The event will include screenings of the films “How We Thrive” and “I AM FINE”
By Meg Wade for Ashland.news
Ashland-based Cafe-Girl Thriving Artists is producing a benefit show, “Celebrate Art, Celebrate Life,” for the Barnstormers Theatre at 112 NE Evelyn Ave., Grants Pass, on Friday, June 20.
Put together by director Lia Elizabeth Rose Dugal, the event will feature short films from Dugal and performances from Barnstormers actors including music, monologues, and tap dance.
The first film, “How We Thrive,” is a 15-minute short compiled from an interview series conducted by Dugal and Cafe-Girl. The goal, says Dugal, is “to raise awareness” about “what it means to be a thriving artist.”
“It doesn’t mean you’ll have $1 million, it’s just living the life of an artist through your passion and your performance,” she said.
There will be discussion among attendees after the film, and additional live performances before an intermission.
The second half of the program features the world premiere of Dugal’s film “I AM FINE.” Originally scheduled for Ashland in December, that event was cancelled due to production delays.
“I AM FINE” examines themes of religious trauma with a focus on the experience of LGBTQ+ individuals who also identify as evangelical Christians. Dugal says the main character, Ryan, is inspired by a past partner who she later learned had taken his own life. The story, she says, is “his life as it should have been,” and shows “what it’s like to be queer and to want to have a connection to religion and the church.”
More discussion will follow the screening, and Dugal says she is looking to bring in LGBTQ-affirming pastors from the area to participate in the conversation.
A trailer of “I AM FINE” is available on YouTube.
Both films draw on a wide array of talent from Ashland and the broader Rogue Valley, including Madeline DeCourcey, Marcus Hardesty, Be Boulay, William Coyne, Ray Nomoto Robison, Asela Lee Kemper, West Christy, Alex Szabo, Trevor Pekas, Denise Baker and Michael Meyer.
Dugal recently staged a production of The Vagina Monologues at Ashland’s Bellview Grange in March, raising several thousand dollars for Planned Parenthood of Southwestern Oregon. Half of the proceeds from “Celebrate Art, Celebrate Life” will go to the Barnstormers, one of the oldest theaters in the state.
In a statement on why she chose to host her next benefit for Barnstormers, Dugal writes:
“My life as an actor truly began in 2012 through community theatre. Through such experience, I found life-long friendships becoming ‘chosen family’, development of a strong self-confidence, emotional healing all through the process of bringing many a community theatre production to life, to the stage. I know I am not alone in this experience, which is the reason why I chose to share my film work and the message of the thriving artist at Barnstormers Theatre, for who better to show the fullness of what it means to thrive, but those that contribute to community theatre, thus to the greater community, & ever outwards.”
Tickets are $25 and can be purchased in advance at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/celebrate-art-celebrate-life-tickets-1357378418389. Doors open at 6 p.m., and the event begins at 7.
The screening of “I AM FINE” is one of many regional LGBTQ-centered events set for Pride Month. The fourth annual Grants Pass Pride, sponsored by Rogue Action Center, will take place 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. June 21 at the Rogue Community College Redwood Campus, 3345 Redwood Highway, Grants Pass. This will be followed by Medford Pride, sponsored by SO Health-e, held noon to 6 p.m. June 28 at Rogue X, 901 Rossanley Drive in Medford.
Barnstormers Theatre is also currently running a production of “9 to 5: The Musical,” running now through June 15.
Ashland resident and freelance journalist Meg Wade’s byline has appeared in Mother Earth News and other publications. Email Ashland.news at news@ashland.news.
