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<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial"><b>Registration
Now Open for LGBT Focus Group Pre-Conference<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial">The
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Focus Group of ATHE announces its 2009
Pre-Conference: "Risking Queerness.” The Pre-Conference will be held
Friday, August 7, 2009 starting at 10 am in the Kaplan Assembly Hall (Room 101)
of the LGBT Community Center, 208 West 13th Street (between 7<sup>th</sup> and
8<sup>th</sup> Avenues), New York, NY. Please note that this is a change in
venue from our previous press release, and that the Pre-Conference will no
longer take place at the American Airlines Theatre.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial">Inspired by
our co-conference with the American Alliance for Theatre and Education (AATE)
and at the suggestion of our membership, the Pre-Conference will begin with a
roundtable discussion on the unique challenges inherent in making theatre with
and for LGBT and queer youth.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial">Panelists
for the discussion come from organizations working with LGBT youth in NYC and
across the country, including Theatre Askew Youth Performance Experience
(TAYPE), Tectonic Theater Project, and the LGBT Community Center’s Youth
Enrichment Services Program in NYC; Dreams of Hope in Pittsburgh; True Colors:
Out Youth Theater in Boston; Add Verb Productions in Portland, Maine; and
Fringe Benefits in Los Angeles. In addition, Dr. Brad Vincent, Assistant
Principal of Drama at LaGuardia High School for Music & Art and Performing
Arts, will present part of the ethnodrama, <i>The Silence at School</i></span><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial">, about the experiences of gay
students in elementary, middle, and high school.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial">The
Pre-Conference will also include a panel entitled, “DIY [Do-It-Yourself]
Performance: The Risks of Queer Ethics, Aesthetics, and Politics.” The panel
features solo performance artist Silky Shoemaker performing “Did Britney Do It
(To) Herself?” in addition to several papers examining DIY performance across
the country as queer strategies of resistance.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial">Featured at
the Pre-Conference in the afternoon is “In-Queer-y: Exploring Contemporary
Queer Work in NYC,”<b> </b></span><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:
Arial">a diverse panel of performances by New York artists. It will include
Heather M. Ács, a multi-media theatre performance artist and high-femme
troublemaker; Silas Howard, whose first feature, <i>By Hook Or By Crook</i></span><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial">, was a 2002 Sundance Film Festival
premiere and five-time Best Feature winner; Lee Kyle, storyteller; M Lamar,
featured performer in Justin Bond’s award-winning show <i>Lustre</i></span><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial"> at P.S. 122; Glenn Marla, who
explored fat, gender and sex in a year-long performance project “NYC’s Hottest
Fat Go-Go Boy;” and performance artists Lea Robinson’s and Elizabeth Whitney’s
piece, “The Miscegenations Project.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial">A staged
reading of David Greenspan’s new play <i>A Horse’s Ass</i></span><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial"> will begin at 7pm. The performance
will be followed by a conversation and discussion with the playwright
facilitated by Jason Fitzgerald, a scholar of Greenspan’s work.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial">The LGBT
Focus Group asks that you join them for an informal get together at a local bar
in the West Village after the reading.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial">To register
for the Pre-Conference, please send an e-mail to <a href="mailto:brentstansell@yahoo.com">brentstansell@yahoo.com</a>. The
registration fee is $20 and is due in person on August 7. The registration fee
includes lunch (please include any special dietary needs in your e-mail). All
are welcome to join the Pre-Conference at any point throughout the day, but you
are encouraged to e-mail ahead of time to guarantee a spot and a meal. There
will be an extended break before the staged reading for participants to eat
dinner on their own.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>The LGBT
Community Center and the Pre-Conference room are wheelchair accessible.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;mso-ansi-language:EN-US">Please
send any questions or inquiries to the Pre-Conference Co-Planners: Brent
Stansell at <a href="mailto:brentstansell@yahoo.com">brentstansell@yahoo.com</a> and Cassidy C Browning at
<a href="mailto:cassidycbrowning@gmail.com">cassidycbrowning@gmail.com</a>.</span><!--EndFragment-->
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