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About StageQ |
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Tara Ayres has been involved in theater since her first role as Sally in You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown when she was in 6th grade. For many years Tara focused on music rather than theater, singing with a variety of bands from DykeAppella to the Murder Sisters. She has also been on-air at WORT-FM since 1981, with Her Turn, Her Infinite Variety, Queery, and Better Living Through Show Tunes.
Tara returned to the theater in 1999, as Harriet in the Flaming Dykasaurus musical comedy, Oblivia. Since then, she has worked with a variety of theater companies, acting, directing, stage managing and doing tech for Mercury Players Theater, StageQ, Strollers, TapIT!/New Works and the Madison Theater Guild. She directed the original work, Smash the Beautocracy for NOW, and has produced and directed several drag king reviews for SPRAWL and Scrawl. She also produces concerts and dances for SPRAWL. Her original play, Loving More, co-written with Doug Holtz, was produced by Mercury Players Theater in 2003.
Outside of the theater, Tara has a long history of activism on social justice issues, including anti-violence, lesbian and gay rights, environmental, anti-racism and anti-poverty initiatives.
Tara is grateful to Tom McClurg for creating and nurturing StageQ through its first five years.
StageQ, Inc.™ is dedicated to presenting dramatic plays that challenge our audiences artistically, build culture bridges, and offer diverse productions that range from classics to new works. We produce gay, lesbian, and other queer-focused theater productions and works authored by gay and lesbian playwrights.
We promote gay, lesbian, and other queer persons in the arts by featuring "out" actors, artists, musicians, performers, and writers, and publicizing other local and regional productions which include gay, lesbian, and other queer plays, writers, and characters.<
We encourage participation in community arts and provide representation to other community arts organizations, as appropriate.
The Board of Directors is responsible for the overall governance of StageQ. Board members are:
Thomas McClurg is no stranger to the Madison theater scene. He's been acting in local productions since 1995. His roles have included Ebenezer Scrooge in A Christmas Carol, Freddie in Arsenic and Old Lace, Uncle Freddie in Bent, and most notably Sterling in Jeffrey. In addition to acting, Tom produced the Madison presentations of Paul Rudnick's plays Jeffrey and The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told.
As StageQ founder, Tom also served as Artistic Director from StageQ's inception in 2001 through 2005. As Artistic Director, Tom was responsible for the selection of plays that StageQ produced and served as the point of contact between producers and the board.
Tom's leadership and direction are responsible for the formation of StageQ.
-Isthmus, March 2007