PYTA Conference

The PYTA Conference is a gathering of leaders and practitioners from LGBTQ youth theater programs from all across the country. This annual event is the only of its kind, providing an opportunity to exchange ideas, establish best practices and build new partnerships for those at the intersection of queer, youth and arts!  This year, we’re welcoming the public to join PYTA for two nights celebrating queer performance.  Conference Website: http://bit.ly/PYTA2018

FRIDAY NIGHT:  LOUD & QUEER: PYTA Conference Celebration (7:30PM – 11:30PM)

Join us for a night of celebration! We’ll be honoring Pride Youth Theater Alliance members and experience the musical performances of queer artists Billy Dean Thomas and Quisol, and Complex Movements, and top it off with a dance party!

Billy Dean Thomas also known as “The Queer B.I.G” is a musician who challenges the hip hop game with lyrics that align with #blacklivesmatter, intersectional feminism and highlights the difficulties of growing up in NYC. Their musical career began at the age of 8 playing congas and being a part of an advanced Poetry/Performance program where they were mentored by Pharaohe Monch, Rosie Perez, and DMC. They were booked twice as a spoken word artist for The 24 Hour Plays on Broadway, performed as a part of the “We Wanted A Revolution” Exhibit at The Brooklyn Museum and were recently selected as the 2017 Resident Artist for The Theatre Offensive in Boston, Massachusetts. Billy Dean has also just completed their first Debut Album Titled “Rocky Barboa” after recording in Berlin Germany, Paris and NYC.
More at: http://www.billydeanthomas.com/

Quisol is an artist and organizer from Charlotte, NC with an indie rock sound known as #LatinxFuture. Quisol draws from their diverse roots to put a futuristic spin on Afro Caribbean beats, Salsa, Bossa Nova, and Soul. Quisol is also behind Queen’s Collective, a DIY art movement cultivating the Charlotte house show scene. Since December 2016, Quisol and friends of Queen’s Collective have been hosting a monthly popup show that features local artists and supports community initiatives.
More at: https://www.quisol.band/

Detroit-based Complex Movements‘ Beware of the Dandelions, the recipient of the New England Foundation for the Arts’ 2017 National Theater Project presentation grant, is a touring arts-based organizing project and multimedia performance. Through science-fiction narrative, music, interactive performance, video projection, and technology, Beware of the Dandelions invites communities to explore the relationship between art, science, and social justice movements and develop new strategies to move their work forward. From our combined experience as social movement activists and artists over the past two decades, we have seen a critical need for art that can do more than inspire– that can combine inspiration with reflection and action.

More at: https://emergencemedia.org/pages/complex-movements

SATURDAY NIGHT: True Colors Creative Action Crew Present [love girls] (7PM – 9PM)

The Theater Offensive is the host site of the 2018 PYTA Conference! At each PYTA conference, the work of the local queer youth theater is showcased. Created by the True Colors Creative Action Crew and directed by Sidney Monroe, [love girls] is an original work focusing on the personal experiences of queer women of color navigating the beauty, joy, and violence that lives at the intersection of their identities. A journey of self-discovery and reclamation of their voices, [love girls] uses music, movement and spoken word to captivate audiences in their truths.