Two  great plays  currently  running  at the  Pride Arts  Center in Buena  Park;   Fucking Men   and The View Upstairs!

We are very lucky  to have such a vibrant  LGBTQ  theatre scene in Chicago – I urge you to go out and see some of the wonderful shows  that come to the Pride Arts  Center in Buena  Park  at  4139 N. Broadway.

Now playing – Fucking Men. In this present-day updating of Schnitzler’s LA RONDE by Joe DiPietro, ten men – a hustler, soldier, two college students, businessman and his husband, an adult film actor, a movie star, his agent and a playwright – all have physical and emotional desires to connect.

Gay men—just like all human beings—are capable of love, and in fact, spend much of their lives, as everyone does, looking for it. And it is this search for meaning, connection and kindness in a sea of sex that playwright Joe DiPietro attempts to illuminate in his cyclical play Fucking Men.

The treatment of hot topics — promiscuity, monogamy, sexual deception — yields such commonplace insights as: Macho men with forbidden desires lash out with their fists; married couples struggle to stick to their bargains about cheating; some people lie about their HIV status; movie stars screw over ordinary people; can’t we all just get along?; and prostitutes and porn stars really want love.

This play runs  through August 25. Performances will be Fridays and Saturdays at 11 pm and Sundays at 8 pm.

Ticket prices are: Previews $15, Regular Run: Premium seats $30, General Admission $25, Seniors/Students/Military $23. Tickets are on sale now at www.pridefilmsandplays.comor by phone at 866-411-4111 or 773-857-0222.

THE VIEW UPSTAIRS, a musical by Max Vernon, which won Best Musical honors in off-Broadway’s Lortel Awards and  was also nominated for seven Drama Desk awards. THE VIEW UPSTAIRS,  opened off-Broadway in February 2017.

Circle Theatre Chicago is proud to present the Chicago premiere of THE VIEW UPSTAIRS, at Pride Arts Center.
It is inspired by real life events of the 1973 arson attack at the UpStairs Lounge, a vibrant gay bar in New Orleans. Now accepted as a targeted anti-gay attack, the arson resulted in the deaths of 32 people and was, until the 2016 Orlando Pulse Nightclub shooting, the deadliest assault on a gay club in U.S. history. The show is inspired by and pays tributes to many of the patrons that frequented the venue.

In THE VIEW UPSTAIRS, Wes, a young fashion designer from 2017, buys an abandoned building in the French Quarter of New Orleans and finds himself transported to the UpStairs Lounge in 1973. As this forgotten community comes to life, Wes embarks on an exhilarating journey of self-exploration that spans two generations of queer history. THE VIEW UPSTAIRS asks what has been gained and lost in the fight for equality, and how the past can help guide all of us through an uncertain future.

TIMEOUT NEW YORK said, “It takes your breath away!” and ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY called it “a moving homage to LGBT culture, past and present.” THE NEW YORKER praised it for its “beautiful love songs.”

THE VIEW UPSTAIRS will be running through Sunday, July 22. Shows will be Thursdays – Saturdays at 8:00pm, Saturdays and Sundays at 2:30pm, with industry performances every Monday at 8:00pm at The Broadway at Pride Arts Center (4139 N. Broadway).

Tickets: $30.00. Monday Industry nights $20. Tickets on sale now atwww.circletheatrechicago.org