Calendar

Donate

Search

ARTSQUEST’S FRANK BANKO ALEHOUSE CINEMAS TO HOST OCT. SCREENING IN LGBTQ+ SERIES, PANEL DISCUSSION

Photo by Mark Lipson/Kushner-Locke/Ignite/Kobal/Shutterstock

The screening of But I’m a Cheerleader on Thurs., Oct. 7, 2021, will be followed by a talkback/Q&A with Liz Bradbury and Rev. Goudy.

BETHLEHEM, Pa. – ArtsQuest’s Frank Banko Alehouse Cinemas is proud to present a screening of the 1999 edgy comedy But I’m a Cheerleader on Thurs., Oct. 7, 2021, followed by a talkback/Q&A with Liz Bradbury, Director of the Training Institute of the Bradbury-Sullivan LGBT Community Center, and Rev. Goudy of the Metropolitan Community Church of the Lehigh Valley. This event is part of the cinema’s LGBTQ+ Film Series. Tickets are free and can be reserved at steelstacks.org/film or by calling the ArtsQuest Box Office at 610.332.3378.

“When this movie came out 22 years ago, we all thought parts were funny, but we also thought the gender binary role issues, the hypocritical religious pressure and the quack ‘science’ were very important to expose and end,” said Liz Bradbury, Director of the Training Institute of the Bradbury-Sullivan LGBT Community Center. “Yet today, ‘conversion therapy’ is still harming young people because it’s still frighteningly present and legal in way too many areas of the US, including some suburban parts of the Lehigh Valley. I’m glad to be taking part in this important panel discussion.”

The film, starring Natasha Lyonne, Clea Duvall, Melanie Lynskey and RuPaul, follows a teenager whose suburban existence filled with friends, cheerleading and all-American fun is upended when her parents suspect she may be a lesbian. Panelist Liz Bradbury (she/her), Director of the Training Institute of the Bradbury-Sullivan LGBT Community Center, has more than 40 years of experience working as a professional advocate for the LGBTQ community and is recognized as a national expert on LGBTQ issues. Rev. Goudy received a B.A. in History & Theology from the College of St. Catherine and an M.Div. from the University of Chicago Divinity School.

ArtsQuest’s Frank Banko Alehouse Cinemas restarted its LGBTQ+ Film Series on Sat., Aug 28 with a screening of the award-winning feature Swan Song and a talkback with the film’s director Todd Stephens. The LGBTQ+ Film Series, when produced prior to the pandemic, would last for one month of the year and tickets cost $10 each. Thanks to grant support from the Neighborhood Assistance Tax Credit Program, the series will now run throughout the year and it is free to attend. The series is also now curated by three ArtsQuest Cinema Committee members: Alessandra Fanelli, Catherine Ford and Adrianna Gober.

Masks will be required for all attendees of this screening and should be worn at all times during the screening, except when actively eating or drinking. ArtsQuest will continue to follow the latest CDC, state and local health and safety guidelines. Visit artsquest.org/safety for more information.

The next event in the LGBTQ+ Film Series will be a screening of the 1985 film Buddies at 6 p.m. on Sun., Dec. 5, 2021. Arthur J. Bressan Jr. (Gay USA) created this first feature-length drama about AIDS after more than a decade of making gay adult films. Visit steelstacks.org/film for more information.