San Diego Gay and Lesbian News profiles Diversionary Theatre, the third-oldest LGBT performance troupe in the nation. It’s executive and artistic director, Dan Kirsch, is a former Charlotte LGBT community leader. In his time in the Queen City, he founded the Gay Men’s Chorus of Charlotte, the Out Charlotte cultural festival, served as editor of this newspaper and executive director of the Lesbian & Gay Community Center.
SDGLN writes:
Diversionary Theatre will celebrate its 25th anniversary year during its 2010-11 season. Gay and lesbian historical figures, stories of the LGBT movement and readings of plays from Diversionary’s history are part of the celebratory season.
“We hope that everyone comes to celebrate our anniversary with us,” said Dan Kirsch, executive and artistic director. “We are very excited to welcome back Karson St. John, Tony Houck, James Vasquez, Glenn Paris, Jennifer Brawn Gittings and other favorite performers, directors and designers. We’re very proud of our unique mission and it’s hard to believe the theater is 25 years old.”
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Kirsch has been with Diversionary Theatre since January 2005. However, since 1982, he has worked in arts and for LGBT social justice organizations.
“Working with Diversionary has been an ideal combination of arts and social justice,” Kirsch said. “I had been doing a lot of organizing in North Carolina [he founded Charlotte’s gay and lesbian chorus and an LGBT cultural festival] and when the job became available I knew it would be an ideal mix of both worlds.”
Read the rest of the piece on Diversionary Theatre and see a video report at SDGLN…