RAT STRAIGHT AS A LINE Press Release

[brad rothbart <scrdchao@nni.com>]

PLEASE FORWARD, POST, COPY, PRINT  ANNOUNCE AND OTHERWISE WIDELY DISSEMINATE.

 Most importantly-- Come!!

-Brad Rothbart


*  Press release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE  FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Theatre Double's  reading series,
Underground Voices
Curated by Brad Rothbart
presents a reading of

Straight As A Line
by Luis Alfaro

Straight  As A Line   stars Jose Avilas  as PAULIE and Carla Morales 
as Paulie's mother MUM. The reading will  take place at Theatre 
Double, 1619 Walnut Street   in Philadelphia on Monday 17 April 2000 
at 8 pm.  Doors will open at 7:30. The reading is  for one night 
only.  Admission is pay-what-you-can, and the space is wheelchair 
accessible.

About the work The LA Edge said," As good (and as gay) as it gets."

Please join us for  this hard-edged story of AIDs and family, written 
by a MacArthur "Genius Grant" winner. Following the performance, 
please stay for our free wine-and cheese reception at which you will 
get the chance to informally discuss the work with the  director and 
actors.

Luis Alfaro (Playwright)

Luis Alfaro is a critically acclaimed writer/performer who works in 
poetry,  plays, short stories, performance and journalism.  A Chicano 
born and raised in the Pico-Union district of downtown Los Angeles, 
he is the recipient, among other awards, of a MacArthur Foundation 
Fellowship (Genius Grant) and an NEA/TCG Residency Grant.  A highly 
anthologized writer, he is featured in the anthologies O Solo Homo 
(Grove Press), Twelve Shades Red (Graphically Speaking LTD) and 
Particular Voices: Portraits of Gay and Lesbian Writers (MIT Press); 
Out of the Fringe: Contemporary Latina/o Theatre and Performance 
(TCG) and Extreme Exposure: An Anthology of Solo Performance Texts 
from the Twentieth Century (TCG).  He was recently inducted as a 
member of the New York playwrights' organization, New Dramatists.  He 
is a resident artist at the Mark Taper Forum in downtown Los Angeles, 
where he is also co-director of the Latino Theatre Initiative.  He 
was recently a visiting artist at the Kennedy Center in Washington, 
D.C., where he created BLACK BUTTERFLY, JAGUAR GIRL, PIÑATA WOMAN AND 
OTHER SUPER HERO GIRLS, LIKE ME, as part of the New Visions/New 
Voices youth theater program. He has toured his performance work 
throughout the United States, England and Mexico and recently 
presented his work at the Getty Center.  His short film, CHICANISMO, 
was nominated for an Emmy Award, won Best Experimental Film at the 
1998 San Antonio CineFestival and was featured in San Francisco's 
CineAcción '98.  A member of the Dramatists Guild, he is the winner 
of the 1998 National Hispanic Playwriting
Competition and the 1997 Midwest PlayLabs for his one-act play 
STRAIGHT AS A LINE which was recently seen in LA at Playwright's 
Arena and at New York's SoHo Rep and had its world premiere at the 
Goodman Theatre.  He teaches throughout Los Angeles including the 
Writer's Program of UCLA Extension and ASK Theatre Projects.

	  			 Future Readings Include:
			             01 May Karen Cronacher Scavengers
				 15 May Chris Conry Nebraskaoblivion
				29 May Julie Hebert St. Joan and the 
Dancing Sickness

For further information on  Underground Voices call: 215.557.9420x5