In the parking lot of a Rust Belt rock club, in the mid-1990s, a group of fans arrives early on the morning of a show to get the best spots to see their idol, rock icon Patti Roxx, up close and personal. It’s their mission, their journey, their pilgrimage. They spend the day talking, laughing, arguing, fighting, making up, and drawing blood. Alliances shift and lives change by the time the doors open. The fans love Patti because she understands them: Together they’re a band of outsiders who form a community that doesn’t question why you’d sell your soul for rock and roll.

Director Mark Finley writes: “In the LGBTQIA+ community we get so much necessary support from our families of choice. Rock the Line is about the kinship between die-hard super-fans. But to me it’s also about the everyday bravery a queer person needs not only to survive in this world, but to thrive in it. It’s about what it’s like to dare and the impact those who dare have on others.  It does all this with great honesty, humor and bad-assery.  I love it.”

Warnock says that Rock the Line is inspired by her years of following Joan Jett & the Blackhearts up and down the East Coast, and a few other places (Denmark, Australia, Palm Springs). One of Warnock’s favorite writing credits are the liner notes to the Joan Jett CD, “Unfinished Business.”

Warnock says: “This play started, as many of mine do, as a short play called “I’m Gonna Run Away,” and was the first piece I wrote about the world of being a hardcore fan. It kept growing as I continued to roadtrip to many (well over 100) Joan Jett & the Blackhearts shows. Under the guidance of Tina Howe at Hunter College, and the late, great Doric Wilson (my fairy godmother and godfather), I expanded the play into a full-length. Doric offered me a reading in TOSOS’s Robert Chesley/Jane Chambers Playwrights Project. I got a production out of that reading, with Emerging Artists Theatre. Doric always told me he wished that TOSOS had produced the play. And now, we are!”

Rock The Line is produced by TOSOS (The Other Side of Silence), directed by Mark Finley, and previews January 11-13, opening January 14 at The Flea Theater, where it runs through February 4th. Performances are at 7 p.m. Wednesday-Saturday. An ASL-interpreted performance is on Jan. 20. Tickets start at $35. To purchase tickets or find out more information https://www.tososnyc.org/rocktheline.

CREATIVE TEAM
Kathleen Warnock’s (she/her) plays have been produced in New York, London, Dublin (Ireland and Georgia), Australia, and lots of places in the U.S. Recent productions include The Butt Trumpet and Unseasonable, (International Dublin Gay Theatre Festival); How to Get Married in Five Steps and 17 Years, (Project Y, IDGTF, Lower East Side Theater Festival), as well as The Further Adventures of…” (NY Fringe, IDGTF) Outlook, (IDGTF) and That’s Her Way, (Frigid Fest, IDGTF) all presented by TOSOS. Some Are People was produced by Emerging Artists Theatre in New York and Dublin, and at Philadelphia GayFest. Grieving for Genevieve was presented by En Avant Playwrights at the Midtown International Theater Festival, and by Venus Theater (MD). Rock the Line was originally produced by Emerging Artists Theatre, and later produced by Venus Theater. 

Kathleen founded and curates the reading series Drunken! Careening! Writers! at KGB Bar the third Thursday of every month (since 2004). She is Associate Artistic Director for Community & Partnerships for TOSOS, Ambassador of Love for North America for the International Dublin Gay Theatre Festival, proud member of The Dramatists Guild, and on the Honor Roll of women playwrights. She writes for Gay City News and other publications. Kathleen is a member of Community Board #1, Queens.

Mark Finley Director (he/him) is the artistic director of TOSOS and has directed many of its acclaimed productions including Doric Wilson’s Street Theater, a 2016 IT Award Winner for Outstanding Revival. Also at TOSOS: Robert Macke’s House of Chavis, a streamed production of Robert Heide’s The Bed, Jewelle Gomez’s Waiting for Giovanni and Leaving the Blues (Audelco nominees/winners), Chris Weikel’s Secret Identity and “Merril Mushroom’s Bar Dykes and Virginia Baeta’s Damaged Goods (with Emerging Artists Theatre). He made his Off-Broadway directorial debut with Chris Weikel’s Penny Penniworth. Mark is also a teacher, author, actor and a graduate of the University of North Carolina School of the Arts.

TOSOS (The Other Side of Silence) is New York City’s oldest and longest producing professional LGBTQIA+ theater company. In 1974, Off-Off-Broadway veteran Doric Wilson, cabaret star Billy Blackwell and director Peter dell Valle, started the first professional gay theatre company in NYC. It was called The Other Side of Silence, or TOSOS for short. In 2002, directors Mark Finley and Barry Childs, and playwright Wilson resurrected TOSOS. Today, the company has produced over 30 mainstage shows and so many readings of new plays and works in progress we have trouble counting them all. www.tososnyc.org

The post Kathleen Warnock’s ‘Rock the Line: They Sold Their Souls for Rock and Roll’ first appeared on Lesbian.com.

Black, White and Raw Photography

Casting director turned producer Jen Rudolph makes her off-Broadway debut with “Love and Human Remains,” a play she’s been drawn to since college that explores the dark corners of the human psyche.

The play runs through August 2, 2014, at the Peter J Sharp Theater at Playwrights Horizons. Click for details and tickets.

She talked to Lesbian.com about her first production, what’s in it for lesbians and what’s next for her.

The subject matter seems quite dark. What drew you to “Love and Human Remains”?

I first became acquainted with “Love and Human Remains” when I was an undergrad at Ithaca College. The Kitchen Theatre in Ithaca was doing a regional production of it. When I saw the poster for the show, it spoke to me. The people depicted in it were attractive, but all looked lost and longing for something. It was like they were communicating “that in which we do not speak of” without words. The sides of ourselves that we hide with make-up, perfectionistic behavior and the ever-elusive smile. Things looked fine but they weren’t. They really weren’t. What was this show? I saw it that night. And then again the next night. And then one more time before it closed.

What I love about this play is that it really gets right to the heart of every matter without any fluff. It goes into every dark corner of one’s psyche and reveals the underpinings of what makes someone tick. These characters depict the loneliness we all feel from time to time. They experience lust, hate, obsession, depression, you name it.

The seven characters in this play are all people who we know. It is so easy in NYC to get lost in the traffic that is constantly around us. The literal traffic, the traffic of our lives, in our heads. This play is so important to me and I wanted to share it with everyone out there.

By watching the seven characters go through their lives and feel such strong emotions that we don’t want to deal with in ourselves — we connect. We gain acceptance. We learn that it’s all OK. As someone gay, I feel passionately that this is a very important play for the gay community to get into and experience. It explores everything we have been through at one time or another or have obsessed about. It goes there. It’s raw, primal and unapologetic. We all know the pain that goes along with falling for a straight woman, becoming a bit obsessed and wanting her. We’ve all been there. Jerri (played by Cassandra Paras), a very Shane-like L Word character but a bit less defended and more wounded, meets Candy (played by Kerri Lynn Miller) a quirky, neurotic, tantalizing straight woman who is looking for love and attention. Candy fits the fantasy for a lot of gay women. Maybe I can get her to love me? You know how that goes. David (played by Zach McCoy) reminds me a lot of Gale Harold’s character Brian Kinney from “Queer As Folk” and he gets involved with a much younger guy, Kane, (played by Paul Castro Jr.) and the issues around discovering one’s sexuality and vulnerability come into play for both characters. There are other gay situations that come into play but I don’t want to give too much away so I guess you’ll just have to come and see it.

In general, how do you choose projects to produce?

I choose projects based on if they can make me feel a flurry of emotions all at once. “Love and Human Remains” makes me feel turned on, afraid, disturbed, excited and then some. That to me is the full theatrical, life experience.

What was it like working with playwright Brad Fraser?

Brad has been so supportive and amazing to work with. He has been there to answer any questions and has been super on board with our production and has championed my efforts.

How has the play been received so far?

I think NYC is surprised that a place written in 1989 can still have such an impact. The play is a lot to handle but those who can have received it well. The critics are enjoying it overall.

What challenges did you face bringing this to the stage?

It is such a fast-moving play and is a beast in terms of lighting and staging and locations. My team has made it all happen seamlessly with sheer genius.

What’s next for you?

I’m thinking about “Venus in Fur.” I am also interested in producing the American film version of “Love and Human Remains.”

The post Lesbian producer makes off-Broadway debut with “Love and Human Remains” first appeared on Lesbian.com.