“Born to Be Alive” opens May 28, 2010
photo by Tim Palen
BORN TO BE ALIVE
Starring SELENE LUNA
Written by Selene Luna and John T. Stapleton
Directed by Derick LaSallaProduced by Jon Imparato for the Lily Tomlin/Jane Wagner Cultural Arts Center
WHERE:The Davidson/Valentini Theatre
L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center
The Village at Ed Gould Plaza
1125 N. McCadden Place, Los Angeles 90038
(one block east of Highland, just north of Santa Monica Blvd.)Free parking
May 28, 29, 30; June 4, 11, 12, 13, 18, 20, 25, 26, 27
Fridays & Saturdays at 8 p.m. / Sundays at 7 p.m.
TICKETS: General Admission: $20
Available on-line at www.lagaycenter.org/boxoffice or call 323-860-7300
Contact: Jon Imparato
Artistic Director, Lily Tomlin/Jane Wagner Cultural Arts Center
L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center323-860-7324
The L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center’s Lily Tomlin/Jane Wagner Cultural Arts Center Presents:
BORN TO BE ALIVE
Los Angeles, CA, Tuesday, April 27, 2010– Selene Luna’s story is unlike anything being presented on stage today. The diminutive actress/writer/burlesque artist/stand-up comic/fashion model/activist has faced more obstacles than most as a woman born a little person who emigrated from Mexico to the U.S. with her family when she was just three years old. Confronting and overcoming multiple levels of discrimination, the Logo Award nominee has become one of the hottest members of Hollywood’s “eccentric artist community” and has crossed over into mainstream film, television, theatre and the print fashion world.
Luna is returning to the stage with a brand-new, one-person play, Born to Be Alive, which she has written especially for the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center’s Davidson/Valentini Theatre. The show premieres on May 28, beginning a month-long run. Aspects of Luna’s improbable odyssey have been explored in her previous plays, but Born to Be Alive is different.
“I’ve evolved so much as a writer and performer,” Luna explains, “and I’ve also become much more willing to be open and vulnerable. This will be my most honest show ever, as well as my happiest and funniest.”
It’s also the first time she’s had the support of a director (Derick LaSalla) and production team. The luxury of focusing exclusively on the creative elements of the show gives Luna the ability to go places she’s never touched before.
A veteran of more than 15 years on stage, Luna first became well known performing in burlesque. While working as a magician’s assistant, she befriended the women in The Velvet Hammer Burlesque, a groundbreaking troupe that single-handedly revived the neglected art form in the early 1990s. One day their creative director asked Luna to join them on stage.
“I thought, ‘What, are you crazy?’ ” says Luna. “But fairly quickly I decided I was up for a challenge! I wound up touring with them for years.” At the time, she was the only little person in the business; she became a sensation, touring the U.S., Europe and Canada.
After a decade on the road, “I made a public announcement that I was hanging up my pasties,” Selene laughs.
“But, like Barbra Streisand, I’ll come back for the right price!”
While with The Velvet Hammer, Luna met Margaret Cho, now one of her best friends, who later invited her to be part of Cho’s 2007 burlesque review, The Sensuous Woman, and to join the cast of VH1’s The Cho Show. Luna has amassed an impressive list of stage, film and television credits—everything from music videos for Madonna to the feature film My Bloody Valentine 3D.
For more information,
log onto www.seleneluna.com and www.facebook.com/officialseleneluna
Celebrate Opening – "Born to be Alive"
May 27, 2010 by
