Monday, July 28, 2008

Upcoming Cultural Events in SoCal



Click here for all the info on this exciting weekend event - www.lawomenstheatreproject.com









A celeb-studded evening of fast-paced Texas hold ’em is in the cards for the Center’s Celebrity Poker Tournament.

“World class cards surrounded by groovy people all for a good cause—where's the gamble in that?” says event co-chair Peter Paige.

High Rollers ($500 buy-in) will compete for a weekend trip for two to Las Vegas; High Stakers ($250 buy-in), a weekend for two in Palm Springs; and Card Sharks ($125 buy-in) a weekend for two in the L.A. area. There will be the chance for additional buy-ins during the first hour.

Only 120 seats are available—so don’t let this exciting event get lost in the shuffle!
Get your tickets here and get lucky for a reason!



Wednesday September 3, 2008
7:45pm
Hollywood Improv
8162 Melrose Avenue one block west of Crescent Hgts
RSVP suggested: (323) 651-2583
$13 cover at door, but only $10 with attached flyer (print it out)



Thursday, September 4th
Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce Monthly Mixer
6:00 - 8:00 PM

Come join the LAGLCC for our new mixer series. This is the networking event of the year. Join us the first Thursday of every month to mix, mingle and network with other Chamber members. Bring a Business Guest and your Business Guest gets in FREE! Appetizers! Drink Specials! Raffle Prizes! Members and Guests - $5.00. For more information, call 888-5LAGLCC or email kylemgibson@gmail.com.

East|West Lounge
8851 Santa Monica Boulevard
West Hollywood, CA 90069


STONEWALL YOUNG DEMOCRATS - LOS ANGELES
present their signature fundraiser

The 2nd Annual HERO AWARDS

honoring four extraordinary individuals
who champion LGBTQ issues and make our community proud.

Saturday, September 6th, 2008, 7pm-9pm
At the Home of Alan Uphold and Jeff Olde

at 110 S. Martel / Los Angeles 90036 in Miracle Mile

Hosted by Frances Callier and Angela V. Shelton,
AKA FRANGELA

Proudly join us in honoring:

Visionary Award Honoree,
LA City Council President Eric Garcetti;

Trailblazer Award Honoree,
Jenny Pizer of Lambda Legal;

Youth Advocacy Award Honoree,
Jorge Valencia of the Point Foundation;

Mentorship Award Honoree,
Michael Andraychak of the Stonewall Democratic Club

With an honorable mention to all of our LGBT veterans.

Individual tickets are $40 or $25 for Young Democrats (under 36). Sponsorships start at $250.

To buy tickets or a sponsorship,
Visit www.stonewallyoungdems.org
2008 Hero Awards RSVP,
email rsvp@stonewallyoungdems.org or
call Shawn at (323) 997-0601.



For more info and tickets click here.


Dates: September 4 - October 12, 2008
Shows: Thursday - Saturday at 8pm,
Sundays 7pm
Venue: The Alexandria Hotel 501 South Spring Street, Third Floor, Los Angeles, CA 90013
Tickets: $15 can be purchased on-line or at the box office. Group Sales, please call: (323) 883-1717

A percentage of ticket sales will be donated to the Jeff Griffith Center to help homeless LGBT youth in LA. The Griffith Center is a program of the LA Gay + Lesbian Center.

For Tickets Click Here.



Attic Studios and Attic Theatre Ensemble production of Charles Busch's Red Scare on Sunset.
Film Center
September 12-October 18.
Cindy Gendrich, director.

Set in 1951, Hollywood, the comedy centers around America's sweetheart, Mary Dale, who discovers that her husband, her best friend, her director, and her houseboy are all mixed up in a communist plot to take over Tinseltown.

Drew Droege stars as Mary Dale, with the cast also featuring Michelle Begley, Eric Jorgensen, Jan Munroe, Amy Procacci, Chris Tarantino, Sona Tatoyan and Dane Whitlock.

Droege was last seen at the Attic Theatre in Say You Love Satan , and performs regularly at The Groundlings, Upright Citizens Brigade, and Comedy Central Stage, where he produced his solo show, Bad Education.

For more information, visit www.attictheatre.org.


Click here for more info on Serafemme.






The Matrimony
MISMATCH GAME
With Your Host, Dennis Hensley, an All-Star Cast

FRIDAY, AUGUST 8 - 8 PM
SATURDAY, AUGUST 9 - 8 PM
SUNDAY, APRIL 10 - 7 PM


SCHEDULED TO APPEAR:

FRIDAY, AUGUST 8 - 8 PM

Jack Plotnick as Paul Lynde
Julie Brown as Paula Abdul
Tony Tripoli as Charles Nelson Reilly
Kate Flannery as Patty Duke
Felix Pire as Ricardo Montalban
Madeline Long as Shelley Winters

SATURDAY, AUGUST 9 - 8 PM

Tom Lenk as Heidi Klum
Sam Pancake as Lisa Whelchel
Tony Tripoli as Charles Nelson Reilly
Nadya Ginsburg as Cher
Danny Casillas as Herve Villechaize
Madeline Long as Shelley Winters

SUNDAY, AUGUST 10 - 7 PM

Drew Droege as Chloe Sevigny
Ted Biaselli as Miss Piggy
Tony Tripoli as Charles Nelson Reilly
Nadya Ginsburg as Madonna
Patrick Bristow as Tim Gunn
Madeline Long as Shelley Winters

For clips and more, visit: myspace.com/mismatchgame

The Renberg Theatre
1125 N. McCadden Place, Hollywood
(One block east of Highland, just north of Santa Monica Blvd.)

Tickets $15
Call 323-860-7300
By tickets online at:
http://www.lagaycenter.org/site/PageServer?pagename=TE_ON_OUR_STAGES


For information and tickets, click here for the LA Opera Site.


See out actor Chad Allen in LOOPED. Info and tickets here.




Click here for FilmMaker Forum tickets and info



Buy tickets here and support the LA Gay & Lesbian Center!


The West Hollywood Book Fair


 Celebrated Authors, Food, and Festivities at the City of West Hollywood’s Seventh Annual Book Fair on Sunday, September 28, 2008

Cost - Free!

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 28
Presented By: City of West Hollywood & LA Weekly

100+ Panels & Book Signings
Mystery, entertainment, politics,
memoir, comics, fiction, LGBT,
food & multi-cultural

3 Live Performance Stages
Theatre, poetry performances,
storytelling, readings & poetry
readings
Parking - Parking is available across the street at the Pacific Design Center—Enter from San Vicente across from the park. FREE shuttle service is also available from Plummer Park (7377 Santa Monica Blvd.) the day of the Fair.

For more information, visit:  http://www.westhollywoodbookfair.org/






First Thursday of Every Month

6-8 p.m.
East|West Lounge - 8851 Santa Monica Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90069

This will be a great opportunity for all of us to network with each other LGBT professionals, meet others from various organizations, network with potential employers, and ask questions about participating organizations.

* Come mix and mingle with other LGBT professionals from all walks of life
* Share a fun time with other LGBT alumni from various schools
* Deepen existing relationships with existing friends and meet new people
* Just come and have fun with other professionals in our community




PIPPIN

a Los Angeles Times BEST BET!


"GO!! One of the most taut
and accomplished spectacles"

LA Weekly - Steven Leigh Morris

"A surprising success...a triumph of Talent"
LA Times - F. Kathleen Foley


Music & Lyrics by Stephen Schwartz

The Tony Award winning musical PIPPIN receives a revitalizing twist with theatre anime visuals, hip-hop dance influence and contemporary music arrangements live on stage.

From the composer who brought you WICKED and GODSPELL!

Performance Run - May 15 - June 22, 2008

Wednesday - Saturday @ 8 pm, Sunday @ 2:00pm

Regular Tickets $50 - Orchestra, $45 - Balcony
$5 off Students & Seniors Tickets

Click here for tickets.







These high schoolers wouldn't take "NO" for an answer and staged their production OFF CAMPUS after their principal refused the performance!
photos by Adam Bouska

Students at Burbank's John Burroughs High School were so saddened by the senseless slaying of Lawrence King at another school in SoCal, that the drama class decided it would be a good idea to collaborate with the Gay Straight Alliance on a production of THE LARAMIE PROJECT, Moises Kaufman's pinnacle telling of the Matthew Shepard slaying.

Sounds like the great, forward-thinking kind of stuff that we as Americans should be proud of our youth for doing, right? No. The principal, Emilio Urioste denied them. With $500 from thegay/straight alliance, they decided to mount this production OUTside their high school.

They started rehearsals in someone's backyard and hoped for any other venue - in true Judy Garland/Mickey Rooney "let's put a show on in the barn" spirit.

What followed could be called the work of karma, angels or just plain the gay mafia.

A call to the Colony Theatre got results, and the venue was donated. Free. They also donated all the props, sets and wardrobes. The creators of the original production - Leigh Fondakowski and Kelli Simpkinsheard - about this and got involved. They not only flew out to help with rehearsals, but landed the kids part of their own theatre company grant.


Please support this show because is encompasses all about humanity that is good - gay and straight youth trying to make a difference and defying authority in true CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE and continuing on with the show, with our gay and straight community stepping up to help.





NCLR ON THE ROAD
Pathways to Justice Conference: Family Law Issues Affecting Same-Sex Couples and Their Children

Friday, June 6, 2008 - 3:30 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
With Cathy Sakimura, Esq., Equal Justice Works Fellow

Join NCLR and Family Protection Project Coordinator Cathy Sakimura at the Pathways to Justice Conference for advocates providing legal services to low- and moderate-income Californians. Cathy Sakimura and NCLR cooperating attorney Diane Goodman will present a legal training on family law issues affecting same-sex parent families.

Marriott - Downtown Los Angeles
333 S. Figueroa Street
Los Angeles, California
NCLR National Office 415.392.6257 http://www.nclrights.org

2 pithy remarks. Click here to Comment:

Chad Darnell said...

I no longer have to celebrate PRIDE or feel bad about not doing the AIDS LifeCycle (after all that damned training and fundraising) because I had tonight one of the greatest "gay" experiences I will have all year.

THANK YOU for posting about THE LARAMIE PROJECT. I went tonight and I was blown out of my seat. The fact that they rehearsed in their own backyards... fought the system and did they're own production (which was GOOD!!)... I haven't seen this kind of passion in Hollywoodland in a long, long time.

My only hope is that some fabulous and rich gay person funds a run for them, because this show could run all summer long.

Thank you, so much JD for posting about it or I never would have heard about it.

xoxo
-C

Anonymous said...

The Laramie Project was something I went to support because you now I really felt it was important. I didn't expect much from the production, I mean, it's a powerful play, but a performance piece and not something I would expect teens be able to pull off. I was totally impressed with the talent I witnessed. They were great.