THE PINK
presented by Primary Stages and Breaking the Binary Theatre
Monday, April 3rd, 2023 at 7pm
at 59E59 Theaters, Theater A, 59 East 59th Street (between Park and Madison Avenues)
As a part of Breaking the Binary Theatre’s New Works Program, and in collaboration with Primary Stages, we are reuniting the creative team of the 2022 Festival’s HIDE AND HIDE to present a reading presentation of Roger Q. Mason’s newest work: THE PINK.
THE PINK
by Roger Q. Mason (they/them)
directed by é boylan (they/them)
dramaturgy by Gaven Trinidad (they/he/siya)
stage management by Ava Tandon
featuring Dominic Colón and Roger Q. Mason (they/them)
THE PINK: An Intimacy Ritual is a hook up performed in real time between two queer people of color seeking true intimacy in the age of dating apps and digital sex. As these two humans, Mel and Herman, grasp for “the real” in the bedroom, their conversations, silences, and moments of touch blur the lines between affection, sex, and euphoric romance.
THE PINK is a Creative Access Grant recipient at Primary Stages, nominated by National Queer Theater.
While Breaking the Binary Theatre Festival centers the hiring of TNB2S+ artists in all open roles, in BTB Theatre’s year-round artistic work, BTB Theatre will continue prioritizing the hiring of TNB2S+ artists, but also aim to holistically center the core TNB2S+ artist(s) of each process in helping them fully realize their piece’s vision (meaning, cisgender artists may be welcomed to these processes on a case by case basis, based on the needs of the TNB2S+ core artist(s) and piece).
Roger Q. Mason (they/them)
Author and Performer
Roger Q. Mason (they/them) was recently touted by The Brooklyn Rail as "quickly becoming one of the most significant playwrights of the decade." Their playwriting has been seen on Broadway at Circle in the Square (Circle Reading Series); Off and Off-Off-Broadway at MCC Theatre with Carnegie Hall, La Mama ETC, New York Theatre Workshop, New Group, The Fire This Time Festival, Dixon Place, American Theatre of Actors, Flea Theatre, and Access Theater; and regionally at McCarter Theatre, Center Theatre Group, Victory Gardens, Chicago Dramatists, Steep Theatre, Serenbe Playhouse, Theatre Rhinoceros, Open Fist Theatre Company, EST/LA, Coeurage Theatre, Rogue Artists Ensemble, Son of Semele, and Skylight Theatre. Roger is an honoree of the Kilroys List; the Chuck Rowland Pioneer Award; the Fire This Time Festival Alumni Spotlight; and the Hollywood Fringe Festival Encore Producers Award. Mason’s films have been recognized by the British Film Institute Flare Festival, Lonely Wolf International Film Festival, SCAD Film Festival, Oscar Micheaux Film Festival, AT&T Film Award, Atlanta International Film Festival, Webby Awards, and Telly Awards. They've screened at the British Film Institute Flare Festival, Lonely Wolf International Film Festival, Inside Out Festival (Toronto), SCAD Film Festival, Hollyshorts, Outfest and Outfest Fusion, Bentonville Film Festival, Outshine Film Festival, and the Pan African Film Festival. Mason holds degrees from Princeton University, Middlebury College, and Northwestern University. They are a member of Page 73's Interstate 73 Writers Group and Primary Stages Writing Cohort, an alumnus of The Fire This Time Festival, the co-host of Sister Roger's Gayborhood podcast, and the lead mentor of the Shay Foundation Fellowship and the New Visions Fellowship. Instagram: @rogerq.mason
é boylan (they/them)
Director
é boylan (they/them) is a NYC based director, creator, and composer developing new work towards trans liberation. Past selected honors include: 2019 Trans Lab Fellow, 2019-20 MTC Directing Fellow, 2020 NAMT Musical Challenge Award, 2021 JMF Songwriter, 2021 Prospect MT Lab Commission, 2022 MTFxR Garage Artist. Currently, é serves as a member of Roundabout Theatre Company’s Directors Group and Musical Theatre Factory's Makers Cohort II, as well as a Resident Playwright at Lincoln Center Theater. www.eboylan.com
Gaven Trinidad (they/he/siya)
Dramaturg
Gaven Trinidad (they/he/siya) is a Filipinx American director-dramaturg-playwright. Their artistic work examines the intersections of social justice, race, immigration, queerness, mental health, and community. They have worked as an artist and/or as an arts administrator at 2nd Stage, The Juilliard Drama Division, Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival, IAMA Theatre, and National Queer Theater. Their first play LEARNING HOW TO READ BY MOONLIGHT was recognized as 2021 Bay Area Playwrights Festival Finalist. TCG 2021 Rising Leaders of Color; Orchard Project Greenhouse Lab Cohort Member 22-23; New York Theatre Workshop’s Community Engagement Associate and Leviathan Lab’s dramaturg-in-residence. They live with Bipolar Disorder 1, and they advocate for more empathetic representations and practices in regard to mental health and care on and off-stage. www.gaventrinidadtheatre.com
Ara Tandon
Stage Manager
Ara Tandon is a stage manager and multidisciplinary artist who values the power of conceptual art in the pursuit of social progress. Ara is currently studying stage management at Fordham University and recently completed an internship at the historic Cleo Parker Robinson Dance company in Denver, CO. Other Credits: Learning How to Read by Moonlight, written by Gaven Trinidad and produced by Leviathan Lab; You Don't Have to Do Anything, written by Ryan Drake and produced through the IRT 3B Development Series; Production Stage Management of Fordham Playwriting's upcoming production of And This Is Where We, written by Iz Gonzalez.
Dominic Colón
Performer
Dominic Colón is a Puerto Rican actor, writer, and director from the Bronx. For over 20 years, Dominic taught acting and playwriting at various NYC high schools, hospitals, juvenile detention facilities, and Rikers Island. As an actor, Dominic has appeared in over 60 television shows and movies, including POWER, BULL, MR. ROBOT, LAW & ORDER: SVU, and ESCAPE AT DANNEMORA. As a writer, Dominic's play THE WAR I KNOW has been workshopped at The Atlantic Theater Company and has been developed by The Sol Project and The Latinx Playwrights Circle. THE WAR I KNOW is the first in a trilogy of plays exploring the impact of HIV on the Latinx community in the Bronx from the late '80s through the Covid-19 pandemic, and was the inaugural recipient of the WRITE-IT-OUT Prize, a prize given to a playwright living with HIV, created by playwright Donja R. Love. Dominic's short play PROSPECT AVENUE or THE MISEDUCATION OF JUNI RODRIGUEZ was staged at the 38th Annual Marathon of One-Act plays at Ensemble Studio Theater after originally premiering as part of the MTA Radio Plays at Rattlestick Theater. Most recently, Dominic wrote the episode OUR LADY OF THE SIX TRAIN for the new Queer Latinx scripted podcast anthology, LOVE IN GRAVITY. His television pilot PAPI made THE BLACKLIST's inaugural LATINX TV LIST, a curated list of the ten most promising pilots created by Latinx Writers. As one of the top three finalists, Dominic received a blind pilot deal at HULU. Dominic is a writer on the upcoming Netflix series PINK MARINE, produced by television icon, Norman Lear.