On Monday, Nov. 7, curtains will rise at dozens of theaters across America, including Mad Cow Theatre in Orlando, for simultaneous performances of Standing On Ceremony: The Gay Marriage Plays, a collection of nine short plays that all deal with gay marriage.
Participating theaters are presenting the play to raise awareness and funds in support of marriage equality.
Mad Cow is expecting a sold-out house in their Stage Left Theatre for this one-night only reading.
“This is the first time the event is taking place in Florida,” said Zac Alfson, Marketing Manager for Mad Cow Theatre.
Rollins professor Thomas Ouellette will direct local actors in Mad Cow's reading. Beforehand, audience members will be able to watch a live streaming introduction, as well as a post performance Q&A from the Minetta Lane Theatre in New York City, where Standing on Ceremony begins previews that night.
Attendees will be able to participate in the Q&A, regardless of their locale, by submitting questions via Twitter in real time. In addition to contributing to the conversation, a portion of the proceeds of the evening will benefit Equality Florida.
“Equality Florida is honored to be the beneficiary of this event,” said Equality Florida Field Director Joe Saunders. “The international movement that's being sparked by Standing on Ceremony is one more way for us to communicate to Orlando and Orange County that legal recognition of our families is paramount to us leading happy and successful lives.”
Saunders went on to stress how important conversations like this are for the Orlando community, especially this month as the City of Orlando and Orange County discuss the creation of a domestic partnership registry. Saunders will also be participating in a panel discussion post-reading with the audience.
“As part of our mission of “promoting, enhancing, and celebrating the human condition through art,' we think it is important to be involved in this dialogue,” said Alfson. “When it comes down to it, this is an advocacy piece.”
The Tectonic Theater Project in New York did a similar event for The Laramie Project: 10 Years Later, to premiere a play they wrote when they revisited Laramie, Wyo., 10 years after Matthew Shepard's death.
“After the success of The Laramie Project: Ten Years Later, we are thrilled to partner with Standing On Ceremony to facilitate another national convening with this beautiful collection of plays about a timely and urgent issue,” Moisés Kaufman, Artistic Director of the Tectonic Theater Project and contributing Standing On Ceremony playwright said in a press release. Alfson said the theater's relationship with Tectonic spawned the invitation to participate in the one-night reading.
“Tectonic is a very politically forward theatre company committed to fostering an artistic dialogue with our audiences on the social, political and human issues that affect us all,” Alfson said.
To date, more than 25 theatres and universities in 19 states are confirmed to participate including: Texas, North Dakota, Florida, Kansas and Michigan, where both gay marriage and civil unions are banned; North Carolina, where the vote on a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage was moved up to 2012; California, where gay marriage was legalized and then overturned by the passage of Proposition 8 in 2008; and many states where marriage equality is not yet a reality.
Beyond America, theatres as far flung as Sydney, Australia, will also participate, making this a truly international event.
S + H:
WHAT: Standing On Ceremony: The Gay Marriage Plays
WHERE: Mad Cow Theatre, Orlando
WHEN: Monday, Nov. 7 at 8 p.m.
TICKETS: MadCowTheatre.com
