Queer Theory! 2006 Company

Thomas DeFrantz (director and author) received his PhD from the department of Performance Studies at NYU in 1997, where he first studied Queer Theory. Besides running around the world looking for evidence of queer life, he has taught at Stanford, NYU, and at MIT, where he is Associate Professor. Performer: Morton Gould Tap Concerto with the Boston Pops; Duke Ellington Tap Concerto with the Aardvark Jazz Orchestra. Founder: SLIPPAGE: Performance Interventions in Culture and Technology, in residence at MIT. Recent work: librettist for The Man In My Head, (NY Musical Theater Festival, 2006); The House Music Project (2005) a technology-driven dance work that explores the history of house music, a queer African American development of the 1980s; Ennobling Nonna (2004); and the solo tap/technology piece Monk’s Mood: A Performance Meditation on the Life and Music of Thelonious Monk (2005). Dramaturg and librettist for Donald Byrd/Spectrum Dance Theater production of the Sleeping Beauty Notebook, noted by the New York Times as one of the best dance events of 2005. Author: Dancing Many Drums: Excavations in African American Dance (University of Wisconsin Press, 2002) and Dancing Revelations: Alvin Ailey's Embodiment of African American Culture (Oxford University Press, 2004). web.mit.edu/defrantz.


QUEER THEORY: An Academic Travesty written and directed by Thomas F. DeFrantz Company

	Thomas DeFrantz (director and author) received his PhD from the department of Performance Studies at NYU in 1997, where he first studied Queer Theory. Besides running around the world looking for evidence of queer life, he has taught at Stanford, NYU, and at MIT, where he is Associate Professor. Performer: Morton Gould Tap Concerto with the Boston Pops; Duke Ellington Tap Concerto with the Aardvark Jazz Orchestra. Founder: SLIPPAGE: Performance Interventions in Culture and Technology, in residence at MIT. Recent work: librettist for The Man In My Head, (NY Musical Theater Festival, 2006); The House Music Project (2005) a technology-driven dance work that explores the history of house music, a queer African American development of the 1980s; Ennobling Nonna (2004); and the solo tap/technology piece Monk’s Mood: A Performance Meditation on the Life and Music of Thelonious Monk (2005). Dramaturg and librettist for Donald Byrd/Spectrum Dance Theater production of the Sleeping Beauty Notebook, noted by the New York Times as one of the best dance events of 2005. Author: Dancing Many Drums: Excavations in African American Dance (University of Wisconsin Press, 2002) and Dancing Revelations: Alvin Ailey's Embodiment of African American Culture (Oxford University Press, 2004). web.mit.edu/defrantz.
	Margaret Ann Brady (Eve) has been away from Mr. DeFrantz and Theatre Offensive for too long, since her appearance as the cigar-wielding King Ahasuerus in 1998's Pure Polyester. Local theatre: Death of A Saleslady; Cinderella Rocks (Ryan Landry's Gold Dust Orphans); Johnny Guitar, Ruthless! (Speakeasy Stage Company); Shakespeare in Hollywood (Lyric Stage Co.); Seven Affidavits on Authority (TheatreBoston at 2002 Edinburgh Festival Fringe). Actor/writer/producer: The Mrs Potatohead Show and Greetings from Planet Girl (locally and Minnesota and New York International Fringe Festivals). Film: The Love Letter; Night Deposit. Recent TV roles include Showtime's The Brotherhood. As a teacher, she's worked with Boston's Arts in Progress program as well as Merrimack Theatre's youth summer theatre and the Mass. High School Drama Guild. She performs and develops programming with the Museum of Science's theatre program. Look for her sometime in 2007 at Jimmy Tingle's Off Broadway theatre with storyteller Sharon Kennedy as they ponder the wonders of mortality.
	Thomas-Andre` Bardwell (Daddy) -- Thomas-Andre` Bardwell, a native of Ohio, has been performing since grade school, however, this is first major production. With a Master's in Theatre Education and Community Art, Thomas-Andre` works as a drama teacher and playwriting facilitator. He has been active in Boston's queer youth programs such as BAGLY, Boston GLASS, and the Theater Offensive's True Colors Out Youth Theatre Troupe. He recently staged "Declaration", an original play at the Massachusetts College of Art. Thomas-Andre` is a spoken word artist and dancer who can be seen performing throughoutBoston as the fabulous Miss Nicholle Pride.
	Albert M. Chan (Michel) has experience in both film and theater. In film, Albert was recently cast in Disney's live-action version of the classic cartoon Underdog, due in theaters August 2007. Among other projects, Albert has portrayed an Internal Affairs Lieutenant in the crime drama Interrogation (executive produced by Jeff Most of The Crow), a punk musician in Ana's Time, a vengeful casino assistant in the award-winning S. Katz, V.P., an awkward teenager in the supernatural drama #2 Pencil, and a foul-mouth Chinese national in the award-winning feature Overserved . In theater, Albert has been nominated for the 2005-2006 Best Actor award by the Eastern Massachusetts Association of Community Theaters (EMACT) for his role as Adam in The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told at the Boston Center for the Arts. Albert has also performed in Theater Offensive's musical workshop Surviving the Nian, in Carmen as El Remendado, and in Gilbert & Sullivan's operetta Utopia, Limited as Mr. Blushington. For more information, visit http://albertmchan.com.
	Amatul Hannan (Lilith) -- Performance Poet, MC, community activist and organic gardener, Amatul grew up in Cambridge, Massachusetts - taking the Boston Globe Drama Festival by storm at 16, becoming a costumer at the Santa Fe Opera House in 1990, an Amazon Slam Champion, and featured in "SOUL BLUE" at Sydney Australia's 1999 Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras. From 2002- 03 Amatul worked with The Theater Offensive as Director of Community Outreach, and Director of DAGGER; acclaimed queer women & girls street theater. Director of ToolBox Productions since 1990, she creates events, curates visual art, and conducts workshops. Amatul has most recently collaborated with the Cambridge Peace Commission to produce Martin Luther King Day (2004, '05, '06) and other community Peace programs for the City of Cambridge.
	Eric Hubert (Jim Bunny) --Eric's path has been all things physical. With a background in dance and gymnastics and a theater degree from UCLA, he competed in SportAerobics and became a National Aerobic Champion. He was the personal trainer to notables such as Oscar-winning actress Linda Hunt; members of the rock group, White Zombie; and editor-in-chief of Deutsch Cosmopoliton. He has taught Pilates, yoga, and aerobics throughout Europe and owned his own studio in Germany, where he wrote two books, Power Pilates, and Energy Yoga. He returned to the stage in Germany with the role of Achilles in Kleists Pentesehlia at the Munichs Gasteig. He currently is finishing his Master of Education in Theater Movement Education at Lesley University, is planning to continue on to Ph.D. studies, and is teaching ballroom dance.
	Wendy Kinal (Lilith) -- Wendy Kinal is a circus artist, capoeirista, dancer, poet, and musician. Her recent exploits have included showcasing her work at the 2007 Edinburgh Fringe Festival and singing with her band, the Zydetones throughout the Boston area. She has trained with Brazilian theater and research group, Lume, and designed and facilitated a month-long cultural exchange project with girls and young women in Nungua, Ghana. Her clown work has been featured in the New York Downtown Clown Revue and the New York Clown Theater Festival. Wendy is a Licensed Massage Therapist, Certified Personal Trainer, and flying trapeze instructor with Trapeze School New York. She believes that when you laugh, you learn.
Design and Production Staff
	Karin Webb (Stage Manager) -- KARIN WEBB (Production Stage Manager) has been acting since birth and directing since she had siblings. A professional storyteller since age 11, she has earned a BFA in acting from BU, and a Certificate in Physical and Ensemble Based Theatre from Dell'Arte International School of Physical Theatre. She acted in the Norton award winning production of "Collected stories" with Gloucester Stage Company, but has spent most of her artistic energy in "alternative" theatrical forms such as Street Performance, Maskwork, Clown, Drag, Puppetry, Stage Combat, ensemble based theatre. Karin recently finished a year touring the USA with Das Puppenspiel Puppet Theatre, and performing original work in the DC Fringe Festival. She is one of the founding members of All the Kings Men Performance Troupe, and continues to perform with them around Boston today. sone of the founding members of All the Kings Men Performance Troupe, and continues to perform with them around Boston today.

	SUSAN WILSON (Tour Stage Manager) Susan Wilson will graduate from MIT in 2008 with majors in Literature and Theater Arts. She recently directed a production of Suzan-Lori Parks' 365 Days/ 365 Plays. Her latest stage managing credits include Our Town, Imperceptible Mutabilities in the Third Kingdom, As You Like It, The Glass Menagerie, Felutopia (international tour), The Old Law, Demolition Downtown, The Bear, and This Spring of Love.

	MIRTA TOCCI (Set Designer) is a visual artist, born in Buenos Aires, living and working in Boston and Barcelona. Her work has been shown in galleries and museums in Argentina, Europe and the United States. Multimedia designs include Tongues of Fire, and Bel Canto for The Theater Offensive and Last Train to Nibroc for Coyote. She is currently Artist-in-Residence at the Institute for Liberal Arts & Interdisciplinary Studies at Emerson College.

	JENNIFER SIMON (Lighting Designer) is tickled in all the right places to be involved with Tommy DeFrantz and all the folks from Queer Theory. Jennifer has been working and designing in the Boston area nearly twenty years. Upcoming and past partners include: The Theatre Offensive, Boston Children's Theatre, Milton Academy, Bridgewater State College, Harvard Law School, and Reagle Players. Jennifer likes to mix things up working in with actors.

	EUGENE TAN (Costume Design) directs A Street Theater Named Desire, the Theater Offensive's guerilla AIDS education project performed in the Fens in Boston, and appears in drag as Becca D?Bus. Design credits include ONYOURSLEEVE (Berwick Research Institute), Game of Patience (Actor's Workshop), and Blowing on Embers (Emerson College). Directing credits include TheoryEcholand (Berwick Research Institute), Descendants of the Eunuch Admiral (Emerson College) and Paper (Poly Stage F?Actor). Performance collaborations include The Seduction Project (Oni Gallery), and multiple projects with Deflowered Collision.

	JED BARNUM (Production Manager) - Jed Barnum's work with the Theater Offensive goes back to the early 90's and Blame It On The Big Banana. He attended Brandeis and MassArt, and was a founding member of PAN 9, an underground arts collective in Boston. A freelance event planner, stage manager, and publicist, as well as a sculptor, painter, writer, and performance artist, he has also facilitated numerous workshops on queer health. He's delighted to be working with The Theater Offensive once again.

	HORTENSE GERARDO (Assistant Director; Assistant Stage Manager) is a playwright and anthropologist. Her short play, The Last Glance was staged at the 2006 Playwrights in Performance event at MIT. She wrote book and lyrics for River of Babylon, featured in the 2006 Playwrights Platforms Summer Festival. She extends sincere thanks to Tommy DeFrantz and her fellow collaborators in this production.


Photos Press Synopsis

November 30, December 1, 2 2006 @ 8pm December 2 2006 @ 2pm MIT Kresge Little Theater 48 Massachusetts Avenue (rear) Cambridge, MA 02139
admission: students $6, all others $10
Commissioned by The Theater Offensive, Boston, MA Flynn Center for the Performing Arts, Burlington, VT National Performance Network
info: 617.253.4720 email web