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THE BEEBO BRINKER CHRONICLES
Previews begin September 27 at The Fourth Street Theatre

Hourglass Group, producers of the 2007 Obie Award-winning Trouble In Paradise, is pleased to announce the premiere production of THE BEEBO BRINKER CHRONICLES at The Fourth Street Theatre. A stage adaptation of Ann Bannon's groundbreaking lesbian pulp novels of the 1950s and 1960s, BEEBO is written by Kate Moira Ryan (25 Questions for a Jewish Mother, 2007 GLAAD Media Award Winner for Best Play) and Linda S. Chapman (Gertrude and Alice: A Likeness to Loving) and directed by Leigh Silverman (Well). Previews begin September 27 with opening night slated for October 1st.

Set in pre-Stonewall Greenwich Village, THE BEEBO BRINKER CHRONICLES celebrates the era when "the love that dares not speak its name" began breaking the old rules. Fueled by booze and furtive sex, the play follows the lives and loves of Laura, Beth and Beebo as they navigate uncharted territories of desire. Beth and Laura, secret lovers in college, went separate ways after graduation: Beth married and had children, Laura moved to New York. Both pine for each other, but before they can reunite, they find themselves entangled in the web of Beebo Brinker, a butch denizen of the bars with a soft spot for young lesbians fresh off the bus.

2007 marks the fiftieth anniversary of Beebo Brinker's introduction into the world of gay and lesbian literature. Bannon's steamy paperback novels of coming-out have been embraced by three generations of lesbians and the books are currently in their third printing by Cleis Press. To celebrate this anniversary, Ms. Bannon will participate in an audience talk-back following the Sunday, September 30th preview performance at 5pm.

The production will feature David Greenspan (2007 Obie for Some Men and Faust), Carolyn Baeumler (Trouble In Paradise), Autumn Dornfeld (The Graduate), Marin Ireland (Obie Award for Cyclone) and Anna Foss Wilson (The Donkey Show / Anon). Design team includes Theresa Squire (costumes), Rachel Hauck (set), Nicole Pearce (lights), Jill BC DuBoff (sound) and Tessa Dunning (props).

Kate Moira Ryan's critically acclaimed collaboration with Judy Gold, 25 Questions for a Jewish Mother won a 2007 GLAAD Media Award Winner for Best Play. This past spring, Voice/Hyperion published a book based on the play and it was recently nominated for the prestigious Quill award in the category of humor. Linda S. Chapman co-created and played Alice B. Toklas in the Obie Award-winning and GLADD Media Award Nominee Gertrude and Alice: A Likeness to Loving. Leigh Silverman, critically acclaimed director of Lisa Kron's award-winning Well on Broadway in 2006, will be directing David Henry Hwang's Yellow Face at the Public Theater later this fall.

Hourglass Group (Elyse Singer, Artistic Director) has been producing new plays and neglected vintage American comedies since 1999. In addition to producing the highly acclaimed Trouble In Paradise last season, other credits include the first revivals of Mae West's plays Sex and The Pleasure Man (starring Charles Busch), Ruth Margraff's Red Frogs at P.S. 122 and Deborah Swisher's Hundreds of Sisters & One BIG Brother. In addition to BEEBO, Hourglass Group's 2007-08 season will also feature Ruth Margraff's gypsy opera Wellspring and the premiere of Elyse Singer's award-winning multidisciplinary work about Hedy Lamarr and George Antheil, Frequency Hopping, at 3-Legged Dog.

THE BEEBO BRINKER CHRONICLES runs September 27 - October 20. Performances are Thu - Sat @ 7pm, Sun @ 5pm, Mon @ 7pm with additional shows Wed Oct 10 @ 3pm and Wed Oct 17 @ 7pm. The Fourth Street Theatre is 83 East 4th Street, between Bowery and 2nd Avenue. Tickets are $20 available at 212-352-3101 or beebobrinker.com.