QCinema, Fort Worth's Gay & Lesbian International Film Festival, is proud to announce the debut of its new live theater branch, QLive!, which promises to bring exciting, ground-breaking and controversial new works to Fort Worth with its debut 2011 season.

     "I think this inaugural season will give audiences an excellent idea of what we hope to accomplish with QLive!," says Artistic Director Kyle R. Trentham. "It's what we'd like to see on area stages; it's theater for the rest of us.

QLIVE! 2011 SEASON

MARCH 17-19,25,26

"Dying City"

In Christopher Shinn's play, a young therapist, Kelly, whose husband Craig was killed while on military duty in Iraq, is confronted a year later by his identical twin Peter, who suspects that Craig's death was not accidental. Set in a spare downtown-Manhattan apartment after dark, scenes shift from the confrontation between Peter and Kelly, to Kelly's complicated farewell with her husband Craig. Shinn's creepy, sophisticated drama - infused with references to 9-11 and the war in Iraq - explores how modern politics and recent history have transformed the lives of these three characters.

APRIL 20, 2011

"The Men From the Boys" staged reading

Thirty years after the characters in The Boys in the Band gathered in Michael's Manhattan duplex to celebrate Harold's birthday, six of the survivors are assembled again in the same apartment for another occasion: a "Celebration of Life" for one of the original "boys" who has died. This funny, acerbic and tender sequel does not toe any politically correct line. Rather, it is full of debates about and criticisms of the post liberation world, allowing these men to realize how much they have changed and how much further they have to go. This production will reunite many of the original cast members of Fort Worth Theater's 2000 production of Boys in the Band.

JUNE 4, 2011

"An Evening With Bruce Vilanch"

After falling in love with Cowtown last year when QCinema brought Vilanch to town to promote his appearance in the film Oy Vey! My Son is Gay, the Hollywood icon returns with a whole evening of standup comedy at this year's 13th annual film festival. Vilanch is a comedy writer, songwriter and actor and is one of the most sought-after jokesmiths in the entertainment industry have crafted jokes for Bette Midler, Robin Williams, Whoopi Goldberg, Billy Crystal, Steve Martin and scores of others. The six-time Emmy Award-winner has written for every televised awards show imaginable, including the Oscars, the Emmys, the Grammys and the Tonys.  He was also a regular guest celebrity alongside center square Whoopi Goldberg on Hollywood Squares.

SEPTEMBER

"None of the Above"

Jamie, 17, a sophisticated New York City private school student, answers the door one day expecting her drug dealer - and instead finds her SAT tutor. Things degenerate from there. First Jamie tries to get out of being tutored and then she tries to cut a deal with the tutor, Clark. He doesn't have much sympathy for her plight. They clash right away and seem to have very different values and priorities. But as the play progresses, Jamie and Clark negotiate an unusual pact. Soon enough, all the snap judgments these two have about each other will get thrown out the window, and they'll both be surprised by what they learn.

NOVEMBER

"Art"

How much would you pay for a white painting? Would it matter who the painter was? Would it be art? One of Marc's best friends, Serge, has just bought a very expensive painting. It's about five feet by four, all white with white diagonal lines. To Marc, the painting is a joke, but Serge insists Marc doesn't have the proper standard to judge the work. Another friend, Ivan, though burdened by his own problems, allows himself to be pulled into this disagreement. Eager to please, Ivan tells Serge he likes the painting. Lines are drawn and these old friends square off over the canvas, using it as an excuse to relentlessly batter one another over various failures. As their arguments become less theoretical and more personal, they border on destroying their friendships. At the breaking point, Serge hands Marc a felt tip pen and dares him: "Go on." This is where the friendship is finally tested, and the aftermath of action, and its reaction, affirms the power of those bonds.

"Surprise Show!"

We'll also be announcing a very special production later this year starring a local luminary.

DECEMBER

"Corpus Christi"

This controversial play begins: "We are going to tell you an old and familiar story." But from that point on, nothing feels quite familiar again. What follows is a story that parallels the New Testament's, and its subject is nothing less than the birth, death and resurrection of Jesus. Terrance McNally's Christ figure is a character named Joshua, a young man born and raised in Corpus Christi, Texas, in the early 1950s. Different from the other boys because he is homosexual, Joshua grows up in isolation and torment, an object of scorn. He flees Corpus Christi in search of a more accepting environment, gathering along the way a group of disciples who are bound to him by his message of love and tolerance. Joshua delivers his Sermon on the Mount, and officiates at a gay marriage ceremony, but, inevitably, his radical teachings (like Jesus') will not deliver him from his fate. Returning to Corpus Christi, he is betrayed by his lover, Judas, and crucified in front of the jeering throngs who hated him as a boy, and still do. His plea, that we look upon all souls as equal in the sight of God, falls unattended.

About QLive!

QLive! is a theatre company in Fort Worth, Texas, that strives to present rarely-seen new works, musicals, stand-up comedy, one-man shows and various live performances for all audiences. In the never-ending attempt to put butts in seats, the theatre world can get a bit stagnant and dangerously safe. We would rather challenge our audiences than deliver more of what they think they want. QLive! strives to make you uncomfortable, amused, touched and even angry, but most importantly, to leave a pleasant aftertaste. For more information on venues, dates and tickets, visit www.QCinema.org.