The Pearl Company

Hammertheatre presents Sky Gilbert’s Steven and Chris Design your Mind, Saturday, March 7, 2009 at 8:30 pm at The Pearl Company, 16 Steven St. Starring Sky Gilbert and Keith Cole, directed by Ed Roy. A Pay-What-You-Can workshop. Tickets at the door on a first-come first-served basis. Tired of those irritating gay guys on TV telling you where to put your couch?

Had it up to here with queer eyes trying to make you over? Wish you could watch anything but a same-sex male couple talking about how fat they are while an audience full of housewives shrieks with laughter?

Then it’s time you came to see STEVEN AND CHRIS DESIGN YOUR MIND, starring Sky Gilbert and Keith Cole. The adventures of our two very effeminate designers begin after viewers demand to see some gay content on their TV show. What should they do? Chris and Steven are lovers off-screen, should they go totally gay, and talk about their gay lives on TV? Does the audience really want to hear about that? Our designer fellows come up with some unique solutions, some of which involve doing the dirty on the small screen. Well not exactly but…let’s just say they reveal all!

Mature content and strong language.

Sky Gilbert (Writer / role of Chris): Sky Gilbert is a writer, director, and drag queen extraordinaire. He was the Artistic Director of Buddies in Bad Times Theatre, North America’s largest gay and lesbian theatre, for eighteen years. Since leaving Buddies in 1997 to pursue writing he has published five novels, two books of poetry, four plays, and a memoir. He was awarded the Toronto Arts Foundation’s Margo Bindhardt Award and the ReLit Award for his novel AN ENGLISH GENTLEMAN. The Globe and Mail praised his new novella WIT IN LOVE as “one of the best and funniest books published in Canada this year.” At his day job, Dr. Sky Gilbert holds the University Research Chair in Creative Writing and Theatre Studies at Guelph University. Onstage credits include Otto/Nicky in THE FOOD CHAIN (Saidye Bronfman Centre for the Arts), Gilles de Rais in JEHANNE AND THE WITCHES (Tarragon Theatre), Claudius in HAMLET (DNA Theatre), Harold in THE BOYS IN THE BAND (Buddies), and Maurice Sachs in THE EDGE OF THE EARTH IS TOO NEAR (Nightwood Theatre) for which he received a Dora Award nomination. Sky is currently onstage at Buddies in their 2009 Rhubarb Festival as Francis Lark in Hope Thompson’s SHE WALKS THE LINE.

Keith Cole (Steven): Keith Cole is a graduate of York University’s Fine Arts program. He has produced 16 films, which have been screened at several international film festivals, and has had two retrospectives of his work at The Cinematheque Ontario at The Art Gallery of Ontario. He is a guest teacher at The Ontario College of Art and Design and also teaches tap dancing for disadvantaged youth and basically anyone who wants to learn how to tap dance. He received a 2008 Dora Award nomination for his performance in Buddies In Bad Times Theatre’s ARTHOUSE CABARET. He recently finished hosting the highly successful THE NEEDLE EXCHANGE at Buddies.

Ed Roy (Director): Ed’s various activities as a theatre practitioner include directing, writing, dramaturgy, acting, teaching, and producing. Ed has been honoured for his work on several productions including A SECRET LIFE (Chalmers Playwritting Award, Dora Nominations, Outstanding Direction, Production, New Play), THE OTHER SIDE OF THE CLOSET (Dora Award Outstanding Production, Chalmers Award Nomination), WHITE TRASH BLUE EYES (Dora Award: Outstanding Production, Chalmers Award Nomination), THE ORPHAN MUSES (Dora Nominations: Outstanding Direction, Production), and SEEDS (Dora Nomination Outstanding New Play. His current theatrical roles include Artistic Director (Topological Theatre), Company Dramaturge/Associate Artist (Buddies In Bad Times Theatre), Training Coordinator (CAMH Workman Arts) and Playwright in Residence (Canadian Stage).

HAMMER THEATRE: Sky Gilbert founded Hammertheatre in January 2007. Hammertheatre is devoted to theatre research in Hamilton, particularly in plays by Artistic Director Sky Gilbert that deal with issues of gender and sexuality in experimental ways.

SPONSORS: The Ontario Arts Council and The University of Guelph
POSTER Designed by Ian Jarvis
MEDIA CONTACT Sky Gilbert, Artistic Director – Hammertheatre
e-mail: anita@istar.ca
web: http://home.istar.ca/~anita/

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