RAT THEATRE PROJECT NEWS

[Bobby Mrozek <bby@earthlink.net>]

Theatre Project (Baltimore, America)

THE NIGHT LARRY KRAMER KISSED ME
 
Theatre Project presents Baltimore-Bred David Drake in the Obie Award 
Winning, One-Man-Hit, for the last time on the live stage, The Night 
Larry Kramer Kissed Me May 12 - 22, 1999. Theatre Project, 45 West 
Preston Street, Baltimore. Performances are Wednesday through Saturday 
at 8PM. Tickets are $15 (all seats) The Theatre Project Run Will Also Be 
Shot For Indie Feature Film. THEATRE PROJECT, 45 W. PRESTON STREET  Call 
410-752-8558.

About the production:  The New York Times  called David Drake's The 
Night Larry Kramer Kissed Me "Ferocious." The Times of London, 
"Meticulously crafted." Vanity Fair simply said "Dazzling." Accolades 
aside, after a year-long run Off Broadway, and a world-tour that 
included sold-out engagements in London, Edinburgh, Sydney, Melbourne, 
San Francisco and Los Angeles, Obie Award-winning playwright, performer 
David Drake says his dream is finally coming true: Performing the 
internationally renowned solo show in Baltimore -- his hometown.  The 
production will be directed by the show's original Off Broadway 
director, Chuck Brown. The Theatre Project presentation of The Night 
Larry Kramer Kissed Me will be a State premiere and will likely be the 
last live stage performances by David Drake of The Night Larry Kramer 
Kissed Me.

The Feature Film: With Theatre Project's limited run of the play, 
several performances will be filmed before live audiences for an 
independently-produced feature film version of The Night Larry Kramer 
Kissed Me. The movie will be directed by 1998 Independent Spirit 
Award-nominated documentary filmmaker Tim Kirkman (Dear Jesse). It is 
being produced by Michael Caplan   (Peoria Babylon) and Kirkland Tibbels 
(Kirkland Tibbels is the president of FilmNext productions in Los 
Angeles), with Gill Holland (Hurricane Streets, Inside/Out) 
co-producing. More detailed information regarding show-times and 
ticket-availability for the actual filmed performances will be released 
at a later date. 

About the story:  One of the longest-running solo shows in New York 
theatre history -- with over 100 independent stage productions in nearly 
a dozen countries to date -- the enduring  popularity of The Night Larry 
Kramer Kissed Me lay in both it its central story, as well as its fresh 
approach.  In a series of lightning-quick scenes -- including jaunts to 
the gym, the late-night club crawl, and the rise in anti-gay violence -- 
Drake documents a modern gay man's journey of self-discovery, described 
by USA Today  as "Occasionally political, often wickedly funny, and 
always full of penetrating insight." The title refers not to an actual 
caress, but to the night the author received the "kiss" of pride and 
self-awareness from seeing Kramer's landmark play The Normal Heart.

About the Artist:  A native of Harford County, David Drake performed 
locally throughout his youth at Spotlighters, Cockpit-In-Court, Edwin 
Booth Theatre, and the Limestone and Towsontowne Dinner Theatres before 
pursuing his career in New York City, where he continues to reside. New 
York stage credits include succeeding Charles Busch in Vampire Lesbians 
of Sodom, originating "Miss Deep South" in Pageant, and more recently, 
starring in the Off Broadway revival of Mart Crowley's The Boys in the 
Band, in Mark Dendy's Dream Analysis  at Dance Theatre Workshop, and 
opposite B.D. Wong in A Language of Their Own  at The Joseph Papp Public 
Theatre. Still, it is with The Night Larry Kramer Kissed Me  that Drake 
is probably best known.  Besides a 1993 Village Voice  Obie Award, 
productions of The Night Larry Kramer Kissed Me  starring the author 
have garnered an LA Weekly Award, a Frontiers Magazine  Robbie Award, 
and 2 LA Dramalogue Awards, including Outstanding Production of the 
Year. The Anchor Books publication of the script received a 1994 Lambda 
Literary Award nomination for Best New Play.  Feature film appearances 
include Philadelphia, Naked in New York, Longtime Companion, David 
Searching, It's Pat  and the upcoming Hit & Runway  and Peoria Babylon 
(in which Drake co-stars with Ann Cusack).

Theatre Project, founded in 1971, is a nonprofit organization under 
section 501(c)(3) of the IRS code. Operations of Theatre Project are 
supported by grants from the Maryland State Arts Council, an agency 
funded by the State of Maryland and the National Endowment for the Arts, 
the City of Baltimore, corporations, foundations and individuals 
citizens. Theatre Project is a Theatre Partner of the International 
theatre Institute (ITI) U.S. Center, a member of Theatre Communications 
Group, Baltimore Theatre Alliance and a collaborative affiliate of 
Masters of Fine Arts in Theatre at Towson University.