Playwright Terrence McNally to Visit Buffalo

"I'm thrilled that I get the opportunity to travel to Buffalo to celebrate and support Javier Bustillos and his theater, Buffalo United Artists, as they've been wonderful champions of my work over the years.  I'm also looking forward to connecting with Buffalo's local theater students, playwrights, and other artists.  They are our future in the theater, and hopefully my own experiences will prove insightful and useful to them as they pursue their own work."  Terrence McNally

Terrence McNally, four-time Tony Award-winning playwright, will visit Buffalo on April 1 and 2, 2016 as a guest of Buffalo United Artists (BUA), the Dramatists Guild Fund, the Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural Historic Site, and Just Buffalo Literary Center. During his stay, the celebrated author will participate in two events to support theater in Western New York: a fundraising reading for BUA at the Theodore Roosevelt Site on Friday, April 1, 2016, at 6 p.m.; and a free master class supported by the Dramatists Guild Fund at Buffalo State College on Saturday, April 2, 2016 at 11 a.m.

McNally is the author of such critically acclaimed plays as Love! Valour! Compassion!; Master Class; Lips Together Teeth Apart; The Ritz, Some Men, The Lisbon Traviata; and Mothers and Sons, as well as the books for the musicals Ragtime, Kiss of the Spider Woman, The Full Monty, A Man of No Importance, and The Visit. He has also written the librettos for two operas: Dead Man Walking and Great Scott. He is the recipient of the Dramatists Guild Lifetime Achievement Award. He was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame in 1996 and has received two Guggenheim Fellowships, a Rockefeller Grant, three Hull-Warriner Awards for Best Play, three Lucille Lortel Awards, and a citation from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He received an Emmy Award for Andre's Mother.

FRIDAY, APRIL 1, 2016 at 7 p.m.

The special fundraising event for local LGBT theater company Buffalo United Artists, called "An Evening with Terrence McNally," will feature McNally reading from his new book, Selected Works, A Memoir in Plays (Grove Press 2015), at the Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural National Historic Site. Interspersed with McNally's readings, BUA actors will read scenes from the author's plays.

The doors will open at 6 p.m., with docents on hand to answer questions about the historic site where Theodore Roosevelt became the nation's 26th president. The reading starts at 7 p.m., and will be followed by a reception and private book-signing with wine and hors d'oeuvres in the F. Scott Fitzgerald Room of The Hotel Lenox. The $125 ticket price includes admission to the reading, the reception at the Lenox, and a signed copy of McNally's book. A $200 two-person package includes admission to the reading and reception, and a single copy of the book. A limited number of $50 reading-only tickets are also available. Tickets are available online at http://www.trsite.org/ under the "EVENTS" tab.

In its 24-year history, BUA has staged seven plays by McNally. His work has also been seen locally on the stages of Irish Classical Theatre Company, MusicalFare, Kavinoky Theatre, and Shea's.

"Terrence's work has been an inspiration to our company," said BUA founder and artistic director Javier Bustillos. "As a playwright who expresses so many truths about the lives of the LGBT community, his work has provided an ongoing theme for BUA. We have staged seven of his plays over the years, from Love! Valour! Compassion to Mothers and Sons, and we have just secured the rights to produce an eighth. Over the years, I am proud to say that we have become friends. We have been talking with Terrence and his husband, [Broadway producer] Tom Kirdahy, about coming to Buffalo for a very long time. I am thrilled that this is finally becoming a reality."

Stanton Hudson, executive director of the Theodore Roosevelt National Historic Site is similarly enthusiastic about the McNally visit: "We are delighted to host an artist whose work has advanced a progressive social agenda in a way that is so very compatible with the legacy of Theodore Roosevelt. We anticipate that this will be a very special and memorable evening."

Just Buffalo Literary Center's mission is to create and strengthen communities through the literary arts. For more than 40 years, Just Buffalo Literary Center has brought the world's greatest writers to Buffalo, hosted poetry events and readings, and supported the development of young writers.

SATURDAY, APRIL 2, 2016 at 11 a.m.

The following day, Saturday, April 1, 2016 at 11 a.m., McNally and his husband, Broadway producer Tom Kirdahy, will participate in a free Question and Answer "Master Class" in Donald Savage Theater and Communication Building at Buffalo State College, co-hosted by local theater critic Anthony Chase and playwright Donna Hoke, Western New York regional representative of the Dramatists Guild. No RSVP required.

This event is part of the Dramatists Guild Fund's Traveling Masters program, a national outreach program that sends prominent dramatists into communities across the country for writing workshops, master classes, talkbacks, and other public events. In partnership with leading regional theaters and universities, Traveling Masters creates local programming that gives theater professionals and the public first-hand experience with renowned artists.

The Dramatists Guild Fund (DGF) is the public charity arm of the Dramatists Guild of America. Its mission is to aid and nurture writers for the theater; to fund non-profit theaters producing contemporary American works; and to heighten awareness, appreciation, and support of theater across the country. "Our playwright community is thrilled that Terrence and Tom will be visiting as part of the DGF Traveling Masters Program," said Hoke. "This is the first Traveling Master we've had since I became rep, and to have someone as celebrated as he is generous promises an inspiring event. I thank DGF, BUA, the TR Site, and JB for the collaboration that enabled this to happen."