12
QUEENS WEEKLY, JUNE 23, 2019
50 short plays at Queens Theatre celebrate LGBTQ pride
Drug store
Continued from Page 1
place at 6:34 p.m. on June 15
inside the retailer located
at 80-11 Eliot Ave., off 80th
Street.
According to police,
the perpetrator walked
into the location,
made verbal threats
and demanded cash.
A Walgreens worker
proceeded to provide
the crook with an
undisclosed sum
of money from the
register.
After obtaining the
cash, authorities noted,
the thief took off and was
last seen pedaling away
on a bicycle eastbound
along Caldwell Avenue.
Officers from the
104th Precinct responded
to the scene. No injuries
were reported.
As part of their
response, police
canvassed the
surrounding area for
the suspect, but the
search ended without an
arrest, sources said.
Primary
Daniel Kogan.
Queens Borough
President Melinda Katz
of Forest Hills has
been the front-running
establishment candidate
in the field thanks to her
26 years of public service
at Borough Hall, the City
Council and the State
Assembly. Katz is the
top fundraiser and drew
support from Governor
Andrew Cuomo and the
city’s four largest unions,
the Queens County
Democratic Party,
Planned Parenthood and
the United Federation
of Teachers and while
she has no prosecutorial
experience in the
courtroom.
Public defender
Tiffany Cabán of
Astoria has made a late
charge after picking
up the endorsement
of Congresswoman
Alexandria Ocasio-
Cortez, who stunned
the Queens political
class a year ago when
she defeated party boss
Joe Crowley in the
Democratic primary
denying him a chance
to run for an 11th
term in the House of
Representatives. Cabán
was also endorsed
recently by reformminded
progressive
District Attorney Larry
Krasner of Philadelphia,
the Working Families
Party and both the city
and national chapters
of the Democratic
Socialists of America.
Former state Supreme
Court Justice Greg Lasak
was the only candidate
to rate a “well qualified”
after his interview with
the Queens County
Bar. Lasak has based
his entire campaign
based on his 25 years
as a prosecutor in the
Queens DA’s office where
as Executive Assistant
District Attorney he
oversaw more than 2,500
homicide investigations.
He retired from
the bench last year
in order to run for
district attorney.
City Councilman Rory
Lancman chairs the
Committee on the Justice
System, overseeing
the district attorneys
in all five boroughs,
the Mayor’s Office of
Criminal Justice, the
City’s special narcotics
prosecutor, the public
defender organizations,
the civil legal services
providers funded by the
City, and the courts.
Raised in Flushing,
Lancman lives in Fresh
Meadows. He has not
worked as a prosecutor
or criminal defense
attorney.
Mina Malik is a former
ADA in the Queens
District Attorney’s office
who went on to serve as
executive director of the
city’s Civilian Complaint
Review Board, a special
counsel to the Brooklyn
DA and recently as a
Harvard Law School
lecturer. The Forest
Hills resident has put
our several policy papers
in recent weeks showing
her organization skills
should she win.
Jose Nieves of Queens
Village is an Army combat
veteran in Afghanistan
and a former special
prosecutor in the state
Attorney General’s office
appears to be a longshot
in the field as does
Maspeth resident Betty
Lugo, a former Nassau
County assistant district
attorney who went into
private practice.
To find your polling
site location visit nyc.
pollsitelocator.com.
Continued from Page 1
Left to right: Greg Lasak, Tiffany Cabán, Mina Malik, Rory Lancman, Melinda Katz, Jose Nieves
and Betty Lugo QNS File Photos
BY TAMMY SCILEPPI
Their voices need to
be heard.
And the LGBTQ+
community, which is as
colorful and diverse as the
borough itself, has a lot
to say.
Sharing their personal
stories through 50 heartfelt
one-minute plays, 50
LGBTQIA+ playwrights
will be making sure
their voices are heard
– in remembrance of
the Stonewall Riots
50th anniversary – this
Saturday at 2 p.m., at the
Queens Museum.
Thanks to a joint project
between Queens Theatre,
the One-Minute Play
Festival, and the Museum,
this special happening
is now part of an official
city-wide Stonewall 50
celebration of the uprising
that took place back in
1969. It all started on a
June night in a bar on
Christopher Street where
LGBTQ patrons liked to
gather. Laws and attitudes
were very different
back then and when the
police started rounding
people up for a crime they
didn’t commit, the bar’s
clientele fought back, and a
revolution was sparked.
“These particular
works written by this
group of playwrights
are all drawn from the
LGBTQ+ experience. They
are all incredibly specific
and deeply personal,”
Stonewall 50 Plays curator
and director Nathaniel P.
Claridad said.
He added: “This onetime
only event is singular
and is rare: Fifty different
queer voices given space
and time, with a cast that
reflects the community
that we are looking to
lift up. It is an event for
those seeking community
and for those seeking
to commune.”
As part of a day-long
celebration at the Museum,
these staged readings
– which commemorate
the riots that pushed the
LGBTQ+ Rights Movement
to the forefront – highlight
what this day of activism,
reflection, community
conversation and art
really means.
“The audience will
see a spectrum of voices,
bodies, generations, ideas,
experiences, perspectives,
and history that speaks
to the queer continuum
and this contemporary
moment,“ Queens Theatre’s
Director of Community
Engagement and founder
of the One-Minute
Play Festival, Dominic
D’Andrea said.
The Stonewall 50
Plays are staged by 5
directors and performed
by a company of over 50
professional actors and atlarge
community members,
who all identify as Queer.
Playwrights represent
international, national,
New York City, and Queensbased
voices, which include
local creatives Jonathan
Alexandratos and J. Julian
Christopher.
Every June, LGBTQ+
communities worldwide
celebrate the anniversary
with Pride parades and
festivals. It provides
community members an
opportunity to meditate
on where they have come
from and where they still
need to go, according
to Claridad who said,
“What’s poignant about
The Stonewall 50 Plays is
that we are making space
for these mediations to be
clearly heard. This is work
made by our community for
our community.”
According to D’Andrea,
the project stems from
attempting to figure out
how Queens Theatre
could mark the 50th
anniversary of Stonewall
in a meaningful way.
“During these past
50 years, so much has
changed, and yet so much
hasn’t. This was the perfect
moment to hold space
for LGBTQIA+ artists
and invite them to share
their essence, ideas, and
their work with the wider
community,” he said.
“We’ve made this work
in the spirit of celebration,
remembrance, reflection,
and asking some big
questions: Considering
these past 50 years, how
do we begin to design the
future we want to live in?
What does intersectionality
look like? ... What is this
moment in Queens? In
NYC? Around the world?”
Photos courtesy of the 1-Minute Play Festival/Grant McGowen
/pollsitelocator.com
