To Be Loved (Version 2.0)
Originally performed at The Lafayette Street Theatre as part of the 11th Annual NY International Fringe Festival, FringeNYC, August 2007
Written by: Alex DeFazio
Directed by: Jody P. Person
Produced by: Faye Rosenbaum & Elixir Productions Theatre Company
Dramaturg: Inga Meier
Cast: Michael Cortez (Dis), Josiah DeAndrea (Nino), Nicholas Gorham (Paul), Deena Jiles (Dorian), Liam Joynt * (Seigen), Erik A. Rojas (The Man), Michelle Wood (Anon)
Crew: Katie McKenna (Stage Manager), Carol Zingone (ASM), Chris Ghaffoor (Lighting Design), Robert A. Terrano (Technical Director), Mark Richard Caswell & Kate Pinner (Costumes), Chris Gardella (Original Music & Graphic Design), ffolkes (Photography)
Presented by The New York International Fringe Festival, FringeNYC, a production of The Present Company
* Appeared courtesy of Actors' Equity Association
Synopsis: A monk confronts the reincarnated soul of his dead lover, a boy, in this unsettling gay ghost story inspired by classic Kabuki.
To Be Loved was developed in part through the New Moon Reading Series at Luna Stage in Montclair, NJ.
In November-December 2006, residency support was provided by chashama for a workshop production. Explore the workshop (To Be Loved Version 1.0) here.
Perry Brass, White Crane Journal:
"Seigen is a fairly Ted Haggard character: all lust, prohibitions, inhibitions, guilt, and meanness. But he is redeemed, sadly enough, by his own true heart, seeking Paul, the Ganymede-like boy he pushed earlier out of his life to suicide, then finally finding him. This is a play about the worship of strange beauty, something I am thrilled with, and chashama and director Jody Person kept much of that intact. The tiny theater backs on to a plate glass store-front window on 42nd Street; the stage's rear black-out curtains are opened at moments in the action, and life in New York pulses in. Strange beauty, always."