Full Description for I HAVE AIDS!

Cabaret Company presents

Written and Directed by Sky Gilbert

The Cabaret Company presents
I HAVE AIDS!
A New Play by Sky Gilbert

"Sky Gilbert is Canadian theatre's gay Mordecai Richler -
his satires anger and delight his own people in equal measure."
J. Kelly Nestruck, Globe and Mail


The Cabaret Company presents Sky Gilbert's 'guaranteed to be controversial' new play I HAVE AIDS! at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre, 12 Alexander Street, Toronto. I HAVE AIDS! previews on Wednesday, April 22, officially opens Thursday, April 23 and runs until Sunday, May 3, 2009.

Written and directed by Sky Gilbert, I HAVE AIDS! stars Gemini Award-winning actor Gavin Crawford (This Hour Has 22 Minutes, How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria?), Dora Award-winner Ryan Kelly (Will the Real J.T. LeRoy Please Stand Up?) and David Yee (lady in the red dress).

Prodon (Gavin Crawford) is an out-of-the-closet gay standup comic whose career has seen better days. His lover Vidor (David Yee) is an interior designer. One day Prodon tells Vidor that he has AIDS. An unflinching examination of modern AIDS politics and of the way AIDS operates not only as a disease but as a cultural force in the socio-political scene today, I HAVE AIDS! will force audiences to not only question their ideas about gay men and AIDS but will start people talking about the current state of gay romance, love and disease.

"Do I have AIDS? No." said Sky Gilbert. But I wrote this play because it seems to me that AIDS has been forgotten. Now that protease inhibitor drugs (and other more recent advances) have managed to prolong the lives of so many gay men, the focus turned to AIDS in Africa, and gay men have stopped thinking about the impact AIDS has had on their lives, culture and self esteem, and in some cases, stopped having safe sex.

Sky Gilbert is a writer, director, professor and drag queen extraordinaire. He was co-founder and artistic director of Buddies in Bad Times Theatre (North Americas largest gay and lesbian theatre) for 18 years. He has received two Dora Mavor Moore Awards and the Pauline McGibbon Award for theatre directing, and he was the recipient of The Margo Bindhardt Award (from the Toronto Arts Foundation), The Silver Ticket Award (from the Toronto Alliance for the Performing Arts), and the ReLit Award (for his fourth novel An English Gentleman, 2004).

Dr. Gilbert holds a University Research Chair in Creative Writing and Theatre Studies at The School of English and Theatre Studies at the University of Guelph. He has published four novels; Guilty (1998), St. Stephens (1999), I Am Kasper Klotz (2001), and Brother Dumb (2007) and ECW Press has published two collections of Gilbert's poetry: Digressions Of A Naked Party Girl, (1998), Temptations For A Juvenile Delinquent (2003) and his theatre memoir, Ejaculations From The Charm Factory (2000).

Of his most recent novella Wit In Love (Quattro Books 2008) the Globe and Mail said: This little surprise package may be one of the best and funniest books published in Canada this year.

Founded in 1997, The Cabaret Company is dedicated to presenting socially engaging queer themed work, and to the development and support of queer artists. The Cabaret Company has produced eleven mainstage productions, three Fringe Festival shows and many Free Jane Open Stages receiving a total of fourteen Dora Mavor Moore Award nominations.

The company's work, though challenging, has not failed to engage the critics. In the spring of 2007, Robert Cushman of the National Post called Bad Acting Teachers "the best sustained feat of comic writing, acting and direction to appear in Toronto in ages." Reviewing The Secret Life of Haddon Mackenzie, Richard Ouzounian of The Toronto Star wrote, "You can hear Sky Gilbert's own voice speaking clearly . . . it's a lovely sound and I hope we hear more of it in the future."

The Cabaret Company presents
I HAVE AIDS!
Written and Directed by Sky Gilbert
Starring Gavin Crawford, Ryan Kelly & David Yee
Set & Lighting design by Steve Lucas " Costumes by Sheree Tams
Buddies in Bad Times Theatre, 12 Alexander Street, Toronto
Preview Wednesday, April 22 and runs until Sunday, May 3, 2009
Official Opening Night: Thursday, April 23 @ 8pm
Wednesday  Saturday at 8pm, Sunday at 2:30pm
Tickets are $15.00 - $20.00 and can be purchased in person
at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre,
12 Alexander Street or by calling 416-975-8555 or online at http://www.totix.ca/
For more information visit http://home.istar.ca/~anita or http://www.artsexy.ca


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