Scribes of Stage and Screen (Theater 1)
A queer look at writing for and about film, theater and television.
Christopher Lisotta is an event executive producer, former television producer and freelance writer for Conde Nast’s Portfolio.com, The Nation, TV Week, The Hollywood Reporter, Variety, Broadcasting & Cable, The Los Angeles Times, LA Weekly, The Advocate, Out, Instinct, Frontiers, IN Magazine LA, and MetroSource.
Jim Colucci is a Los Angeles-based freelance entertainment writer whose work has appeared in such publications as TV Guide and CBS’ Watch! magazine, where he served as a Deputy Editor. He has appeared on such shows as CNN’s History of the Sitcom, and for a decade delivered a weekly on-air entertainment report on his husband Frank DeCaro’s self-titled show on Sirius XM radio. His books include the November 2021 release All in the Family: The Show That Changed Television, co-authored with Norman Lear, as well as Will & Grace: Fabulously Uncensored, The Q Guide to The Golden Girls and the New York Times best-seller Golden Girls Forever. He recently completed his next book, Love Boat Forever, which will be released in Spring 2024, while being constantly interrupted by the couple’s cookie-demanding Boston terrier, Gabby.
Les Kurkendaal is an actor and a member of SAG-AFTRA. He is also a Storyteller and Stand Up Comic. He loves the art of Storytelling and he does it whenever possible. Les has been touring theatre festivals around the world since 2000 including: The Minnesota Fringe Festival, The Cincy Fringe, The Indy Fringe, The Rogue Festival, The Atlanta Fringe, The Frasier Valley Fringe, The Victoria Fringe, The Hollywood Fringe Festival, The Wellington Fringe in New Zealand, The Dublin Gay Theatre Festival in Dublin Ireland and tons of other Fringe Festivals. He has appeared in the films The Lost Cause, Boychick, Eating Out 3: All You Can Eat and Bro, What Happened? Les is a member of Story Salon, the longest running story telling company in Los Angeles and has a story featured in the book The Story Salon Book of Stories. He has also toured with The Moth Main Stage in Los Angeles, Aspen and Santa Barbara. Les is currently touring with his show The Real Black Swann: Confessions of America’s First Black Drag Queen.
Justin Elizabeth Sayre is a playwright and performer who Michael Musto called, “Oscar Wilde meets Whoopi Goldberg.” Sayre is a fixture of the Downtown Cabaret Scene in New York, first with their long-running variety show, The Meeting (Bistro Award-winning & 2 MAC nominations). They are currently in residency at Joe's Pub at the Public with their new variety show Assorted Fruit. As a playwright, Sayre’s work has appeared at Dixon Place, The Wild Project, The Celebration Theatre, Dynasty Typewriter, and La MaMa Experimental Theatre. Their 12-part-epic Ravenswood Manor, a Camp-Horror-Soap-Opera, called “a sharply written and well-acted exemplar of the horror-comedy genre,” by the LA Times and is currently being developed with Sony Television and Rupaul. Sayre has written a series of YA Novels, Husky, Pretty, and Mean, released by Penguin Books, and the book, From Gay to Z: A Compendium of Queer Culture just released by Chronicle Books. Sayre has written for Television, working with Michael Patrick King on his hit CBS comedy, 2 Broke Girls and Fox's The Cool Kids. Sayre also appeared on HBO’s The Comeback with Lisa Kudrow. They are NYCLU artist ambassador and a 2023 MacDowell Fellow.
Luke Yankee is a critically acclaimed author and playwright. His memoir, Just Outside the Spotlight: Growing up with Eileen Heckart has been called “One of the most compassionate, illuminating showbiz books ever written” and was named “One of the Ten Best Celebrity Memoirs of All Time” (Michael Musto – Village Voice & PaperMag). It is published by Random House with a foreword by Mary Tyler Moore. His latest play, Marilyn, Mom & Me is the recipient of the 2022 Stanley Award given for excellence in playwriting. It will receive its world premiere at International City Theatre in Long Beach in February of 2024. His play, The Last Lifeboat is published by Dramatists Play Service and has received more than 60 productions in the U.S. and Canada. The Man Who Killed The Cure was a semifinalist for the Eugene O’Neill National Playwrights Festival and is published by Amazon. It has had several regional productions. Confessions of a Star Maker (recently presented at The Annenberg Theatre in Palm Springs) won Best Play at the Moondance Writers Contest and was chosen for the Last Frontier Theatre Festival. His award-winning comedy, The Jesus Hickey premiered in Los Angeles starring Harry Hamlin. A Place at Forest Lawn (also published by Dramatists Play Service) has been performed at several regional theatres and has had workshop presentations on both coasts with Betty White, Tony Goldwyn, Marcia Cross, Marian Seldes, Frances Sternhagen and Steven Culp. His new book, The Art of Writing for the Theatre: An Introduction to Script Analysis, Playwriting and Criticism will be published this summer by Methuen Drama/Bloomsbury Press.
As a professional director, Mr. Yankee has worked on and off Broadway at venues ranging from Radio City Music Hall to the MS Crystal Symphony. He assistant directed six Broadway shows and has served as artistic director of two regional theatres. He is a part-time lecturer at the University of California, Fullerton and at Chapman University where teaches classes in playwriting, script analysis and theatre criticism.
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