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 This Spring, Lethbridge Busts Out of the Closet and Onto the Stage
Pretty, Witty and GAY returns to Lethbridge for the 8th time!

This April 2 we invite one and all to come out of those dusty old closets and into “gay” society! This year, Lethbridge’s hugely anticipated, annual queer cabaret, Pretty, Witty & GAY, is throwing a one night only Debutante’s Cabaret Ball to honour the brassy broads and the moxie misters who wish to sta...te, unequivocally, that they are loud, proud, queer and HERE in Lethbridge!

For decades, “debutante’s balls” or “coming out parties” have been celebrating the young, wealthy and pretentious as they blossom into adulthood, begin the quest to mate, and join society as visible, thriving and contributing members of that society. For Pretty, Witty and GAY’s 8th installment, we will be celebrating the Lethbridge queer community with a coming out party of our very own. Like the coming out parties of high society, we will shamelessly applaud what’s wonderful about each of us, without the exclusion or pretentiousness of traditional debutante soirees. Local coming out stories will be featured this year, lending a personal tone to the usual variety of dynamic and diverse theatre, dance, poetry and musical performances for which Pretty, Witty and GAY has become widely known and respected. These dazzling performances and poignant confessionals will celebrate the wide range of sexual identities that exist here in Southern Alberta. Our funky formal affair will provoke tears, laughter and buoy your spirits through an evening of high class, low class, camaraderie and entertainment.

“Last year we indulged in the outrageous camp of queer culture by hosting a 1960’s style go-go extravaganza. The event was a success, however, this year, due to recent, undeniable political and social developments touching the LGBTQ community, we felt it prudent to change the tone of the event” explains Jay Whitehead, a U of L professor, co-producer and founder of Pretty, Witty and GAY. He cites recent high profile events including a teen gay suicide epidemic, the repealing of “don’t ask, don’t tell” and the increasingly visible fight by gays and lesbians in many parts of the world to earn equality and protections: from the right to marry in the United States, to the right to not be criminalized just for being gay in countries like Uganda. “This year’s classier event seems appropriate in order to give our community a sense of integrity and gravity in these times of great transition.” Adds co-producer Geneviève Paré, “Debutante parties are traditionally for the social elite, which allows us to not only feel like respectable members of society, which we are, but also to indulge in a bit of formal extravagance, with just the right amount of irony.”

Pretty, Witty and GAY will play for one night only, Saturday, April 2, 2011 at 8:00 pm at the University of Lethbridge’s David Spinks Theatre. Doors at 7:30 and cash bar will be provided. Tickets can be purchased through the university box office at 403-329-2616. Seats will go fast, so buy your tickets now.