(BLOOMFIELD, NJ) -- Playwright Gregory G. Allen will have the NJ premiere of his one act play Hiding In Daylight presented as part of the Take Pride, Bloomfield! festival happening in Bloomfield, NJ on Saturday, May 19th at 3:00pm. The dystopian LGBT tale tackles highly debated topics such as LGBT rights and politics as two couples come together to remember life before the gay purge and must decide if they can continue the risk of a weekly dinner together. The single evening and setting of the drama allows for layers to be unwrapped in real time as audiences learn more about the couples and what is driving the fears each of them carry.
The event will be a semi-staged reading and members of Bloomfield’s professional theater company 4th Wall Theatre will perform and partake in a Q&A afterwards with the playwright. The piece features: Beth Baur (co-founder of New Jersey School of Dramatic Arts in Bloomfield), Ted Cancila, Bruce McCandless, and Gwen Ricks-Spencer (Executive Director of 4th Wall). The event is FREE and meant for mature audiences.
Allen is an award-winning author who has been in the entertainment industry for 30 years as a writer, actor, filmmaker, and director. His plays and musicals include: Well With My Soul (Seeing Place Theater Reading Series, NYC), Invisible Fences written with Stephen Kitsakos (4th Wall Theatre M.I.D. Stage Series), Ashokan: The Story of a Reservoir written with Stephen Kitsakos and Perdita Finn (commissioned by the Catskill Watershed Corporation), and three children's musical all produced by the Garland Children's Theatre in Garland, Texas. He is a member of the Dramatist Guild and the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. He has been a vocal advocate for many groups from autism to arts advocacy to equality and has been featured and interviewed in The Advocate, Huffington Post, PBS One-on-One with Steve Adubato, Sirius Radio The Morning Jolt, and Next Magazine.
“When I read Greg’s earlier draft last fall, I was grabbed by the story, but even more so now with the layers he has added,” says actor Bruce McCandless of North Haledon. “Sadly, what would have seemed like a science-fiction piece a few years ago now seems too much like reality. We only need to look back to the 80s when groups like ACT-UP were desperately needed to incite change. The LGBT community needs to be vocal again each time a gay person is fired, a company can deny service, or an act of hate is displayed on the community. Greg is being vocal with this play and I hope that people attending on the 19th with feel lead to join the conservation after seeing us read it.”
Take Pride, Bloomfield! is a program that runs January through June, 2018 at the Bloomfield Library and was made possible by an Incubation Grant from the New Jersey Council for the Humanities. The festival examines the LGBTQ community through literature, film, and other experiences while building upon the energy and initiative of the LGBTQ organization Bloomfield Pride.
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Allen has shared his play with theaters and LGBT organizations around the country and more and more are using the play as a starting point for conversations in their own communities. There will be a reading and discussion of the play at The Studios of Key West, directed by Stephen Kitsakos, on Tuesday, May 22 in the Helmerich Theater at 6pm. Another is being planned for Dallas Texas this summer and several other states are looking at the play to choose a date.
The playwright looks forward to the discussion after the May 19th event which is open to the public. The reading takes place at the The Little Theater at the Bloomfield Library, 90 Broadway Street in Bloomfield, NJ.
