Director & Co-Creator
Produced by timeshare/SummerWorks Festival
August 2018
In 1992, novelist Brian Francis placed a personals ad in the newspaper. In total, he received 25 responses but there were 13 letters he never responded to. Now, 26 years later, Brian has written replies to those 13 respondents. Featuring a cast of 13 queer actors, Box 4901 is a hilarious, strange, sweet and awkward look back at how gay men used to connect. It’s also a reflection on youth, body image, loneliness and the ways strangers can connect, even 26 years later.
I was so grateful to work on this incredibly insightful piece with Brian. He first share the work with me, wondering what form I thought it could take. To me, it was immediately a piece of live performance—with a diverse cast taking on the voices of the letters. We spent a lot of time creating ensemble movement, and finding ways to support Brian’s storytelling. Ultimately, it was a piece that resonated far beyond the queer community in ways that we could only imagine.
Photos by Henry Chan
Produced by Stacey Norton
Featuring Brian Francis with Eric Morin, Keith Cole, Chris Tsujiuchi, Geoffrey Whynot, Hume Baugh, Michael Hughes, Izad Etemadi, Jonathan Tan, Tsholo Khalema, G Kyle Shields, Chy Ryan Spain, Bilal Baig and Daniel Krolik
Set and Costume Design by Brandon Kleiman
Lighting Design by Cosette Pin
Sound Design by Adrian Shepherd-Gawinski
Stage Management by Sandra Henderson