from struggling to fit in, to connecting with pieces of queer history, to sharing intimate moments.”

OUTstages runs June 20-25, just before the festivities of Pride Week, hosted by the Victoria Pride Society. This festival has its finger on the pulse of the queer theatre scene and is bringing some of the most exciting, daring and thought-provoking performances from across the country to Victoria audiences. The line-up includes: Ivan Coyote’s Tomboy Survival Guide, a blend of spoken word, music and memory; Kyall Rakoz’s acclaimed solo piece, Ludwig & Lohengrin, detailing the life, obsessions and mysterious death of Bavaria’s Mad King, Ludwig II; the Fringe hit, Roller Derby Saved My Soul, Nancy Kenny’s heart-warming queer comedy on 8 wheels has been rolling across the country; and the real-life sex-capades of West Coast gays get the operatic treatment from drag-diva Maria Toilette in Cocktales with Maria. We will launch the festival with a party at Phillips Brewery on June 20, with local artists in attendance, and end the festival in style with a late-night multi-disciplinary cabaret featuring local and festival artists in cabaret performances and new work-in-development.

In addition to the shows, OUTstages presents an evening of play readings from two emerging queer playwrights: Toronto playwright Liam Monghan’s, The Boy in the Chrysalis, which premiered at Halifax’s Queer Acts last year and sorry god by local playwright Colette Habel.

OUTstages Festival
June 20-25, 2016
Metro Studio Theatre + Intrepid Theatre Club
Tickets $20/$25; 3-Show Pass $50
Purchase online at intrepidtheatre.com or call Ticket Rocket 250-590-6291
Website: http://intrepidtheatre.com/festivals/outstages/

The festival line-up:

Play Readings

Tuesday July 7, 8pm
Intrepid Theatre Club
By donation at the door

sorry god by Colette Habel (Victoria)

Len, a jack-of-all trades and Simone, a drag queen-in-training come together and fall apart, as they navigate life, love and lipstick.

The Boy in the Chrysalis by Liam Monaghan (Toronto)

A little play about a big personality, The Boy in the Chrysalis tells the story of a young gay teacher and drag queen who, fed up with reality, chooses to inhabit a fantasy world instead.

Tomboy Survival Guide – Ivan Coyote (Vancouver

Wednesday June 22, 8pm
Metro Studio – 1411 Quadra
ONE NIGHT ONLY

Blending story, spoken word, music, soundscape, and memory, Tomboy Survival Guide is a live stage experience that defies genre and gender boxes with fearless truth-telling and compassionate defiance. Ivan Coyote and an all tomboy band take the audience on a musical journey, discovering the beauty in being handsome, not pretty, all along.

Ludwig & Lohengrin – Kyall Rakoz (Calgary)

Thursday June 23, 7pm
Friday June 24, 7pm
Intrepid Theatre Club – 1609 Blanshard

“4.5 stars…a deliciously entertaining show. Wunderbar!” — Edmonton Journal

Based on historical events, the one-man show offers an enigmatic look into the world of King Ludwig II of Bavaria, renowned for his patronage of the arts – in particular the operas of Wagner – his fascination with building fantastical castles, his obsession with fairytales, his fall from power, and his mysterious death. With little more than a white sheet and a paper swan, 17 characters weigh in on the “Mad King.”

Roller Derby Saved My Soul – Nancy Kenny/Broken Turtle Productions (Ottawa)

Thursday June 23, 9pm
Saturday June 25, 7pm
Metro Studio – 1411 Quadra

“Roller Derby Saved my Soul skates straight into your heart.” – Edmonton Journal

Roller Derby Saved My Soul follows Amy, a shy comic book geek, enamored with female superheroes like Wonder Woman and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, who finds love with another woman, discovers roller derby, and unleashes the super-hero within. Mixing heartwarming honesty, snappy observations, knee-high socks and roller skates, this charming queer comedy on 8 wheels has been a hit at Fringe Festivals across the country.

Cocktales with Maria – Gutter Opera Collective (Vancouver)

Friday June 24, 9pm
The Metro Studio – 1411 Quadra
ONE NIGHT ONLY

“It is the most beautiful camp thing I’ve ever seen. I loved it. I loved it. It is so touching, it’s not just funny.” –Sky Gilbert

The true and explicit encounters of real west coast gays have been transcribed word for word and set to an operatic score, interpreted by drag-diva Maria Toilette. Through Maria’s dulcet tones you will relive 8 real-life sex stories in this semi-operatic, sex-fuelled drag romp.

OUT Cabaret

Saturday June 25, 9pm
The Metro Studio – 1411 Quadra
ONE NIGHT ONLY

Get OUT one more time and end the festival in style with this multidisciplinary cabaret and closing night party all in one. The show will go from Broadway to back alley, featuring festival performers alongside local artists, presenting bold, quirky, avant-garde and kitschy cabaret performances and new work-in-development.

Pride Playground

Sunday July 10, 10am-noon
Intrepid Theatre Club – 1609 Blanshard
FREE

Stop by this rainbow-filled playground before the Pride Parade; packed with arts, crafts, masks and glittery activities to get Pride-sters of all ages festive and parade-worthy.