Category: Performing Arts

Take a trip back to the ’80s with the hilarious high school drag comedy ‘First Period’

Featuring an impressive ensemble – which includes many sketch and improv ringers who got their start at The Groundlings in Los Angeles – First Period is a hilarious, candy-colored drag tribute to 1980s teen comedies… and the films of John Hughes in particular.

Cassie Glen (Brandon Alexander III), a new girl at school, arrives with the goal of finding a hunky boyfriend and finally becoming popular. Running afoul of the school’s top-tier mean girls, she decides to befriend Maggie (Dudley Beene), a social outcast and sometimes literal coat rack.

Together, these two new besties become convinced that the best way to reach their goal of becoming popular is to enter – and win – the annual talent show and steal the bitchy girls’ himbo boyfriends along the way.

Writer-director Charlie Vaughn did his ‘80s movie homework, tipping a hat to iconic flicks like Pretty in Pink and lesser-known cult favorites like Teen Witch while adding a dash of Romy and Michelle for good measure. The result is campy, funny and often surprisingly poignant as it delivers the tried and true message that being yourself is always the best course of action.

Watch the trailer for First Period below. The film is now streaming on Dekkoo.

‘Every Act of Life’ celebrates the career and friendships of legendary playwright Terrence McNally

Through six groundbreaking decades in the theatre, four-time Tony Award-winning playwright Terrence McNally became a living legend, both on stage and off.

He launched the careers of some of Broadway’s biggest stars, was a pioneer in the fight for LGBTQ rights, triumphed over addiction, found love and inspiration at every age and continually showed the power of art to transform society.

Featuring interviews with Nathan Lane, Patrick Wilson, Edie Falco, Rita Moreno, Christine Baranski, F. Murray Abraham, Bryan Cranston and many more, Every Act of Life is an intimate and illuminating documentary that celebrates McNally’s life and relationships while examining his incredible legacy of work.

Watch the trailer for Every Act of Life below. The documentary is now streaming on Dekkoo.

Short Film Spotlight: A Bela é Poc

An intense short film from Brazilian writer-director Eric Lima and co-writer/star Taciano Soares, A Bela é Poc follows a proudly queer young man who is stuck living within a harsh environment that threatens his happiness at every turn.

Belinho (Soares), a devoted Francophile, dreams of a glamorous life on the stage, but his day-to-day reality is something quite different. Working to support his ailing, homophobic father, he’s constantly dodging threats of violence from the people in his community.

Nonetheless, with support from Mara, his best friend and biggest fan (Isabela Catao in a scene-stealing performance), he soldiers on, refusing to suppress himself for the closed-minded comfort of those around him.

But when he’s served a one-two punch of life-altering tragedies, Belinho risks drifting off into his Edith Piaf-inspired fantasy world for good.

With high energy performances, exceptional camera work and one particularly electric homage to My Own Private Idaho, A Bela é Poc offers up a hard-hitting examination of one man’s admirable resilience in the face of overwhelming adversity.

Check out the poster for A Bela é Poc below. The short film is now streaming on Dekkoo.

An accomplished figure skater reveals his truth in the documentary ‘Go Figure: The Randy Gardner Story’

In Go Figure: The Randy Gardner Story, two-time Olympian and World Champion, the legendary Randy Gardner, explores his true identity through figure skating and his own one man show.

With his skating partner of over fifty years, Tai Babilonia, the pair experienced the heights of worldwide glory and devastating personal tragedy.

Now that the intense glare of the public spotlight has softened, he is free to finally reveal his untold magical and meaningful journey… both on and off the ice.

Go Figure: The Randy Gardner Story is a moving film filled with family secrets, closeted sexuality and the price that one gifted and wildly accomplished man paid to keep everything quiet.

Watch a short trailer for Go Figure: The Randy Gardner Story below. The film is now streaming on Dekkoo.

Nico Greetham co-stars in the charming ’90s-set theater kid comedy ‘Dramarama’

It’s the end of the summer of 1994 and Gene (Nick Pugliese) is preparing for his high school drama friends’ final murder mystery slumber party!

The theatrical hostess, Rose (Anna Grace Barlow), will fly off to start college the next morning, followed by the earnest Claire (Megan Suri), charismatic Oscar (‘Love, Victor’ and ‘American Horror Story’ heartthrob Nico Greetham) and sarcastic Ally (Danielle Kay).

Before they head off to begin their separate lives, however, Gene wants to come out of the closet – but he’s terrified of what his sheltered Christian friends might think… especially Oscar.

The feature-length debut of prolific short film director and producer Jonathan Wysocki, Dramarama is like a perfect mix of The Breakfast Club and The Big Chill. Featuring winning performances from the pitch-perfect ensemble cast, the film offers up a nostalgic and deeply funny coming-of-age tale and a poignant love letter to drama nerds, late bloomers and the intense friendships that mark our youth.

Watch the trailer Dramarama below. The film is now streaming on Dekkoo.

Short Film Spotlight: After Sunset, Dawn Arrives

A 17-minute short film from writer-director Andy Yi Li, After Sunset, Dawn Arrives tells an inspiring story about how it’s never too late to embrace a new passion.

Set in Los Angeles in 2005, the film follows Wen (Jesse Wang), a recent widower who has been suppressing his sexuality for a long, long time.

Happening upon a ballroom dance class for men, he peers through the window with curiosity, but his old-fashioned masculine ways prevent him from going inside.

When he later runs into Ken (Todd Lien), the ridiculously hot class instructor, at a local bathhouse, he’s convinced to come by and give the class a try. This sends Wen on an emotional journey where he is finally able to open up – not only to himself, but also to his deceased wife.

Check out the poster for After Sunset, Dawn Arrives below. The short film is now streaming on Dekkoo.

Two up-and-coming gay songwriters get a little too close to screen legend Gloria Swanson in ‘Boulevard: A Hollywood Story’

For Gloria Swanson, the iconic star of Sunset Boulevard, both the movie and the character of Norma Desmond provided a renewed spotlight.

Swanson strategically began efforts to parlay her success into a musical stage adaptation of the film. Enter, Dickson Hughes and Richard Stapley, two struggling songwriters-in-love looking for their big break.

Enamored by the idea of helping Swanson step into the next phase of her career, Stapley and Hughes found themselves whisked away by Swanson to a sumptuous house in Palm Springs, where the trio started creating the musical.

As the days wore on, an unusual love triangle began to take hold. Hughes and Stapley found their intimate relationship intruded upon by Swanson.

Boulevard: A Hollywood Story is a fascinating documentary about three individuals who attempted to share a melody… and how the music of that moment defined the rest of their lives.

Watch the trailer for Boulevard: A Hollywood Story below. The full documentary is now available on Dekkoo.

‘Making Montgomery Clift’ reexamines the iconic film star’s misunderstood personal life

Classic film star and queer icon Montgomery Clift was one of the most vital and influential actors in the history of cinema, bucking traditions both on screen and off.

Countless biographies, however, have reduced him to labels like “tragically self-destructive” and “tormented.” With the documentary Making Montgomery Clift, nephew Robert Anderson Clift and co-director Hillary Demmon aim to set the record straight, rigorously examining the flawed narratives that have come to define Monty’s legacy and uncovering a much more complicated and nuanced picture.

Drawing on interviews with family and loved ones, as well as a rich collection of unreleased archival materials from Monty and his brother, Brooks Clift, this fresh portrait of the actor’s passions, contributions and commitment to living and working in his own way gives one of Hollywood’s most underappreciated legends his due.

Watch the trailer for Making Montgomery Clift below. The documentary is now available on Dekkoo.

Short Film Spotlight: Lillies in the Forest

Andrew Dolan, a veteran character actor with tons of impressive film and television credits (including ‘The Blacklist,’ ‘The Americans’ and ‘The Good Wife’ – among many others), made his screenwriting debut with this deliberately strange, but deeply heartfelt four-minute short film.

Dolan stars in Lillies in the Forest as an unnamed, flamboyantly dressed man waiting on a subway platform. Once he boards the train, he sets his eyes on seemingly gruff jock seated near the exit.

With his dirty, cracked fingers, baseball gear and sleeveless shirt that reads ‘dirtbag crew,’ he doesn’t seem like the kind of guy who will return our hero’s affections.

When the pair bond over their mutual affection for screen legend Myrna Loy, however, it sets off a surreal chain reaction that turns their ordinary commute into the low-key romantic musical of their dreams.

Watch a short trailer for Lillies in the Forest below. The full four-minute short film is now available to stream on Dekkoo.