NYC Pride Week 2011

Details

Parent Category: Other Festivals

Category: Music

Published on Thursday, 16 June 2011 05:00

Written by L E Shannon

NYC Pride Week runs June 18 - 27, 2011 at several venues in New York City.

Heritage of Pride, Inc, a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization, hosts its NYC Pride events each year in New York City. These events are organized for and on behalf of all lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) individuals and groups, and all others who support the struggle for the liberation of these communities.

In the spirit of Stonewall, Heritage of Pride welcomes the participation of all, regardless of age, creed, gender, gender identification, HIV status, national origin, physical, mental or developmental ability, race, religion or sexual origin.

The Week kicks off with the official NYC LGBT Pride Rally on Saturday, June 18 from 3 to 6 pm at Rumsey Playfield in Central Park. The Rally features well-known performers and motivating speakers from the LGBT community, with Emcees Ross Mathews and Christine O'Leary, and Headliner Oh Land, along with:

• Rachel Tiven, Immigration Equality
• Noah Lewis, Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund
• Priscilla Queen of the Desert
• Damian Furtch
• Lavender Light
• Paperdoll
• Danny Blu
• Lady Zen
• Imperial Court

During Pride Week, several shows and screenings are being held, including:

Official NYC Pride Performances:

Jomama Jones:  Endless Summer Live
June 21 - 22, 2011 at 7:30 & 9:30pm
Symphony Space, Leonard Nimoy Thalia
Celebrate Gay Pride Week with the critically acclaimed funk songbird Jomama Jones for a night that spans wild to sultry and everything in between. Following a sold-out NYC run last December, Jomama is back for these four shows only. 

Friday, June 17 at 8pm:

Fabulous Darshan, written by Bob Stewart
WorkShop Theater Company
A gay comedy about the transforming dance of friendship and mentoring among three generations of gay New York City actors (with the help of an ancient Deity).

Thursday, June 23 at 8pm:

Avenue Q
New World Stages
The award winning musical that tells the story of Princeton, a recent college grad who moves into a shabby New York apartment all the way out on Avenue Q, and the assorted neighbors he meets.

Friday, June 24 at 7pm

20th Annual HOT! Festival of Queer Performance
Dixon Place Theater
A pioneering festival of queer performance and culture -- and the oldest, continually running festival of its kind in the world. The theater consists of 2 venues: a state-of-the-art 120-seat laboratory theater and an intimate performance lounge, for an eclectic array of free and ticketed shows and programs 7 nights a week, now through August. 

Saturday, June 25 at 2pm

Unnatural Acts:  Harvard's Secret Court of 1920
Classic Stage Company
Conceived & Directed by Tony Speciale
Created by Members of the Plastic Theatre
Unnatural Acts is inspired by events that occurred at Harvard University in the spring of 1920. A student’s suicide sparked a campus-wide investigation by a secret court of administrators aimed at purging the university of a group of homosexual students. 
The untold stories of these promising young men are now shared in themes of fear and societal intolerance that are as relevant today as they were 91 years ago.

Screenings:

Tuesday, June 21 at 7 pm
92Y Tribeca

Beyond Gay: The Politics of Pride
dir. Bob Christie, co-written with Aerlyn Weissman
prod. Morris Chapdelaine
This documentary examines the role and relevance of Pride celebrations around the world -- from the heights of celebration in São Paulo and New York City to those still battling fierce oppression, such as Moscow, and Colombo in Sri Lanka. It uncovers an emerging trend in which listless and stagnant Pride celebrations return to their fiercely flamboyant roots by expressing an international solidarity with LGBT people everywhere. Screening will be followed by Q&A with director and producer, and a reception for the DVD launch. 

Free Movie Event
Thursday, June 23 at 7-10pm
Madison Avenue Baptist Church

For the Bible Tells Me So
dir. Daniel Karslake, co-written with Helen R. Mendoza
This acclaimed documentary is an "exploration of the intersection between religion and homosexuality in the U.S. and how the religious right has used its interpretation of the Bible to stigmatize the gay community." [IMDb]
Reverend Susan Sparks, author of Laugh Your Way to Grace, hosts the screening; Q&A with director follows.

Art installations:

Fernando Carpaneda: Queer Punk
Opening Saturday, June 25 at 6:00 - 11:00pm
Exhibit runs June 26 - July 2, 1:00 to 6:00pm
The Leslie/Lohman Basement Annex
Fernando Carpaneda's seminal sculptures capture subjects that reflect the extraordinary side of the human element: hustlers, rent boys, punk rockers, unknown artists, junkies, thieves and outcasts. Recreated to the minutest detail in clay, the figures sport parts of the artist's own clothing, hand tailored into miniature wardrobes. "In the style of the 17th century paintings of secular subjects, human hair and modern day relics are incorporated into each piece to reflect a sense of capturing a moment in time."

Patrick Perry: Soft Blows
Opening Sunday, June 19 at 5-9pm
Exhibit runs to July 9
Azucarera
This "gay Harlem-based artist plays with the concept of 'subversive cross stitch' fusing traditional cross-stitch designs with grossly pejorative anti-gay slurs that both seduce and repulse the viewer, ultimately engaging the audience in the exploration of their own feelings of attraction, comfort, disgust or guilt."

Saturday‛s events include a lot of "rollin‛ on the river". The lineup includes:

9th Annual Stonewall Regatta
Saturday, June 25 at 9:30am
Pier 66
Presented by Knickerbocker Sailing Association
The Stonewall Regatta is a race around the New York harbor, in cooperation with Hudson River Community Sailing, a non-profit organization that raises money to get inner city youth out on the water. Using Hudson River Community‛s J-24 sailboats at Pier 66, the race takes place from 9:30am to 2:30pm. An awards ceremony at the Frying Pan follows.

Knickerbocker Sailing Association is a GLBT sailing club whose members support diversity and enjoy getting out on the waters of the greater New York area. Sailing experience is not needed to join, because this welcoming group teaches each other the basics of sailing and boat safety.

The annual Rapture on the River: a Women's Dance is being held Saturday, June 25, on Pier 54, following the Dyke March. With new extended, earlier hours -- 3:00 - 11:00 pm -- the day-to-night party features DJs Susan Levine and Mary Mac.

Afternoon festivities include a number of comedians as well as a Happy Hour from 3:00-4:00 featuring 2-for-1 drinks. 

This year, Rapture also includes a first-ever Wet T-Shirt Contest (winner takes home $250).

On Sunday, June 26, The 42nd Annual LGBT Pride March, a/k/a the 2011 Heritage of Pride March, steps off at 12 Noon. The March starts at 36th Street & 5th Avenue, and ends at Christopher & Greenwich Streets.

This year‛s Grand Marshals are:

• Dan Savage & Terry Miller, The It Gets Better Project
• Rev. Pat Bumgardner, Metropolitan Community Church of New York (MCCNY)
• Imperial Court of New York ("We Put the FUN in Fundraising")

"We are thrilled at the opportunity of hosting such inspiring leaders of LGBT marriage equality, community service, and youth self-assurance," stated Mike Dunlap, 2011 NYC Pride March Director.

New York City’s annual Pride March began in 1970 as a commemoration of the one-year anniversary of the Stonewall Riots. The March has since grown to become the oldest and one of the world’s largest LGBT events.

Also on Sunday, June 26, the 18th Annual NYC PrideFest -- the annual LGBT street fair -- takes place from Noon to 6pm at Hudson Street between Abingdon Square and West 14th Street in Chelsea.

The fair includes StageFest 2011 with emcee Tyler Alyxander, and featuring the talents of:

• Grace Garland
• Kylie Edmond
• Luthea Salom
• Nhojj
• Reina Williams
• Sean 360X
• Robin Cloud
• Dawn Tallman
• JFortino
• Melissa Li & The Barely Theirs

The finale to a week of LGBT Pride events in New York is the 25th Annual Pier Dance on Sunday, June 26 from 4:00 to 10:30 pm, on Pier 54.

Leading the DJs is one of the most popular females in the dance circuit, DJ Ana Paula. Opening DJs are DJ Lina and DJ Vito Fun, with a special early performance by Wynter Gordon. Lighting is by Guy Smith.

"The Dance on the Pier was born out of a time when LGBT persons could not dance openly and proudly together. It is a protest set to music, a celebration set to the western skyline, and a reminder of how far the LGBT community has come."

Can‛t make it this year? Listen live that day on one of the most well known internet radio channels, MusicOne.

For more information, go to www.nycpride.org.

NYC Pride Week 2011
June 18 - 26, 2011

Rumsey Playfield, Central Park
72nd St. & 5th Avenue
New York City

Plus these venues in New York City:

Symphony Space
Leonard Nimoy Thalia
2537 Broadway (at 95th Street)

WorkShop Theater Company
312 West 36th Street, 4th floor

New World Stages
350 West 50th Street

Dixon Place Theater
161A Chrystie Street

Classic Stage Company
136 East 13th Street

92Y Tribeca
200 Hudson Street

Madison Avenue Baptist Church
30 Madison Avenue (btw 30th and 31st)

The Leslie/Lohman Basement Annex
27-B Prince Street (at Wooster Street)

Azucarera
414 West 145th Street (b/w Convent and St. Nicholas)

Pier 54
13th St & West Side Highway
Hudson River Park

Pier 66
26th Street & West Side Highway

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