Beyond the Stage Celebrates Accessible Queer Youth Programming
The Premier Benefit for True Colors: Out Youth Theater & Queer Family Series
BOSTON-The Theater Offensive celebrates a new evolution of Beyond the Stage, their premier benefit for their largest program, True Colors Out Youth Theater on October 22nd, 2022 at District Hall. Celebrating both True Colors Out Youth Theater and Queer Family Series programming, Beyond the Stage will honor the resilience and strength of LGBTQ+ and allied youth at a new daytime slot to allow youth and families to attend. Guests are invited to mingle and meet the youth of True Colors, enjoy performances, and learn how their generous support impacts the lives of youth in True Colors, Queer Family Series and our community at large. Virtual tickets to watch a livestream of the event will be available for those who wish to view the event from home.
This year’s event will honor Earl Edwards Jr., Goalkeeper for the New England Revolution and co-founder of Black Players for Change. Black Players for Change (BPC) is an independent organization consisting of over 170+ players, coaches and staff from MLS, working to bridge the racial equality gap that exists in society. Among their many goals, the organization strives to advance the attention on human rights inequalities from protests to programs, partnerships and policies that address systemic discrimination. Through his work with BPC, Edwards has uplifted countless programs supporting disenfranchised youth across New England– including True Colors Out Youth Theater.
True Colors original works highlight issues that still disproportionately impact LGBTQ youth, including bullying, rejection by families and friends, homelessness, discrimination, violence, depression, and suicide. Founded in 1994, True Colors uses a proven community-engaged theater model to train LGBTQ and allied youth leaders in writing and performance skills. The majority of True Colors youth are 14-22 from Boston neighborhoods. True Colors transforms real-life stories of queer youth into powerful performances and workshops, based on their lived experiences of topics such as bullying, homelessness, coming out, and discrimination. True Colors is a safe space for all youth, where they can explore their identities and build key creativity, critical thinking, collaboration, communication, and problem solving skills.
Queer Family Series (QFS) offers produced and presented work centered on exploring all facets of queerness from as early as our first memories to our last. This program focuses on social education & awareness through transmedia productions and intergenerational community engagement– connecting queer children, families and elders with accessible art that captures the rigidness of heteronormativity and imagines a world where people can present as they wish. We wish to uplift the core value and belief that theater is an essential fabric and texture in how we communicate to each other, as well as how we communicate our creativity and desires.
Sponsorship opportunities for individuals and businesses for Beyond the Stage begin at $500. Contact robbie@thetheateroffensive.org for more information.
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True Colors: Out Youth Theater: uses a proven community-based theater approach to train and activate lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer (LGBTQ) and allied youth leaders ages 13-25. True Colors youth leaders work with The Theater Offensive to develop comprehensive youth programming that engages participants deeply in our mission.
Queer Family Series is an arts education series of produced and presented work dedicated to starting dialogues on queerness, being, and becoming yourself in the hopes of normalizing the conversations in our communities.
The Theater Offensive, founded in 1989, has a mission to present liberating art by, for, and about queer and trans people of color that transcends artistic boundaries, celebrates cultural abundance, and dismantles oppression.