Standing On Ceremony: The Gay Marriage Plays set for New Century Theatre
Apr 30, 2012

Hennepin Theatre Trust presents the new theatrical event Standing On Ceremony: The Gay Marriage Plays, running May 31-June 16, 2012 at the New Century Theatre. Showcasing funny, heartfelt "mini works" that celebrate the courage to be in a relationship-any relationship, Standing On Ceremony's smart and witty vignettes were penned by playwrights whose credits include two Pulitzer Prizes, four Obies, one Emmy and three Tony nominations. Wendy Knox of Frank Theatre will direct a stellar cast of six Twin Cities actors including Laura Adams, Shawn Hamilton Brown, Aimee K. Bryant, Jim Lichtscheidl and Mark Rhein, with one more actor to be announced soon. With this production, the Trust is working in cooperation with Minnesotans United for All Families, the official statewide campaign working to defeat the constitutional amendment that would exclude gays and lesbians from marriage in Minnesota.

Standing On Ceremony will run on selected nights, mostly weekends, opening on Thursday, May 31 and continuing through Saturday, June 16, 2012. It will be held at Hennepin Theatre Trust's New Century Theatre, 615 Hennepin Ave. S., in downtown Minneapolis on the street level of City Center. Tickets are $25, general admission, and go on sale at 11 a.m., Friday April 27, 2012. Discounts are available for groups, seniors and students. Visit HennepinTheatreTrust.org or call 1.800.982.2787 for tickets or more information.

As part of Standing On Ceremony each actor performs multiple roles in short pieces by an "A List" cadre of writers including the Minnesota-based Edgar Award winning playwright Jeffrey Hatcher, Heideman Award winner Jordan Harrison, Tony Award nominee Moises Kaufman, Mo Gaffney, Tony Award nominee Neil LaBute, Sundance Jury Prize winner Wendy MacLeod, Obie Award winner Jose Rivera, Obie and Outer Critics Circle Award winner Paul Rudnick and Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award winner Doug Wright.

These artists came together to respond to one of the defining issues of our day, the on-going battle for marriage equality. In Minnesota, forces as diverse as the artistic community, the Minnesota Rabbinical Association and the Episcopal Church of Minnesota are aligning to defeat the upcoming November ballet amendment that would change the state constitution.

Standing On Ceremony returns to the New Century Theatre after its November 7, 2011, one-night-only Minnesota debut. It was performed simultaneously that evening at more than 40 theatres across the country and in Sydney and Toronto, including the Minetta Lane Theatre in New York City which hosted the Off-Broadway premiere, to encourage discussion about marriage equality. Standing on Ceremony, conceived by Brian Shnipper and directed by Stuart Ross, began as a series of benefit events in Los Angeles and took on a life of its own under the auspices of the Tectonic Theater Project with producers Joan Stein and Richard Frankel. Tectonic's Moises Kaufman, Artistic Director and Greg Reiner, Executive Director, have been involved in other groundbreaking plays including The Laramie Project, I Am My Own Wife, and Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde which have helped spark national discourse about far reaching issues.

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