Outwright Festival
Dmae Roberts features the OUTwright Theatre Festival with artistic director Rusty Tennant who’s directing the world premiere of the musical Under the Influence. We’ll also be talking with Under The Influence’s Ernie Lijoi, (playwright, composer, lyricist) and composer Kevin Laursen as well as Jack StockLynn who’s directing They Them Their by Leela Ginelle.The festival celebrates the LGBTQ contribution to theatre while also serving as an incubator for developing work by or about the LGBTQ community. OUTwright includes workshops and readings during June 14 – June 28, 2015. We’ll hear about their centerpiece musical production as well as readings and workshops in the festival.  FIRST LIVE IN-STUDIO SHOW with Dmae since March!
(Aired11am Tues 6/9/15 on KBOO 90.7FM &Â Stagenstudio.com)
OUTwright Theatre Festival Venue: Funhouse Lounge, 2432 SE 11th Ave., Portland, OR 97214
Date: June 14 – June 28, 2015
Festival Pass: $50
Under the Influence: $25
Readings and workshops: $5-10
More info:Â www.OUTwrightfest.com.
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ABOUT THE FESTIVAL
In 2011, Fuse Theatre Ensemble produced the Gay Pride Reading Series. It was such a success, Fuse reinvented the festival in 2013 as the much larger OUTwright Theatre Festival. The mission of this Pacific Northwest festival is to celebrate the contributions of the LGBTQ community to the art of theatre by reading, staging, and developing both original and classic works creating an incubator for new LGBTQ theatre. Now in our third year, OUTwright 2015 will take place for two weeks at The Funhouse Lounge (2432 SE 11th Ave. Portland, OR 97214) June 14-28.
Along with Under the Influence, OUTwright will also be presenting a new musical workshop of “Oso Fabuloso and the Bearbacks” by J. Julian Christopher and a workshop of Eugene artist Brian Haimbach’s play How to be a Sissy in addition to other staged readings, parties, and events.
ABOUT UNDER THE INFLUENCE:
BROADWAY LYRICIST ERNIE LIJOI’S NEW MUSICAL, UNDER THE INFLUENCE, HEADLINES OUTWRIGHT 2015
The centerpiece of The 2015 OUTwright Festival is a world premier musical Under the Influence with book and lyrics by Ernie Lijoi who is currently represented as a lyricist on the Broadway stage in the Outer Critics Circle Award nominated score for “It Should Have Been You”. The cast includes Brian Demar Jones, Sara King, Leslie Renee and Lijoi, himself.
Under the Influence follows an array of Anitas (Anita Smoke, Anita Drink, Anita Lay) as she sings her way through a variety of vignettes centered on vices and addictions all orchestrated by an Emcee who infiltrates her many incarnations as the enabling antagonist every addict needs. Under the Influence is, on the surface, a campy comedy but underneath the covers it is both a lampooning and lambasting of the inhumane, greed-driven, corporate capitalism that not only perpetuates our addictions, but also invents them.
BROADWAY LYRICIST ERNIE LIJOI’S NEW MUSICAL, UNDER THE INFLUENCE, HEADLINES OUTWRIGHT 2015
The centerpiece of The 2015 OUTwright Festival is a world premier musical Under the Influence with book and lyrics by Ernie Lijoi who is currently represented as a lyricist on the Broadway stage in the Outer Critics Circle Award nominated score for “It Should Have Been You”. The cast includes Brian Demar Jones, Sara King, Leslie Renee and Lijoi, himself.
ABOUT THE PLAYWRIGHT/LYRICIST/COMPOSER
Ernie Lijoi keeps himself busy in theatre as an actor, director, composer and lyricist. In 2003, he was accepted into the BMI Lehman-Engel Musical Theatre Program as a composer/lyricist where he studied under notables such as Maury Yeston, Lynne Ahrens, Steve Flaherty, Pat Cook and Rick Freyer. Ernie recently moved to Portland, OR, where he is continues to focus on collaborative projects as a writer and actor.
As a musician, Ernie recorded three CDs: Parody Romantic, Bliss, and Better Days. The latter, Better Days, was chosen by Billboard Magazine as “Unsigned Artist Album of the Year” when it was released. A compilation of the best songs from all three CDs has been curated and that collection, entitled The Best of Ernie Lijoi, is now available on Spotify, iTunes and Amazon.
ABOUT THE PRODUCING COMPANY
Fuse has collaborated with The National Forest Service and The Museum of Contemporary Craft, received a grant from the Regional Arts and Culture Council, won a Drammy award for their work on Artist Rep’s The Lieutenant of Innishmore, performed at the Bumbershoot Festival, and collaborated with NYC director Jocelyn Sawyer on Paradise Park by award-winning playwright Chuck Mee. Our original piece, Sonnetscape, won awards for Best Choreography and Sound Design respectively at the 2012 Portland Outdoor Shakespeare Festival. Fuse has been an ambassador of the Pacific Northwest theatre touring nationally to New Orleans, San Francisco, Dallas, Albuquerque, Los Angeles, and internationally to Adelaide and Bali. In July of 2015, Fuse will travel their original show Suburban Tribe to the Avignon OFF Festival in France.
Fuse has also developed 10 original works (Craft/Craeft/Kraft, Slap That Bitch, Suburban Tribe, MySp_ce, #smarter_than_phones, Karaoke Night! (the musical), A Virgin in Neverland, (…), Sonnetscape and the original musical Under the Influence, by Ernie Lijoi). Their critically acclaimed, immersive production of A Midsummer Night’s Somnambulism took audiences into Mt. Hood National Forest to camp over-night with Shakespeare’s Lovers. Fuse has organized the 2011 Gay Pride Reading Series and the 2011 Portland Mini Fringe Festival, and over the past three years, Fuse’s The OUTwright Festival has grown into one of the largest celebrations of LGBTQ theatre in the country.
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