<table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" ><tr><td valign="top" style="font: inherit;"><DIV>I would be so honored if any of you could make it to see my new play<EM>,</EM> <EM>Twinkie Tower</EM> at CSSB. The following is a copy of the press release if you want to know any more about it.</DIV>
<DIV>X</DIV>
<DIV>Abbie<BR></DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal style="TEXT-ALIGN: center" align=center><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">Queer Theatre: Local LGBTQ Teen and Young Adult Group to Perform a New Play</SPAN></DIV>
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<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">Rainbow Pride Youth Alliance’s Theatre Program, in collaboration with The Pride Center at California State University, San Bernardino, presents <I>Twinkie Tower</I></SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">, a new play by Redlands playwright Abbie Bosworth, August 7 and 8 at 8 p.m. and August 8 and 9 at 2 p.m. in the Santos Manuel Student Union Theatre at CSUSB.<SPAN> </SPAN>To reserve tickets, call <SPAN class=yshortcuts id=lw_1247065260_2 style="CURSOR: hand; BORDER-BOTTOM: #0066cc 1px dashed">909-537-5963</SPAN>.</SPAN></DIV>
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<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt"><I>Twinkie Tower</I></SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt"> takes a harsh but funny look at issues facing transitional-aged youth – young people ages 18-22.<SPAN> </SPAN>It explores teen pregnancy, poverty, sexual orientation, gender identity, relationships, and independence.<SPAN> </SPAN>The story centers around four young adults who all end up in <SPAN class=yshortcuts id=lw_1247065260_3>Los Angeles</SPAN>: Aurora, a pregnant teen who has run away on her wedding day; Kit, a promiscuous lesbian who is struggling to come to term with her twin brother’s death; Seal, a girl inside a boy’s body who will do whatever it takes to make money for <SPAN class=yshortcuts id=lw_1247065260_4 style="CURSOR: hand; BORDER-BOTTOM: #0066cc 1px dashed">gender reassignment surgery</SPAN>; and Robbie, the father of Aurora’s baby who wants to make sure that his unborn child is okay.<SPAN> </SPAN>The
ghost of Kit’s brother and the unconventional Butch Angel round out the characters.</SPAN></DIV>
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<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">Director Michelle Ebert Freire, an <SPAN class=yshortcuts id=lw_1247065260_5>Associate Professor</SPAN> of Theatre Arts at California State University, San Bernardino, finds the story heartwarming, hilarious, edgy…and disconcerting.<SPAN> </SPAN>“These characters do not always make the best choices,” she explains.<SPAN> </SPAN>“They’re children prematurely thrust in an adult world, and we watch helplessly as they sometimes pick a difficult or even self-destructive path.<SPAN> </SPAN>Still, by the end of the play, each character develops some inner strength.”<SPAN> </SPAN><SPAN class=yshortcuts id=lw_1247065260_6>Playwright</SPAN> Abbie Bosworth, who holds an MFA degree from the University of California, Riverside, and runs the playwrights’ program at The Performance Loft in Redlands, wrote the play based on devising sessions she and Freire held with RPYA youth in
2008.<SPAN> </SPAN>Seeds of the story, then, come from the youths’ own lives and imaginations.<SPAN> </SPAN>The eight cast members, ages 15-24, really connect with the characters and their situations because, as they say, “It’s real.”</SPAN></DIV>
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<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">In order to more fully explore some of the tough situations faced by the characters, there will be a post-performance interactive forum in which both audience and cast members can further discuss the story and how it connects to their own lives.</SPAN></DIV>
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<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">Rainbow Pride Youth Alliance (RPYA) is an 18-year-old organization whose mission is to provide a safe, healthy, and enriching environment for gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning, and intersex youth of the <SPAN class=yshortcuts id=lw_1247065260_7>Inland Empire</SPAN>.<SPAN> </SPAN>Through social, health, education, advocacy, and arts programming, RPYA offers queer youth, their <SPAN class=yshortcuts id=lw_1247065260_8 style="CURSOR: hand; BORDER-BOTTOM: #0066cc 1px dashed">straight allies</SPAN>, and their families a resource otherwise hard to find in the Inland Empire.<SPAN> </SPAN>The Theatre Program recently received a <SPAN class=yshortcuts id=lw_1247065260_9 style="CURSOR: hand; BORDER-BOTTOM: #0066cc 1px dashed">Queer Youth Theatre</SPAN> grant from the Mukti Fund.</SPAN></DIV>
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<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">If you would like more information or are interested in scheduling an interview or visiting a rehearsal, please directly contact Michelle Ebert Freire at <A href="http://us.mc1103.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=mebertfreire@gmail.com" target=_blank rel=nofollow ymailto="mailto:mebertfreire@gmail.com"><SPAN class=yshortcuts id=lw_1247065260_10>mebertfreire@gmail.com</SPAN></A>.</SPAN></DIV><BR><BR>
<DIV><FONT face=arial color=#5b5b5b>Abbie Bosworth. 801 E Central Ave Redlands CA 92374. 909 6491283</FONT></DIV></td></tr></table>