There are theatre festivals for every taste and market niche, including the Lesbian/Gay/Bi/Transgender (LGBT) community. Here are six LGBT theatre festivals that will occur in 2007-8. Some information is not available, yet. Please check Web sites for up-to-date programs, schedules and ticket information.

Boston, Massachusetts
The Theater Offensive will present the 16th Out on the Edge Festival of Queer Theater. This accomplished company is sponsored in part by the Massachusetts Cultural Council and is a resident company at the Boston Center for the Arts. They use “any and all cultural tools to make a difference in the minds, hearts and libidos of the queer and straight communities.”

Past festivals have featured such LGBT theatre luminaries as Tim Miller, Holly Hughes, Marga Gomez and Lea DeLaria. This year, look for the world premiere of the musical, Surviving the Nian by Melissa Li and Abe Rybeck (April 13–May 6, at the Calderwood Pavilion). The Theater Offensive will also present Oedipus at Palm Springs by the Five Lesbian Brothers. The festival includes a Play Lab and Plays at Work series for works in progress. There will be post-show discussions and workshops about the realities of being lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender.

Many of the festival’s participants are artists of color. Some shows are American Sign Language interpreted, and all performances are wheelchair accessible. For more information about the Theater Offensive’s season, go to www.thetheateroffensive.org.

Columbus, Ohio
Theatre companies and performers from across the country will converge on Columbus, Ohio during September of 2008 for the 4th Columbus National Gay & Lesbian Theatre Festival. Hosted by Act Out Productions, a gay and lesbian theatrical company in Columbus, the 10-day event will include participants from the nation’s largest cities, including New York, Los Angeles, Indianapolis, St. Louis, Minneapolis, Columbus and more. Says performer and writer Jade Esteban Estrada, who debuted his original one-person show, ICONS: The Lesbian and Gay History of the World at the 1st Festival in 2002, ”It is the most organized festival of its kind in the country.”

The Columbus National Gay & Lesbian Theatre Festival showcases the newest gay works from around the country. “Columbus is the perfect city for an event like this,” says festival director Frank Barnhart. “We have an established theatre scene here with an appreciative and supportive audience.” Barnhart, whose New York City production Members of the Tribe recently won an OOBR Award (Off-Off Broadway Award) for Outstanding Production, is also the founder and executive director of Act Out Productions.

“In an era when gay history disappears even faster than it happens,” says recognized playwright Doric Wilson, “an event like this in Columbus is essential to the survival of our culture, a chance for us to meet each other, explore new works and celebrate gay and lesbian theatre in all its diversity.” Wilson is a pioneer of the Off-Off-Broadway movement, having written, directed, produced and designed more than 100 productions.

For more information, visit the Festival Web Site at www.columbustheatrefestival.com or call 614-263-9448.

Orlando, Florida
Fringe Festivals began in 1947 when groups who were not invited to perform at the Edinburgh (Scotland) Festival of the Arts staged their own “fringe” performances outside the official festival boundaries. Fringe Festivals now occur all over the world. Fringe festivals are typically uncensored and non-juried.

The Orlando International Fringe Theatre Festival is the oldest fringe festival in the United States. It showcases imaginative, original theatre and entertainment over a 12-day period. This year’s festival will be held May 17-28.

Entering its 16th year, Orlando Fringe has always featured many gay and lesbian-themed performances, ranging from musicals and cabarets to dramas and one-man shows. In 2006 alone, 15 of the festival’s 58 performances had gay and lesbian themes, and six of them were selected as patron’s picks. Two Orlando Fringe shows have gone on to do gay and lesbian festivals elsewhere.

The 2007 Orlando Fringe Festival participants are preparing for a record-breaking season. More than 80 performance groups are scheduled to perform in venues throughout Orlando’s Loch Haven Park. In addition to the shows, Orlando Fringe will showcase Visual Fringe and a display of non-censored art. To find out more, check out www.orlandofringe.org.

Rochester, New York
Bread and Water Theatre will present the seventh annual Rainbow Theater Festival in April and May of this year. The theme is “Healing,” which is represented by the color orange on the Rainbow Pride flag. (The flag was created in 1978 by San Francisco artist Gilbert Baker to rally the LGBT community.)

The festival started as a student-run event at Nazareth College and continued for a time in bars and warehouse basements. “The fest really began to blossom in 2006,” says Bread and Water’s artistic director, J.R. Teeter. “Artistically, we chose an assortment of plays that were relevant to our audience and to the times. We backed that up with tremendous acting and directing. All the pieces just fell into place.”

This year’s festival will include the world premieres of Cheryl Ann Costa’s Berdache and Jenna’s Dead by Rochester playwright Mario J. Stavastano. “Anointing the Sick and That Kiss are also on the bill. The Lambda Project, in which “real people” can see their actual stories dramatized, is in its fourth year at the festival. Teeter and the Bread and Water ensemble are committed to making the arts accessible and affordable to a broad-based audience. They hope to be agents of positive change. For more info, visit www.BreadandWaterTheatre.org.

Santa Monica, California
Highways Performance Space will present the 10th Annual LGBT summer festival “Ecce Lesbo/Ecce Homo.” The event will combine “provocative performance, workshops, gallery exhibitions and public discussions that embrace the spectrum of experimental queer performing arts,” according to Highways artistic director Leo Garcia. Highways audiences are exhorted to “behold the dyke, behold the fag,” with a program that will reflect the diversity of Los Angeles. The weekend events are typically three-night runs of risk-taking, challenging and engaging work by emerging and established LGBT artists. They’ll address art, politics and culture with dance, theatre and performance art to “push the boundaries of convention.”

Past Ecce Lesbo/Ecce Homo festivals have included such artists and events as Luis Alfaro, Pomo Afro Homos, Doug Sadownick, Sacred Naked Nature Girls, Keith Hennessy, Peggy Shaw, Monica Palacios, Leo Garcia, Frank Guevara’s Dance Theatre of East L.A., Noel Alumit, Ilya Pearlman, Holly Hughes’ Clit Notes, AIDS! The Musical! and more.

Highways Performance Space marks its 18th year as a center for developing new performance and promoting the development of socially involved artists from diverse local, national and international communities. Highways Performance Space is located at 1651 18th Street in Santa Monica, one block north of Olympic Blvd. Tickets are $20, and $15 for students. Tickets are available on-line at www.highwaysperformance.org. For show information, call 310-315-1459.  

Toronto, Canada
Toronto’s Buddies in Bad Times Theatre has been presenting a three-part gay-themed play series since 2006. Their “third wave,” entitled “Art and Sex,” will commence in April 2007 with the world premiere Will the Real J.T. Leroy Please Stand Up? written and directed by company founder Sky Gilbert.

At press time, the program includes Gay for Pay by Edward Roy and David Oiye, and The Scandelles: Les Demimondes by Sasha Van Bon Bon and Kitty Neptune. The plays address the themes of gender identity, fraud, virtual relationships and the world’s oldest profession. For more information, visit www.buddiesinbadtimestheatre.com.

Dublin, Ireland
The International Dublin Gay Theatre Festival will be held May 7–20. The event organizers promise “outstanding theatre, inspired performance, new venues and the participation of a large number of international companies. Several American and European artists will premiere their work on the Irish stage.”

The Dublin event is the only European festival dedicated solely to gay theatre. The festival is only in its fourth year, but it is already attracting a wide international audience.

According the festival organizers, “Dublin’s gay theatre festival provides an opportunity to showcase the contribution of gay people to theatre past and present. It is designed to give a platform to the talents of gay people, which were historically concealed by the process of criminalization.”

The purpose of the festival is “to contribute to the development of the art form, drama, in a changing Ireland; to encourage and develop the concepts of gay theatre to include gender identity, masculinity, sexuality, feminism and to reward achievement in writing, production and performance.” Every good movement needs a motto, and the Dublin Gay Theatre Festival’s is “Don’t attend because it’s gay theatre. Attend because it’s good theatre.” To learn more, visit www.gaytheatre.ie.

Ann Anderson is an actor and freelance writer. She lives in Boulder, Colo.

Pictured above: From the 2006 Orlando Fringe Festival: (left to right) Christine Robison and Leneil Bottoms in Lilly & Lilas Lovely Lesbian Hour
Photo credit: Greg Matthews