OPENING: BUYER & CELLAR Featuring Scott Gryder at Pride Films and Plays April 11 – May 19

ChiIL Live Shows on our radar

BUYER & CELLAR 

By Jonathan Tolins

Featuring Scott Gryder

Directed by Donterrio Johnson

April 11 – May 19

I'll be out for the Press Opening April 15th so check back soon for my full review. 

**NOTE: BUYER & CELLAR Performance Schedule Update

Sunday matinees moved up to a 2:00 pm curtain time to enable a PFP “Double Feature” with AFTERGLOW

All Sunday matinees for Pride Films and Plays’ production of Jonathan Tolins’s BUYER & CELLAR have been rescheduled to a 2 pm curtain, an hour-and-one half earlier than previously announced.  The change was made to make it possible for patrons to attend on a single afternoon both plays that will be playing at the two-stage Pride Arts Center in April and May. BUYER & CELLAR, which will start performances on April 11 in the 85-seat Broadway Theatre at 4139 N. Broadway, will begin its Sunday matinees at 2 pm and let out shortly after 3:30 pm. This will allow a 25-30-minute break before the 4 pm Sunday matinees of AFTERGLOW, performed in the 44-seat Buena Theatre at 4147 N. Broadway. AFTERGLOW, which opened on March 27,  has a running time of approximately 80 minutes with no intermission, and lets out at approximately 5:20 pm. Separate tickets are required for the two plays.

Emmy Award winner and Chicago Musical Theatre and Cabaret performer Scott Gryder will star in Pride Films and Plays’ upcoming production of Jonathan Tolins’s one-man comedy BUYER & CELLAR, directed by Donterrio Johnson. Gryder will play all the characters in Tolin’s comedy, but most notably, the role of Alex More - a struggling actor who takes a job managing a make-believe shopping mall in the basement of Barbra Streisand’s Malibu home.

Gryder’s Chicago stage credits include JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR (Lyric Opera) and THE 25TH ANNUAL PUTNAM COUNTY SPELLING BEE (Drury Lane Water Tower), THE GOLDEN GIRLS – THE LOST EPISODES (Hell in a Handbag), AMOUR (Black Button Eyes), and SOUTH PACIFIC (Light Opera Works). He has performed in cabarets at such venues as Davenport's, Victory Gardens Theater, and Auditorium Theatre's Katten-Landau Studio. Gryder has a B.A. in Theater from Texas Tech University. MeTV’s GREEN SCREEN ADVENTURES earned him three National Daytime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Achievement in Makeup.

BUYER & CELLAR was a 2013 off-Broadway hit, running for 13 months at the Barrow Street Theatre immediately after its sold-out world premiere at the Rattlestick Theatre. A national tour starring Michael Urie played Chicago for six weeks in 2014. It has been performed in many countries around the world since then. This will be the play’s first Chicago production since the tour’s engagement here.

Tolins, whose other playwriting credits include the gay-themed comedies LAST SUNDAY IN JUNE and THE TWILIGHT OF THE GOLDS, was inspired to write BUYER & CELLAR after reading about Streisand’s real-life faux mall in her book, MY PASSION FOR DESIGN. Tolins’s comedy begins with the truth of the mall – a showcase for her collectibles like dolls and antique clothing – and imagines what it might be like to be the custodian of such a place for such a celebrity. BUYER & CELLAR is an outrageous comedy about the price of fame, the cost of things, and the oddest of odd jobs.

BUYER & CELLAR will be performed in the 85-seat Broadway Theatre of the Pride Arts Center. It will open to the press on Monday, April 15 following previews from Thursday, April 11; and will play through Sunday, May 19, 2019. BUYER & CELLAR joins the schedule of shows previously announced for spring at Pride Arts Center, including the musical SOUTHERN COMFORT, opening to the press on March 4; the drama AFTERGLOW, opening on March 27; and the world premiere of DESIRE IN A TINIER HOUSE on June 3. 

BIOS
Scott Gryder (Alex More) has been seen throughout Chicagoland, with appearances including JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR (Lyric Opera Chicago), THE 25TH ANNUAL PUTNAM COUNTY SPELLING BEE (Drury Lane Theatre at Water Tower Place), and SOUTH PACIFIC (Light Opera Works). He has performed in cabarets at such venues as Davenport's, Victory Gardens Theater, and Auditorium Theatre's Katten-Landau Studio. Gryder has a B.A. in Theater from Texas Tech University. MeTV’s GREEN SCREEN ADVENTURES earned him three National Daytime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Achievement in Makeup. For more info, visit www.thescottgryder.com

Donterrio Johnson (Director) is excited to be back at home with Pride Films and Plays - this time behind the table directing this new exciting production of BUYER AND CELLAR by Jonathan Tolins. With a keen eye for detail and a knack for intricate storytelling that is thought-provoking and modernistic, Donterrio Johnson has created some incredible art as both actor and director over the past 15 years. He was a Jeff Award-winner for his Judas Iscariot in JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR with Theo Ubique and has earned raves for his Dan in NEXT TO NORMAL and his Caldwell B. Cladwell in  URINETOWN, both with BoHo Theatre. He has also appeared in the Chicago cast of SPAMILTON and as Leading Player in PIPPIN at Mercury Theater and recently  returned from a year-long stint in the National Tour of WAITRESS. Johnson’s notable directing credits include: THE COLORED MUSEUM, 101 DALMATIANS , EMPEROR’S NEW CLOTHES WILLY WONKA, LAST FIVE YEARS, LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS  AND THE 25TH ANNUAL PUTNAM COUNTY SPELLING BEE. Donterrio has worked with companies such as Pulse Theatre Company, Prisco Center, and The REPA Center.

Previews Thursday, April 11 through Saturday April 13 at 7:30 pm, Sunday April 14 at 3:30 pm,

Thursdays – Saturdays at 7:30 pm, Sundays at 2:00 pm through May 19
Premium seats $40, general admission seats $30, student/senior/military $25 (not valid Saturdays)

AFTERGLOW
The Chicago Premiere of AFTERGLOW, an off-Broadway hit from 2017 exploring the emotional, intellectual, and physical connections between three men and the broader implications within their relationships, opened in the Buena Theatre of the Pride Arts Center on March 27. David G. Zak, the company’s Executive Director, directed. The cast includes Rich Holton (SEX WITH STRANGERS at Citadel Theatre) and Jacob Barnes  (URINETOWN at Red Barn Summer Playhouse and A COMEDY OF TENORS with Actors Theatre of Indiana), who play Josh and Alex, a gay male married couple in an open relationship. The two invite another man, Darius, (Jesse Montoya of HURRICANE DAMAGE at Pride Films and Plays) to share their bed one night.  When a new intimate connection begins to form, all three men must come to terms with their individual definitions of love, loyalty, and trust as futures are questioned, relationships are shaken, and commitments are challenged.

AFTERGLOW is performed in the 44-seat Buena Theatre of the Pride Arts Center. It opened to the press on Wednesday, March 27 and will play through Sunday, May 5, 2019.


Flex Passes available for $144 are good for six reserved seats with priority seating for the patron’s choice of shows.
Pride Arts Center – the Broadway, 4139 N. Broadway, Chicago
Tickets available by phone at 866-811-4111 or 773-857-0222 or online at www.pridefilmsandplays.com

ABOUT PRIDE FILMS AND PLAYS
Pride Films and Plays is working to produce year-round theater and film projects that change lives through the generation of diverse new work (or work that is new to Chicago) with LGBTQ+ characters or themes that are essential viewing for all audiences. The company produces a five-play season of full productions, shoots one short film each year, and continues our famed play developmental projects. PFP is the principal tenant in Pride Arts Center. 

Pride Arts Center produces events complementing the PFP vision, including dance, cabaret, film, and more. Events can be one-night or limited run productions or feature national treasures like Charles Busch.  PAC occupies The Broadway at 4139 N. Broadway, which has 85 seats, and The Buena, which has 50 seats at 4147 N Broadway.

Pride Films and Plays is supported by The MacArthur Fund for Arts & Culture at The Richard Driehaus Foundation, The Illinois Arts Council, City of Chicago’s City Arts Fund, the Elliott Fredland Charitable Trust, Proud to Run, The Pauls Foundation, The Heath Fund, The Service Club of Chicago, the AmazonSmile Foundation, Arts and Business Foundation, Tap Root Foundation, Arts and Business Council, and Alphawood Foundation. 

PFP is a member of the Smart Growth Program of the Chicago Community Trust. Pride Films and Plays is a member of the LGBT Chamber of Commerce of Illinois, Northhalsted Business Association, Uptown United, and The League of Chicago Theatres.