Madison, Wisconsin – Wednesday, April 22, 2015 — Art & Soul Innovations, in collaboration with Edgewood College, presents ‘Proud Theater: Fired Up!’ – a fun and exciting evening of theater, music, spoken word, poetry and dance written by and starring the talented youth of Madison’s premier Lesbian, Gay, Transgender, Bisexual, Queer/Questioning and Allied youth theater troupe, Proud Theater.

Proud Theater is an award-winning, exciting and innovative youth theater program whose mission is ‘to change the world through the power of theater and the theater arts, and to make a positive difference in the lives of LGBTQ and allied youth through the tenets of art, heart, and activism’. Founded in 1999, the group is open to youth ages 13 to 19 that identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning or who are allied with the queer community (LGBTQA). Empowering and creative, Proud Theater encourages youth to share their own stories through the creation of original theatrical works which they then present to the community at large throughout the school year.

As with critically acclaimed shows ‘Fearless Hearts’ (2013), ‘Crystal Queer’ (2014) and their recent 15th anniversary show, ‘Anthology’, (2014) ‘Proud Theater: Fired Up!’ tackles many of the issues affecting youth today and does so with humor, heart and honesty. Sometimes outrageous, sometimes profound, the youth share their voices with the community in a no-holds barred and uncensored way.  This year the youth take a look at gender identity, racism, bullying, Transphobia and the world at large.

‘Proud Theater: Fired Up!’ opens May 28, 2015 at the Black Box Theater in the Stream Building at Edgewood College, 1000 Edgewood College Drive in Madison, Wisconsinand runs through May 30 with shows at 7:30 PM. There will also be a special matinee showing on May 30 at 2:30 PM. Tickets are $12 and can be reserved via email at [email protected] or by calling the Proud Theater Hotline at 608-222-9086.  Tickets can be paid for only on the day of the show and must be picked up no later than 15 minutes before curtain, or the tickets will be made available for sale. The box office opens one hour before show time.

Proud Theater is a program of Art and Soul Innovations (artandsoulinnovations.org), and enjoys generous financial support from the Mukti Fund (muktifund.com), the PFund Foundation (www.pfundonline.org) and the New Harvest Foundation (newharvestfoundation.org), as well as the support of many community organizations from around the state.

For more info on Proud Theater or ‘Proud Theater: Fired Up!’, contact Executive Director Brian Wild at [email protected], or call Proud Theater at 608-222-9086.Tax-deductible donations to the organization can be sent to: Proud Theater, P.O. Box 6306, Monona WI, 53716, or via PayPal at www.proudtheater.org.