➤ PRIDE PLAYS, from p.28
Watkins, Matt Bomer, and Andrew
Rannells, will be on viewers’ minds
— and will inform Quinto’s directing.
“Now that so many of us are
familiar of the recent revival, it
will be a really fun lens to watch
this through, imagining Zach and
Andrew, oh actually not Andrew,
because that character is dead —
spoiler alert! — and all of those
guys will be delightful,” Urie explained.
That’s where the idea of doing
“The Men from the Boys” came
from, he added. The plot fi nds
many of the same characters at a
post-funeral gathering for one of
their own. We learn what Mart had
to say about these characters 34
years later, and what that might
tell us about ourselves.
Nevin admitted that it was not
easy whittling down 11 plays from
more than 250 submissions from
all over the US for the developmental
readings portion of the festival.
“We feel very fortunate to have
people entrust their work to us,”
Nevin explained. “There is so
much good queer theater content
out there. You’ll see lots of different
plays on the spectrum of the
developmental process. We really
do have a great lineup, and I can’t
wait for people to hear these stories.”
As Urie sees it, there’s no lack of
queer theater. But traditional theater
companies are not able to offer
the breadth and depth that a dedicated
LGBTQ festival like Pride
Plays can provide. They have the
opportunity to show a stunning
range of themes side by side.
“We are doing a farce about a
lesbian wedding and a play about
a queer man in Syria who is attacked
and dragged to a roof to be
thrown off,” said Urie. “These two
plays could not be more different,
except that the central characters
are queer. We have a couple of romances,
a couple of comedies, a
couple of human rights plays, but
no two plays are the same. They
are very diverse and the writers all
come from different walks of life.”
On the last Sunday in June, the
date the parade was scheduled,
Pride Plays is staging a virtual
Pride Spectacular Concert, hosted
by Urie. The evening will celebrate
both classic and entirely new musical
numbers that tell LGBTQ stories.
Stars slated to perform include
John Cameron Mitchell (“Hedwig
and the Angry Inch”), Michael R.
Jackson (“Strange Loop”), and Mj
Rodriquez (“Pose”), performing
songs from or inspired by their respective
shows.
“The musical aspect brings a
whole different lightness,” Mayo
enthused. “We are not at Marie’s
Crisis this year, but we are virtually
going to Marie’s Crisis. I would
hope that people would have the
same sort of feeling as when one of
their favorite showtunes is played
at Marie’s Crisis.”
According to Nevin, they are
looking forward to involving many
artists from the Broadway community.
A lot of folks who would
normally make their living singing
and dancing eight times a week
have been hit hard during this
harrowing time.
“It is very hard for people to create
right now and to hone their
craft in this period,” Nevin said.
“We are excited to give an opportunity
to so many performers this
June.”
The prime time events and the
Pride Spectacular Concert will
benefi t Broadway Cares/ Equity
Fights AIDS. The performances
are free to watch but there will be
prompts to donate.
“We are very happy to have
Broadway Cares as one of the sponsors
of Pride Plays,” said Mayo. “It
feels only right that, in this year
when the organization is not able
to be in theaters and garner support,
it’s time to give back. It’s an
honor to partner with them.”
Given that the Pride Parade,
parties, and other physical events
STREAMING CINEMA
➤ PRIDE PLAYS, continued on p.32
Goldwyn Slammed For “Butchering” Edits
“God’s Own Country” loses explicit scenes for cable streaming
BY PAUL SCHINDLER
Francis Lee, the director
of the 2017 gay romantic
drama “God’s Own Country,”
is “cautioning” other
directors against working with
Samuel Goldwyn Films after the
fi lm distributor edited out sexually
explicit scenes between stars
Josh O’Connor and Alec Sec reanu
for the version it provided to Amazon
Prime for free streaming.
In a May 20 tweet, Lee wrote,
“After investigation ‘God’s Own
Country’ was not censored by @
PrimeVideo (Amazon USA) but by
US distributor @Goldwyn Films
who butchered the streaming version
without consultation to get
more ‘revenue.’”
The prior day, Lee had raised an
alarm about the altered version of
his fi lm and asked viewers to boycott
Amazon Prime pending his
inquiry into the matter.
Alec Sec reanu (top) and Josh O’Connor in Francis Lee’s 2017 “God’s Own Country.”
On May 20, he credited Amazon
with being “supportive” in
straightening out the matter.
Sources close to Amazon told indiewire.
com that Samuel Goldwyn
provided Amazon with the edited
STRAW HOUSE FILMS
version of the fi lm for free streaming
purposes. The edits would
have allowed Amazon to stream
it without any “sexually explicit
content,” thereby likely increasing
viewership.
Amazon Prime has removed
that version and the free streaming
option, but is allowing viewers
to rent or buy the original theatrical
cut of Lee’s fi lm.
“The rental version of ‘God’s
Own Country’ on @PrimeVideo is
the correct version of my fi lm,” Lee
said in his May 20 tweet.
“God’s Own Country” is set in
Britain’s Yorkshire region in current
day and involves a steamy relationship
between a local farmer
portrayed by O’Connor and an
Romanian migrant worker played
by Sec reanu. Though the fi lm has
often been compared to Ang Lee’s
2005 “Brokeback Mountain,” starring
Jake Gyllenhaal and the late
Heath Ledger, “God’s Own Country”
is far more explicit in its depiction
of the men’s sexual interaction,
including frontal nudity.
Samuel Goldwyn Films did not
responds to requests for comment.
GayCityNews.com | June 04 - June 17, 2020 29
/GayCityNews.com
