Uptown Players Presents “The Nance”

Uptown Players logoDALLAS, May 14, 2015 – Uptown Players opens its 2015 season with the zany Broadway comedy The Nance, the 2013 Tony Award and Outer Critics Circle Award winning play written by Douglas Carter Beane. The Nance stars B.J. Cleveland in the leading role, which garnered a Tony nomination for Nathan Lane on Broadway. The show runs at the Kalita Humphreys Theater from June 19 to July 5, 2015.

The Nance recreates the naughty, raucous world of burlesque’s heyday and tells the backstage story of Chauncey Miles (Cleveland), a headline nance (a parody of a gay man) in the twilight of New York burlesque’s era, who is homosexual. Integrating burlesque sketches into his drama, Beane paints the portrait of a homosexual man, living and working in the secretive and dangerous gay world of 1930s New York, whose outrageous antics on the burlesque stage stand in marked contrast to his offstage life.

This brilliant and touching comedy was nominated for five Tony Awards and two Drama Desk Awards, and The New York Daily News called the play “refreshingly original.” The Uptown production is under the direction of Bruce R. Coleman, with music direction and original music composed by Adam C. Wright and choreography by Kelly McCain. The cast features B. J. Cleveland, Sterling Gafford, Bob Hess, Sherry Hopkins, Linda Leonard and Brett Warner.

The production runs June 19 through July 5, 2015, with shows at 8 p.m. on Thursday, Fridays and Saturdays and 2 p.m. on Sundays (no performances June 21 or July 4). Performances take place at the Kalita Humphreys Theatre, 3636 Turtle Creek Blvd (at Blackburn), Dallas, TX 75219. Tickets are $25-$40 and can be purchased online at www.uptownplayers.org or by phone at (214) 219-2718.

About Uptown Players:

Uptown Players is a 501 (c) 3 non-profit organization, presenting plays and musicals that challenge audiences artistically and strive to create greater positive public awareness and acceptance through the performing arts. Now entering its fourteenth season and sixth season at the Kalita Humphreys Theater, Uptown Players has gathered a dedicated following and is providing an opportunity for a wide diversity of gender styles to come together and explore life choices through great theatre themes such as relationships, family, prejudice, and values. The response from the community and critics has been remarkable, including over 25 Leon Rabin Awards from the Dallas Theatre League, and over 25 Theater Critics Forum Awards in its first thirteen seasons. Uptown Players has also been named the best theatre company by the Dallas Voice Readers and by the Dallas Observer and was also featured in D Magazine and on WFAA’s Daybreak and Good Morning Texas programs.

Uptown Players has presented world premieres, including Redesigning Women (2013), Crazy Just Like Me (2011) and the stage adaptation of The Valley of the Dolls (2007), along with the United States premieres of the West End hit musical Soho Cinders (2014), and the Pet Shop Boys Musical Closer to Heaven (2010). Uptown Players was the first regional theater in the United States to present the Tony Award winner The Boy from Oz and the Pulitzer Prize winning musical Next To Normal, following the closing of the Broadway productions. In recent years, Sam Harris and Dan Savage have presented their one-man shows on the Uptown stage. Each season, Uptown Players presents several regional premieres, including recent productions of The Lyons, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike (2013 Tony Award for Best Play), Hello Again (featured in a Broadway World article about the upcoming movie) and The Producers.

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Media Contact: Nina Koch
nina@coopersmithagency.com, (214) 329-9191