outACTRAto proudly presents the third annual Working the Scene in Rainbow event on Monday, June 19, 2023, at 7:00 PM ET on Zoom.
Working the Scene in Rainbow is a live virtual scene-reading session, featuring works by 2SLGBTQIA+ Ontario-based scriptwriters.
Working the Scene in Rainbow is a place for 2SLGBTQIA+ writers to hear their work read aloud by 2SLGBTQIA+ professional actors and an opportunity to network with an audience of industry members. Actor/readers will be cast from within the ACTRA Toronto membership. The event is open to industry partners, friends and all ACTRA members in good standing.
If you are an Industry Partner (producer, director, casting director, literary agent, etc.), Working the Scene in Rainbow is a great opportunity to discover the ACTRA Toronto actor you need for your next project.
Click the button below to register as an attendee
Working the Scene in Rainbow: Scene Selections
Writer submissions are now closed and the following scenes have been selected.
Born Again Gay by Maria Nicole Lepore
Sister Nina Jacks loves long walks on the beach, peppermint tea, and women. If only she wasn’t a devout nun. Born Again Gay follows the life of Sister Nina Jacks as she navigates leaving the Catholic church for her true calling: lesbianism
Cast
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Kato Alexander | Holly Cinnamon | Sadie Fay |
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Ray Jacildo | Madelaine Rose |
Child(less) by Thea Gagliardi
Four self-identified Childfree-by-Choice folks mingle (mostly with each other) at a baby shower. When one of them overhears some of the moms shit-talking, she blows up on them.
Cast
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Jess Abramovitch | Macaulee Cassaday | Holly Cinnamon |
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Ashley Comeau | Gabriel Hudson | Vivian Or |
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Shana Rose | Katisha Shaw | Sare Thorpe |
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Joseph Zita |
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Untitled Project by Harrison Browne
A struggling trans actor sick of auditioning for stereotypical queer characters decides to take matters into his own hands and write a show with his on-and-off again girlfriend.
Cast
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Macaulee Cassaday | Holly Cinnamon | Leslie McBay |
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Frank Paige | Yulia Petrauskas | Kat Shaw |
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Pierre Simpson |
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Wholesome Advice by Jason Ip
When a middle-aged, gay men’s sexual health doctor accidentally sleeps with a sex worker who turns out to be one of his younger patients, he and his older colleague are roped into recording an intergenerational queer podcast with him. Content note: this scene contains depictions of condomless sex, however this reading will not contain nudity or simulated sex.
Cast
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Kato Alexander | Michael Chan | Gabriel Hudson |
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Ray Jacildo | Chris Jacot | Suzanne Miller |
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Pierre Simpson |
About the Writers
Maria Nicole Lepore (she/they) is a writer, comedian, and director, based in Toronto, Ontario. She has been making a career in the Canadian TV industry since 2020. Her favourite genres to write in are comedy, romance, drama, and mockumentaries. Their first short film, Freshly Brewed, premiered in Toronto in March 2023. Maria is bald, bi, and ready to help bring more representation to your screen!
Thea Gagliardi (she/her) is a Toronto-based, queer producer and writer. Most recently she was a Producer on TallBoyz, a sketch comedy series which ran for 3 seasons, airing on CBC. She works with Accent Entertainment, developing TV concepts with producers Susan Cavan and Bruce McCulloch. She also produced Shelly Hong’s short film, Mother Tongue, which premiered at the Blood in the Snow Film Festival in 2022 and was an Associate Producer on the upcoming short film, Sara, written by Jess Hinkson.
A graduate of Humber College’s Television Writing and Producing program and Toronto Metropolitan University’s Journalism program, she began her career at Prodigy Pictures on the SyFy series, Dark Matter. Later she assisted the Vice President of Production at Brown Bag Films’ Toronto office, across such shows as Blue’s Clues & You, Magic School Bus: Rides Again, and Clifford the Big Red Dog.
Jason Ip is a Toronto-based television writer, most recently serving as the Script Coordinator and Story Editor for CTV’s THE SPENCER SISTERS and Story Editor for a Sphere Media series in development with Crave. In 2022, he was selected as 1 of 16 recipients to receive financial support and mentorship through the 2022 Rogers-Black Screen Office Script Development Fund. He’s also an alumnus of BIPOC TV & Film’s 2022 Drama Lab Intensive and has a previous project selected for ACTRA Toronto’s Working the Scene in Colour table read in 2021.
Harrison Browne is a Canadian actor based out of Toronto. Prior to his acting career, he was a professional hockey player in the National Women’s Hockey League (NWHL) and the first transgender athlete in professional hockey. During his tenure in the NWHL, Harrison was a trailblazer and pioneer for LGBTQ rights. He helped form the first ever transgender policy in professional sports to aid both transmen and transwomen in their participation. He is the appointed Inclusion Leader for the NWHL advisory board and special ambassador for the National Hockey League’s Hockey Is for Everyone initiative. Through his efforts, Harrison was recognized in 2016 by The Hockey News as one of hockey’s 100 Top People of Power.
Harrison continues to advocate for transgender inclusion on the screen and stage through his public speaker endeavours throughout North America and internationally.
About outACTRAto
The outACTRAto Committee is dedicated to raising awareness about queer performers, our stories and our place in the industry and society. We value diversity and equality and we aim to be recognized, supported and valued as queer performers. We aspire to educate and inform our industry about realistic queer representation on screen as we seek a more accurate and balanced reflection of our rich and multifaceted community. We denounce and will work to end harassment and stereotyping of any kind. We will work to achieve true-to-life queer onscreen visibility of our culture and our stories, and to realize change in our industry.
For more information visit the outACTRAto page on the ACTRA Toronto website.
About Working the Scene in Rainbow:
Working the Scene in Rainbow builds on the work of writer/artists Jessica Meya and Louis Taylor and their original project showcasing the work of BIPOC creators, Working the Scene in Colour.
Many thanks to Louis, Jessica and to the ACTRA Toronto Diversity and Inclusion Committee for sharing the Working the Scene in Colour template, their work and their valuable time with us.